07 Thursday Jun 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
been thinking about poppies…
over the last forty years we’ve always had poppies in the garden… some years there would be fifteen or twenty … other years, maybe three…
the spring following George’s death there were over fifty…
it was amazing and so beautiful… seemed like he was here with me…
this year there are plants, but not a single bloom…
03 Sunday Jun 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
ban, beloved, big girl pants, bush, flowers, garden, hanging baskets, Japanese Maple, lilac, neighbour, plants, shopping, widow
so excited to take photos of the lilacs in the garden…
they are beautiful and I plan to cut some for the office tomorrow morning…
I did have a little giggle when I looked across the street and saw the lilac bush filled with blooms…
when we removed the lilacs from the backyard, many years ago, our neighbour planted one small piece and this is what it has grown into… we used to laugh when one of her boys would take a golf club to it occasionally when he was having a bad day, lol…
had lunch out with my daughter and eldest grandson and we picked up a few items for the garden…
most excited with the Japanese Maple bowl I discovered… will put it out in the garden once the weather stays more on the warm side…
ended up with three hanging baskets, some lobelia, a fancy eggplant, and a little white hydrangea… also found a water lily and a few other water plants…
apparently the province has banned water hyacinth which is crazy… although it is a noxious weed in the south, it dies here in the cold… I haven’t even been able to get it to stay alive in the aquarium over the winter… very disappointing as the water hyacinth multiply and cover the top of the pond providing protection from the light/algae and a safe place for baby fish to grow…
while we were shopping, saw these cute little three year old parrots that were riding on their owner’s shoulder as she wandered around the garden centre…
02 Saturday Jun 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
having a hard day… been ages since I’ve had one this bad…
a few things have happened over the last week which have made me wish my beloved was here with me… he was always my biggest supporter…
never know when the grief will overwhelm you, sigh…
spotted these yesterday… he loved alliums…
01 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, bill, call, customer, expensive, helpful, iPhone, loyal, phone, reward, ridiculous, widow
this afternoon I spent half an hour talking with a few people at the phone company…
we have been customers for forty-eight years and use all of the services that they provide…
the last bill was ridiculous, especially for one person…
when I was travelling in April I had added unlimited calling to my cell phone so I wanted to have that taken off…
while I was talking with Ella she found things we could change that would bring my bill down by around $30 per month…
then she put me on the line with Melanie to see if they could do anything to reward me for being a loyal customer…
she found a few items and my bill will be reduced by over $75 for the next six months…
seems to me they might consider a permanent reduction, but for now I have marked my calendar and will call them again in six months… rather frustrating that I have to be on top of this all the time…
I must say the two women I spoke with were very helpful…
21 Monday May 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, clematis, frame, garden, hot tub, plug, Shadow, shopping, trellis, widow
yesterday when we were out we picked up two trellises…
had to replace the sunshine frame that the clematis grew up on the wall at the side of the house… last year when the roofers were here it got broken in a couple of spots…
here is a photo from a while back that shows how it used to look…below the frame my beloved had placed chicken wire to help the clematis make it up to the frame, lol…
and this is how it looks today…
the timing was great because it is just starting to leaf out… it was funny to see the shadow of the frame on the wall when we took it off… you can actually spot the curve in the centre at the top of the trellises… should have taken a picture, lol…
also going to be easier to pull out and plug in the hot tub…
looks great;-)… might just pick up another clematis to add to it…
08 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
adventure, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, blog, cathartic, daily, journey, memories, moments, posts, widow, WordPress
this is my 2000th blog post…
seems like forever since that December day when I signed in to WordPress to see how it worked… and wrote the first post… that was five years, five months and eight days ago…
over time I came to the decision that I would post something every day… and since I made that choice, have managed to accomplish that goal…
I have written about many of the processes that were involved to finish and close an estate, daily struggles and small steps in my new journey as I wear those big girl pants…
it has been cathartic…
every day is a new adventure…
18 Wednesday Apr 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, birthday, blessed, flowers, memories, sentiments, sun, widow
very early this morning, as I was waking up, I heard the geese fly overhead… what a lovely way to begin my birthday…
sunshine and warm temperatures also contributed to a great day…
had a rose and balloons and a card filled with lovely sentiments…
throughout the day texts came, phone calls of people singing happy birthday, emails, Facebook posts, a gift card…
all of which made me feel very special…
missing my beloved but wearing those big girl pants, lol…
and as I write this, more geese are flying overhead…
I truly am blessed…
17 Tuesday Apr 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
accident, beloved, big girl pants, car, complicated, steps, widow
was talking with someone who recently lost a parent…
we were commiserating on the steps and costs of dealing with a death…
it has been a reminder of all the difficult times that we went through when my beloved died…
on the weekend relived a bit of the trauma around the car… after he died, it had to be repaired and detailed following the accident and then I had to have it safetied so that my name could go on the lease instead of his…
so many complicated steps… hard…
14 Saturday Apr 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, hot tub, iced, knee, play, PTE, temperature, widow
the silly hot tub is still not working properly… spent some time at the store and have a few more things to try… the temperature was 101 when I left home and when I returned it was 98… not really the direction I was hoping for, sigh…
spent some time with my leg up and iced it before being picked up to go to our last PTE play of the year…
leg is feeling good and the play was funny…
10 Tuesday Apr 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, deal, drugs, family, friends, health, knee, remembering, surgery, widow
the recent problem with my knee has reminded me of some of the health issues I’ve overcome in the last ten years…
in 2010 I spent six weeks in hospital with pancreatitis and gall bladder surgery… during that time I was constantly throwing up – one of the things I most hate to do… I remember being so scared when we drove away from the hospital, wondering if I would ever feel better… at that time I still had a drainage tube in my side and felt nauseated all the time… but I had my beloved by my side as I slowly recovered…
in 2012 I spent 3 days in hospital when I had a combined hysterectomy and hernia repair… within eight hours of the surgery I had stopped taking any medications… the pain was easier to deal with than the crazy reactions I had to the drugs… this was just a few months after the loss of my beloved… I remember the drive home which was excruciating as we drove over potholes… I couldn’t lift anything for six weeks, had moved into the main floor bedroom and had friends come to stay to look after me… recovery was a slow painful process…
thinking of the events above has pointed out to me that this knee business is really not a big deal, lol…
sometimes looking back can help deal with the present…
what I have learned is that I need to take care of myself when I am not 100%…
herbiggirlpants 