21 Sunday Sep 2025
Posted in business, family, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
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Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, family, memories, memory stones, moments, nature, Technology, wearing, weather, widow
when I went to the Park Cafe for brunch on Thursday, I stopped to check out the memory stones that the Ottawa kids had purchased for me;-)…
I’ve visited them enough that it is easy to find them…
sadly, much of the wording on the stones is wearing away…
17 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in business, health, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
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Assiniboine Park, beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, magnolia, Mediterranean biome, memories, moments, nature, scent, tree, widow
this magnolia seems to be blooming one or two buds at a time…
saw some beautiful trees filled with magnolia blooms in Courtenay, BC, more than fifteen years ago and I still remember how amazing the scent was…
unfortunately, this tree is too high up to be able to enjoy the scent, but it is lovely to spot new blooms…
24 Thursday Apr 2025
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
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Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, blown over, cut, garden, moments, nature, pergola, plants, shocked, trees, weather, widow
on a recent walk to the Park and around the gardens I was rather shocked to see how many trees had been removed throughout the forest between the walking bridge and the gardens as well as in the gardens…
there were still trees that had fallen or been blown over…
and it appeared that the pergola in the Leo Mol pond area had been completely rebuilt or else it had been sandblasted…
lots of changes since I was there in the Fall;-)…
22 Sunday Dec 2024
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
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Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, bridge, cacao, cacao pods, cacao trees, favourite, happy, koi, moments, nature, plants, The Leaf, tropical biome, two, widow
I have two favourite spots in the Tropical Biome…
I always stop and visit with the cacao trees to see how they are doing, particularly as my daughter loves to visit them when she’s in town, lol…
and then there are the koi… standing on the bridge watching them swim around is such a joyful time for me…
they move much slower at night as many of them as sleeping, but I got a nice picture of this one… it is usually difficult to get good photos because of the light reflecting in the water so I was pleased with this one…
we are truly blessed to have this wonderful spot to visit all year round;-)…
29 Tuesday Oct 2024
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
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Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, Canada geese, geese, ignored, leaves, moments, nature, path, walk, weather, widow
walked to and from the Park yesterday…
met up with a number of Canada geese, but happily they all ignored me and everyone else on the paths…
noticed that the Assiniboine was very low…
and the path was covered in leaves, pretty…
such a beautiful place;-)…
22 Tuesday Oct 2024
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
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Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, focaccia, food, gather, moments, mussels, ragu, supper, Technology, The Leaf, treat, watch, widow
our most recent visit to Gather Craft Kitchen & Bar at The Leaf was great…
we had a bit of a giggle because we were seated exactly where we were the last time we were there, lol…
it is a nice spot as you can people watch as everyone is entering and leaving The Leaf…
I had mussels, which were tasty… we shared some focaccia bread, and my grandson had the beef short rib ragu…
always a treat ;-)…
20 Sunday Oct 2024
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
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Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, bonsai, family, garden, grandson, lush, making memories, moments, nature, Technology, The Leaf, thrived, treat, widow
another delightful visit to The Leaf…
we arrived around 4:30 pm Thursday and the biomes were nearly empty of people… which was wonderful for us;-)…
it really is astonishing how the plants have thrived since the opening in December 2022…
the Tropical biome is lush with greenery and it was fun to notice changes since I was last there…
then we moved into the Mediterranean biome… for the first time ever, it was very cool…
the Yasuragi display is lovely… we spent quite a bit of time studying the bonsai and noting how old many of them were…
what an amazing art-form…
can’t wait to go back and enjoy this beautiful space…
15 Tuesday Oct 2024
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, birthday buddy, blessed, breakfast, bridge, friends, gardens, moments, nature, Park Cafe, pedestrian, running shoes, time, walk, weather, widow
the other day, I drove to the pedestrian bridge and walked over to the Park Café where I met a birthday buddy for breakfast and a visit…
I would usually walk but one of my feet was a tad unhappy, so only walking partway made sense…
I even wore running shoes😳…
usually we meet between our birthdays, but this year got a bit hectic, lol…
I had falafel with red pepper hummus and we talked the entire time…
then I had a quick walk through the English and Leo Mol Gardens before making my way back to the car and driving home…
and, my foot didn’t bother me;-)…
12 Thursday Sep 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, English Garden, flowers, gardens, happy, moments, nature, path, stunning, treat, walk, weather, widow
had a wonderful time Tuesday morning as I wandered through the English and Leo Mol Gardens…
it was the first time in months since I’ve walked to the Park… took a minute to remember which path to take, lol…
the gardens are in full bloom and look amazing…
besides the gorgeous flowers, I was able to watch a number of stunning birds, including hummingbirds, as they flitted about all the flowers…
these two photos have one in each of them, but both are rather blurry and hard to spot…
such a wonderful way to spend the morning;-)…
23 Friday Feb 2024
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, biomes, blessed, flowers, happy, koi, moments, nature, orchidaceae, orchids, plants, pond, The Leaf, widow
just for fun I thought I would show some of the orchidaceae that we saw at Flora of the Philippines on Tuesday…
couldn’t help myself, lol…
there were a few other things that I photographed, lol… my buddies, the fish, were swimming around the pond…
we also saw some flowers on the very top of one of the first trees you see on entering the Tropical Biome… we only saw them thanks to a recommendation by one of the volunteers;-)…
another great visit…
herbiggirlpants 