flowers in the garden…

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a few nights ago I watered the plants when I got home and took a little wander around the garden…

five orange poppies were blooming… this was the night before the pond construction began so it was the last of the poppies…

poppies...

poppies…

a myriad of lily of the valley…

lily of the valley...

lily of the valley…

the torenia have perked up now that I am watering them regularly although I’m not sure if the fushia is going to come back…

torenia happier after watering...

torenia happier after watering…

the purple columbine at the side of the house is doing very well…

columbine...

columbine…

still lots to do, but just having a few flowers blooming has already lifted my spirits and encouraged me to keep working at it…

 

pond day 4…

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eager to arrive home each day to see what has happened with the pond…

today I found a fellow out front moving the dirt, sand and rocks onto a trailer… went into the back yard and saw this…

pond, construction day 4...

pond, construction day 4…

wasn’t very happy because there was a lot of gravel around the outside of the pond where I thought there was going to be soil and plants…

spoke to the fellow and he contacted Doug the person in charge of my project…  Doug called and came right on over…

we talked about the gravel which I did not want and the fact that I couldn’t see any flat spots in the pond for plants… and we agreed to some changes which will look after my concerns…

it was great to meet him in person and no doubt we will meet again to check out mulch and other things…

then I met with Mike from Service Masters and signed off on the basement work… busy day…

reminders…

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sent off the fax to CRA this afternoon… rushed home for a meeting with my financial people… I know, I have people… part of the conversation was about what would be left for my kids when I die… I have to think about that type of stuff now that it’s only me left…

iris from the garden that George had planted a few years ago...

iris from the garden that George had planted a few years ago…

yesterday I got an envelope in the mail with George’s name on it… it was from the car dealership inviting him to a sale… the thing is, I’ve been to the dealership a number of times since his death, gone through all the fancy paperwork and cost – to change the car from his name to mine, they required a $200 safety check – so they should know that I’m the person they should be in touch with…

thought it hadn’t really bothered me, but tonight I got a phone call from a man asking to speak to George… I asked who he was and he advised he was from the car dealership… I told him that George had died over a year ago… he said he was sorry and they didn’t know, and I kind of lost it, saying that they did know and really ought to keep their records up-to-date…

lots of reminders this week…

CRA…

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this morning when I got up I had to search THE files to find George’s Last Will and Testament and a death certificate…

apparently they didn’t know that he had died over a year ago, even though they had happily accepted a payment from me for his 2011 taxes which clearly said regarding the estate of…

this year they sent me a cheque made out to the estate of, after we filed his final tax return…

anyway, although I have talked to numerous people in the government through this whole process I hadn’t told the right people or sent them the right documents…

I called just after 8 am our time to learn they open at 8:15… when I called back an hour later the phone was busy, and remained busy until just before 1 our time…

I spoke to a woman who advised I had to send the information to the CRA Winnipeg office… and of course it couldn’t go by email but could go by fax, sigh…

I had scanned it all into the computer thinking I would email it, but there you go…

after all that I didn’t get a minute to write the letter she wanted to go with it… first thing tomorrow I guess…

when my accountant called to tell me I had to do this, she was very apologetic about bringing all this stuff up after all this time and I said it wasn’t a problem… but amazingly it did touch a nerve and bring back the memories of was I contacting the correct people, was I giving them the correct answers to ensure I received whatever I was expecting from that particular organization… did I cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s…

it’s been a year and three months since he died and in some ways it seems like it was years ago, and in others, it seems like it was just a few days ago…

I even find it difficult to know how to say my husband recently died… now that a year has gone by, can I still say that??? feels like it to me, but I don’t know…

oh the ongoing learnings in this journey of the big girl pants

Father’s Day…

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spent the day planting flowers… listening to the drums at the Park as marathoners went past, heard birds singing, lawn mowers going and geese flying overhead…

 

planters around the deck...

planters around the deck…

took breaks, but worked until the kids came for dinner just after 3… got 6 of the 9 planters around the deck done and numerous pots…

planters around the deck filled with lobelia and allysum...

planters around the deck filled with lobelia and alyssum…

still have a few more things to plant, but they will have to wait for another day…

dinner on the deck...

dinner on the deck…

had a lovely dinner on the deck – ribs (thanks to Crystal for barbecuing them) and Caesar salad were the request so that’s what we had… then Jeff went out and mowed the front yard…

mowing the grass on Father's Day...

mowing the grass on Father’s Day…

this morning I was missing George a fair bit, but as I worked away in the garden, I spent my time remembering what great fun we had in the garden and with our kids… I thought back to last year on this day and today was much better… that day was the worst day since he died… glad to be moving forward…

truly, I am blessed…

 

planting…

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ran to Rona this morning to look for plants… didn’t have exactly what I wanted, but I did find two lovely orchids, a nice tomato plant and some begonias…

white begonia and rose waiting to be planted...

