glory in the morning…

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got a few pics on my way to the garage this morning… the morning glories are really enjoying this cooler weather and I am enjoying them… they really are one of my favourites…

there were a number of blooms when I left…

love the two-tone quality of this one...

love the two-tone quality of this one…

even four or five when I got home, which is unusual, as they are normally done by about noon… today was quite overcast and cool so that must have encouraged them to bloom longer…

couldn't decide if the lighter coloured one was opening or closing...

couldn’t decide if the lighter coloured one was opening or closing…

the weather people are forecasting frost tonight… I hope they are wrong… but it does encourage me to get out into the garden and do some cleaning up…

being sure to take a moment whenever I go by them to enjoy their beauty as soon they won’t be blooming :-)…

mirrors…

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this morning it was overcast but I stepped outside to take a few pictures…

I was particularly wanting a couple of shots of the sunflower, which is about the same height as me… looking out the window daily I can see the seed area filling in…

closeup of sunflower in the front flower bed...

closeup of sunflower in the front flower bed…

also took a couple of pictures in the back yard… for a few days now I’ve been noticing that the mirrors, which were up for the Champagne Bubble Party, and which have been slowly falling off the various surfaces, have been moved around…

when they have fallen off, I have picked them up and put them along the top of the deck… they seemed to sit there for quite a while, but lately they have moved… I don’t think it is the wind because that would have blown them all into one area… there are some on the decks – all three levels, and some in the grass, but very few left on the ledge…

mirrors scattered about the garden...

mirrors scattered about the garden…

am starting to think that maybe my squirrel friends are playing with them, although I haven’t caught any in action…

what do you think…

technology…

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been a wonderful few days around the office… recently we upgraded our computers and software and were fortunate to have a trainer in to spend some one-on-one time with each staff person…

one-on-one time with the trainer...

one-on-one time with the trainer…

many thought they wouldn’t need all of the time allotted to them, but in the end everyone used every moment they had…

it was great fun listening as she moved from office to office… I would hear aha moments and little sighs of pleasure as each person learned better, easier, quicker ways to get their work done…

what I have learned about technology is that it is quite wonderful when we are able to use it at peak performance… if we are having trouble making things work then it doesn’t feel so helpful…

spending the time with the trainer has increased everyone’s productivity… I learned a few very useful tips and tricks and am looking forward to more improvements as we learn from one another…

red and white…

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yesterday my daughter was telling me she discovered that when air plants are getting ready to bloom they turn red… she had learned this when she purchased a number of air plants for her apartment…

this morning I looked at my three air plants and discovered that one of them has indeed turned quite red… I took a picture and made sure to spritz it as you are supposed to water them a bit more as they go through this process…

air plant turning red...

air plant turning red…

i am quite excited to see what happens…

I have just spent half an hour outside on the deck trying to get a good shot of the moon… had the tripod and both cameras going in an effort to get a picture… don’t understand why I can’t get what I see with my eyes into a picture…

moon a few days from full...

moon a few days from full…

but I did persevere and tried every option on both cameras… got a couple of fairly good shots, but have no idea what setting they were on… in the end the best pictures were from the Olympus although when I was taking them they didn’t look good at all, lol…

think the change of seasons and less light are getting me down a bit… I am feeling tired and a bit out of sorts, but am looking forward to more lovely evenings in the hot tub… this is a wonderful time of year where you are lovely and warm in the tub and the air is just a bit crisp… and the stars have been quite amazing lately…

great customer service…

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in July we bought a new printer… took a while to set it up, and then a while to realize that it really didn’t work well with envelopes… we hummed and hawed for a while and finally I called BestBuy where we had purchased it and asked if they might take it back as we weren’t happy with it…

after a bit of a wait, the young woman I spoke with advised us to bring it in and they would see what they could do…

we took it in the next morning and spoke with a lovely woman – Jasmine – who advised that this particular model wouldn’t be taken back by the manufacturer, and usually they couldn’t do anything in that circumstance, but she would give us the trade in value if we found something else to purchase…

we went over to the printers and checked them out and eventually found one that we thought would do the trick… amazingly it was the same price as the first one as it was on a great discounted sale…

Jasmine made the exchange, and we were on our way…

new printer...

new printer still in the box…

was talking later with our usual office supplier from Supreme Basics and she advised that if we liked that printer we should go back to get the second one we were considering as it was an amazing price which she couldn’t match…

when I called, BestBuy didn’t have them in any of their stores here or on their website… went online at Future Shop and discovered this lovely service where you choose what you want and they set it aside so you can go and pick it up without having to go in and search for it… the young man who took my money happily brought the printer to the car and put it in for me…

great customer service is a rare find… kudos to all of these folk…

relaxing day…

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been watching the sunflower plant and it is not following the sun… we think it might be that the sun is reflected in the living room window and it is confused about which way to turn… every day the centre is growing and changing…

sunflower...

