01 Monday Feb 2021
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
always learning, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cleaning, family, fish, fish tank, lifting, moments, nature, widow
as I was cleaning the fish tank it made me think of how much I have learned over the past year…
I now can clean and replace filters and the other bits and pieces of the tank…
since my beloved’s passing, my son-in-law and grandson have done all the heavy lifting with the fish…
but, as they aren’t coming into the house, I’ve learned how to do the required maintenance…
24 Sunday Jan 2021
had the fireplace channel on while I was writing my blog last night and was reminded of all the lovely fires we have had over the years…
my beloved loved wood fires and would often fall asleep in front of the fire in the basement family room… it was always difficult to start but he would use the vacuum to get the smoke to start up the chimney…
I haven’t used it since he died and last year had to have the chimney removed as it was rusting from the inside… didn’t seem worth the cost of replacing all of the pieces..
sometimes I miss it…
24 Sunday Jan 2021
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, days, friends, garden, happy, meals, memories, moments, neighbours, normal, widow
today, as I sat in the living room looking out the window I spent a few happy moments remembering the wonderful neighbours we have had over the years…
our next door neighbours became our very good friends… when the girls were first born they would take them home so that we could eat our supper without interruption… the girls would go over to their house to see if “Uncle Buzz could come out to play?” and he did… we fed them on Wednesday nights and they babysat while we went bowling… at one point Ellen produced a cookbook for each of them with all of the recipes she made that we all loved…
the neighbour across the street made Barbie clothes and we shared many meals and coffee on the deck…
the neighbour a few houses down the lane would come and help my beloved with whatever project he was working on and they had such fun together…
the neighbour across the back lane shared their pool…
these days we aren’t quite as close to the neighbours, as all of those have gone, but they are all kind and caring in their own way…
made me think of today’s contemplating card;-)…
maybe, if the world ever returns to some semblance of normal, I will have them all over for a meal and time together;-)…
10 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, bunny, hoarfrost, memories, moments, nature, photos, remembering, trees, weather, widow
what a wonderful day yesterday… slept in, and when I got out of bed, saw hoarfrost on the trees out the bedroom window…
as I passed the window on the staircase, I spotted a bunny having a snack… first one I’ve seen on the deck this winter…
and the views out the window were wonderful… I even went outside a couple of times to get a few photos… some when it was overcast…
and some in the sunlight…
so beautiful, and a reminder of a day with my beloved when we took a drive to photograph hoarfrost…
05 Tuesday Jan 2021
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, doorway, family, first footing, friends, moments, New Year's Day, surprise, threshold, treat, widow
on New Year’s morning I was walking on the treadmill and happened to turn on the front camera to see if any birds were at the feeder…
there was a man standing there, so I ran upstairs to see what was going on…
it was a young friend with a gift in his hand… he said he was looking for coal… I had him step back, and put out a gift bag I had put coal and a scone into… anticipating that my middle grandson was coming over…
then he stepped over the threshold and put down the gift and gift bag and stepped back outside…
my daughter had sent a number of items to her friends and they had packaged them up and delivered them to my door…
for years we have done first-footing… this was by far the fanciest package, lol…
there was tea, charcoal shampoo, chocolate covered fruit, a Christmas cracker, little bottles of alcohol, sourdough chocolate, a delicious fresh banana chocolate chip muffin, an adorable tin with a cute gingerbread person in it and a fresh orange… and of course the chunk of coal;-)…
what a wonderful surprise… truly, I am blessed…
01 Friday Jan 2021
Posted in family, food, life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
appetizers, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, eating, family, lobster, memories, moments, Technology, truffle, widow
yesterday I had delicious snacks and dinner thanks to the kids in Ottawa…
early in the afternoon I started with some Prosecco popcorn, followed by sardines, olives, crackers and a bit of zucchini basil soup I prepared…
my supper consisted of beef bresaola, canned lobster, truffle potato chips and red peppers… it was a play on our usual New Year’s Eve dinner of steak and lobster…
then for dessert there were some delicious star shaped shortbread with a piece of chocolate in my holiday cracker…
of course, I couldn’t get the cracker to snap, as per usual…
throughout the day we chatted off and on and I focused on their time zone so that I could get to bed, lol…
ended the night with some sparkling wine and their voices…
24 Thursday Dec 2020
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, Christmas Eve, family, flowers, forty-seven, memories, moments, music, remembering, tree, widow
tonight, as I sit in the living room listening to Christmas music and enjoying the lights, flowers, and tree, I am remembering many Christmas Eve’s that have taken place in this house over the last forty-seven years…
once the girls arrived, our parents came here to celebrate the season…
when the kids were on their own and some had their own children, they came here for years… there were family members sleeping everywhere… had to be careful where you walked to be sure not to tread on anyone…
only in the last few years have we gone to the kids’ place which made it easier for everyone…
so many wonderful memories and fun times…
21 Monday Dec 2020
Posted in life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beautiful, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cold, home, memories, moments, sidewalk, snow, stay, weather, widow
what a beautiful view to wake up to on this first day of winter… everything was covered in a blanket of snow…
even more beautiful considering I don’t need to go out in it and can stay inside;-)…
well, I did shovel the sidewalk…
05 Saturday Dec 2020
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, deck, garden, happy, hot tub, light, memories, miss, moments, nature, Technology, time, widow
sitting in the hot tub last night, remembering my beloved on what would have been his 72nd birthday, I was reminded of all the fun things we have done together during our forty plus years…
I’d been wanting a hot tub since our anniversary many years ago when he rented one for a weekend, but we couldn’t afford one until 2009…
once I chose the one I wanted, he built a deck to put it on, and then a deck to go in front of it… easy to get to, it is now perfect for dips… he never loved the hot tub the way I did, but wanted me to be happy…
when we had friends over (you remember that, right?) for a hot tub, if we needed a drink or towel or anything, we’d bang on the wall of the house and he would come out to see what was required, lol… he’d also take photos when I wanted them…
with the new security light/camera on the garage, I have to go to the side door of the garage and turn off the power so that the light doesn’t keep coming on while I’m in the tub… thankfully the deck goes right there so it is easy to get to and from…
some of our best talks happened late at night in this hot tub… I sure do miss him…
04 Friday Dec 2020
Posted in business, family, food, life, loss, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
2020, beloved, big girl pants, birthday, blessed, commemorate, connecting, family, memories, moments, online, pivot, Technology, treat, widow
with everyone learning how to connect with family and friends over the last six months or so, my daughter reminded me that we have been doing this for years…
just today, a Facebook memory was of a gathering we had eight years ago… my daughter was in BC, my son-in-law was in northern Alberta, and the rest of us were here…
technology has come a long way since then and there are many ways to connect… the main ones I currently use are Skype, Google Duo and FaceTime… I’ve been using Skype Organize a Conference Call without going through my Skype account, but over the last few weeks going through my account is working much better… I think I need to learn a bit about Zoom…
still, always happy when it works fine…
herbiggirlpants 