white begonia and rose waiting to be planted…

after lunch I went to D J Paterson’s on Portage and found the alyssum and impatiens I wanted as well…

more things to plant...

more things to plant…

and then to Woodhaven Toyota to get a little refresher on how the air conditioner worked… then I headed home to have a nap…

went out later and planted the impatiens around the white tub pond…

bed filled with impatiens... mainly white with a hint of pink...

bed filled with impatiens… mainly white with a hint of pink…

as I was closing up the garage I discovered a little wasp nest which we will have to get rid of… picture’s a bit fuzzy but a little something was flying around it and I didn’t want to take it again, lol…

wasp nest starting in the garage...

wasp nest starting in the garage…

those darn big girl pants seem to be going on easier and easier…

 

poppies…

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last night I took a few pictures of the poppies but this morning more were blooming so I ran out before heading to the office and took a few pictures…

poppies blooming this morning...

poppies blooming this morning…

this is what was in the same place when I got home after work…

place where the poppies had been this morning...

place where the poppies had been this morning…

it is very exciting and I am looking forward to seeing what each day will bring…

Crystal was very sad when she saw the poppies were gone, as they remind her of her daddy…

float…

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yesterday my parcel arrived from the Seattle Glass Blowing Studio and Gallery… we spent a wonderful hour there after the cruise where I made a float and Cyndi made a beautiful glass bowl…

I had been blown away by the gorgeous Chihuly Garden and Glass, and had great fun making my piece… Ron came along and took pictures while we worked… the three below were taken on my iPhone by Cyndi…

really difficult to blow the bubble and you need excellent teamwork...

really difficult to blow the bubble and you need excellent teamwork…

when we talked with Dale Chihuly he said he had 90 people on his team and after making one little float I can see how you could use many hands…

very hot glass melting onto float to make weighted bottom...

very hot glass melting onto float to make weighted bottom…

our instructor was excellent…

flattening the bottom of the float...

flattening the bottom of the float…

they put the pieces into a kiln where the temperature comes down slowly over 24 hours so we didn’t get to see the final product until it arrived…

my outfit is particularly lovely as they recommended wearing cotton clothing… I found these pants with crabs on them the day before and as they were way too long we cut them off and I rolled them up…

Cyndi and Crystal were texting back and forth about how embarrassed they were that I was going out in public dressed in such a fashion, lol…

while at the Glass Blowing Studio I splurged and bought a stunning bowl…

my float looks pretty good… it is round and purple and will go into the pond…

float that I made in Seattle...

float that I made in Seattle…

what more could a person want, lol…

basement saga…

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since the water heater leaked all over the basement, there has been lots of activity… while I was gone, the company came in and removed the carpet and underlay, took out two feet of drywall, removed all the furniture, redid the drywall, laid new underlay and carpet and repainted the wall… looks pretty good, especially without all the stuff that was jamming up the place, lol…

newly painted and carpeted basement...

newly painted and carpeted basement…

I think they just have to bring everything back in and then it will be done… this will give me the energy to tidy it up down there… the basement had been George’s domain for a number of years, and he would watch tv down there while I watched upstairs, so it has been a bit difficult to go down and sort everything out, but I will put on those big girl pants once again and get it reorganized nicely so we can play Wii and watch movies when the kids are here…

maybe I will look further into having the fireplace changed to gas or electricity so that I can use it, as it is fairly difficult to start a fire… will have to see…

he and I had talked about putting in new carpet down there…

the garden…

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all the plants I bought before I left are still not in the ground so the garden looks rather dreadful…  the kids were busy while I was gone and although the grass has been cut a few times there are weeds everywhere… Jeff dug up some grass and dead plants in the front bed which was a great help… the wild roses have taken over the other front bed so that is going to take a fair bit of work, lol…

wild roses overrunning the front garden...

wild roses overrunning the front garden…

this feels particularly funny, because when we brought the little wild plant in from the lake it took about 4 years before it even had one blossom and hardly grew at all… now it is trying to take over the whole place…

lobilia wanting to be planted, maybe tomorrow night it will make it into the flower boxes...

lobelia wanting to be planted, maybe tomorrow night it will make it into the flower boxes…

I wandered around the garden tonight and took a few pictures… it looks very sad…

columbine in the side garden, blooming while the rest is taken over with weeds...

columbine in the side garden, blooming while the rest is taken over with weeds…

my goal had been to come home and do some planting but it seemed more important for my body to eat and rest… maybe I will do some planting tomorrow…

bleeding hearts and ferns are happy...

bleeding hearts and ferns are happy…

I may need to go and buy some additional flowers to add to those I have and I did bring home a bunch of dahlias so on the weekend I can get those planted…

torenia, one of my favourites in a hanging basket, a bit of what will make them a bit happier...

torenia, one of my favourites, in a hanging basket, a bit of water will make them a bit happier…

hoping that a few good hours of work with a couple of helpers will get it looking better…