sunflower…

had a very relaxing day… watched a few cooking shows this morning…

spent some time making corn chowder and tidying up the kitchen… chowder came out very nice…

spent the remainder of the day reading… lovely to be able to read and nap and read some more…

boiled some small potatoes with dill and a few fresh peas to go along with the little bit of leftover roast from last night and also produced a little cucumber and tomato salad…

better shot of the moon through the tree...

better shot of the moon through the tree…

heading out for a late evening hot tub and then to bed…

 

more nature…

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had a quiet morning around the house… actually put away all the glass balls from the Champagne Bubble Party…

we had a storm which started with lots of thunder and then the sky opened and it poured for maybe ten minutes… watched some TV and made myself a few things to eat…

waiting to move the car seat...

waiting to move the car seat…

then Crystal and the little boys came, transferred the car seat to my car and we went for a wander through Shelmerdine’s where we enjoyed some fall flowers and checked out mulch and many pumpkins… came across a colleague who looked stunning, having just been to a wedding out that way…

there weren’t very many folks around so the little people ran about checking out all the pumpkins and the trees and bushes…

we went to the market garden and picked up some lovely fresh veggies… we got corn on the cob, peas, yellow and green beans, green onions, garlic, tiny and medium sized potatoes, cauliflower and radishes…

when we got home we put a little roast on the barbecue and prepared yellow beans, corn, potatoes and a caesar salad for our dinner… it was lovely… sadly the littlest person is going through the no meat phase, although both of his brothers went down that path long before he did… while the roast and potatoes were just finishing the propane ran out on the barbecue so Jeff put a new tank on… should I have the desire to barbecue, there will be fuel, lol…

after supper we read a book and then everyone went home and I had a little nap… when I got up the moon was smiling at me through the tree and I took a couple of pictures…

moon through the tree...

moon through the tree…

since then I have been in the hot tub and enjoyed watching a beautiful star filled sky…

what a lovely day…

breakfast…

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I don’t really like to eat first thing in the morning… this has been my pattern for most of my adult life…around 9 or so, I would happily have bacon and eggs and toast or potatoes if I had the time…

for quite a while over the last year I was getting up and making a shake for breakfast and drinking it before going to work…

spring came and I fell out of the habit, but was having a breakfast bar or some cheese before leaving home, or else taking it with me to have at the office when I arrived…

then I fell completely off the wagon and wasn’t eating anything in the morning…

for the last few weeks I have renewed the habit… I have been having shakes with bananas and strawberries or just strawberries…

I think I feel better when I remember to prepare and drink the shake and will have to get some more bananas for next week as I am out… I have some lovely frozen whole strawberries which I purchased for the Champagne Bubble Party and they are very nice… although they make the shake into a very cold drink which takes quite a while to get down, lol…

I like to put it in the thermos that I got from Cyndi when I was there in June…

purple thermos from Cyndi...

purple thermos from Cyndi…

I am almost out of the shake mix I was using, which I was getting through a friend who ordered it from the States, so I had to be paying attention to when it was starting to run low… am planning to go to SuperStore as they apparently have a good one which I am going to try…

I do find that a routine in the morning is very helpful, although it is easier when it is light… now when I get up for work I need to turn on a light as it is dark outside… guess it is about time to resume the Vitamin D regime…

toothpaste cap…

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been thinking and talking about this quite a bit lately…

messy toothpaste cap...

messy toothpaste cap…

for over 30 of our 41 plus years, I blamed George for the messy toothpaste cap…

so, one would think that now the toothpaste cap would be neat and tidy… but apparently George wasn’t the only one who messed it up… although someone did suggest that he was coming back and messing it up as a little joke…

makes me giggle a bit and also feel a bit bad that I was putting all the blame on him when just possibly I had something to do with it…

wonder what else may have fit in that category…

 

sky…

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this is the 300th post to my blog…

wow… quite amazing really… started out wanting to share my story with others who have lost a life partner… the difficult days and the not so difficult… letting others know that you aren’t alone in what you are feeling… not sure I have connected with those people particularly, but quite a few people seem to appreciate my posts so I continue…

clouds through the trees...

clouds through the trees…

this morning the sky was very lovely and I took a few photos… the colour isn’t exactly right, but it is what the camera caught…

clouds from the deck...

clouds from the deck…

have been noticing that it is much darker in the morning now… since the beginning of the week it has been very noticeable…  having to turn on a light to get dressed…

sky from the car mid morning...

sky from the car mid morning…

ran out with a colleague to do an errand and caught the view above… the sun shone for the remainder of the day and it rained a bit just before I got home…