Tag Archives: big girl pants

three surprises…

15 Monday Jul 2013

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three lovely surprises today…

our Mexico Vacation books arrived this afternoon… they are lovely and show all the fun we had when we were there… we have one for each family to keep… it is nearly six months since we were there, and the book brings back lots of memories of the fun times we had when we were all together…

Mexico Vacation book...

Mexico Vacation book…

when I got home I checked the pond out and realized that someone had been by and watered the hydrangeas – one of which is looking exceptionally sad…

checked the phone and had a message telling me that a light had been installed in the waterfall portion of the pond and that it had a remote control and could change colours…  I tried to take a picture of it purple, but it was a bit too dark to see anything but the purple light…  will have to take another picture tomorrow night before it gets too dark…

then one of our BS group who has been living in Regina and popping into and out of Winnipeg arrived in person for our Monday night gathering… another of the group made it as well while the two remaining members were off to the lake and out for dinner…

we had a lovely visit on the deck and enjoyed the breeze while we chatted…

all in all, a wonderful day…

 

parsley…

12 Friday Jul 2013

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I buy parsley to plant every year in the garden… and I buy two or three plants of it… but, it’s not for me or my family to eat… I plant it for the caterpillars… particularly swallowtails…

this one turned up about a week ago and the boys were busy watching it… it was very small when they were here that day…

yesterday it was crawling around the top of the pot and had grown by leaps and bounds… and the parsley has been decimated… so I put another pot with some in it right beside the empty one, lol…

caterpillar crawling around the parsley pot...

caterpillar crawling around the parsley pot…

this morning, I thought it was going into its cocoon, but when I got home later it was gone so I’m not sure what the deal is… will keep watching…

caterpillar hanging from the step this morning...

caterpillar hanging from the step this morning…

fish family…

11 Thursday Jul 2013

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stopped on my way home and picked up a bunch of feeder fish, as well as two lovely shubunkins…

once home fifty went into the big pond along with the two shubunkins… that pond how has fifty-six fish in it…

spent some time with the pond next to the garage and got it filled and put another ten feeder fish into it…

then spent the rest of the evening beside the big pond, enjoying the sound, watching the fish and reading…

waterfall running...

waterfall running…

funny thing is that it looks like there might be a dozen fish in it, lol…

 

spectacular day…

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

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the day started with an early morning hot tub while one of the neighbourhood squirrels yelled at something in the lane for about ten minutes…  made me think of George…

pond this morning...

pond this morning…

he and a particular squirrel had quite the relationship… the squirrel had taken up residence in the garage and George couldn’t get him out of there no matter what he tried… it got so that whenever George walked out into the backyard, the squirrel would start chattering at him… not a problem if I was out there, but the minute that George stepped out of the back door or out of the garage the squirrel would start yelling…

eventually we caught him and drove him out to the Silver Heights forest and let him go there… we hoped he wouldn’t be able to find his way back… and we don’t think he did, lol…

after the hot tub I got ready and headed to the office… it was our staff appreciation day, so we were starting late…  as I drove down the little lane next to our building I was pleased to discover that the GIANT potholes had been repaired, at last… wonderful…

then we were treated to breakfast and had some training on new technology, followed by gifts for everyone and lunch out on the patio at The Met… very well appreciated we were…

gifts and boxes with appreciation notes...

gifts and boxes with appreciation notes…

we left early and when I got home my pond was done… there were a few tiny things that needed to be adjusted, but the guys stopped by shortly after I arrived and fixed everything up…  I am very happy with the whole thing…

pond at 2 pm...

pond at 2 pm…

the kids came over and we ran out and did a bit of shopping and came home for Chinese food to celebrate the lovely backyard…

I hung baskets and planted a few things that I had waiting… Jeff and the little boys went out in search of feeder fish, but only found a couple of shubunkins which they added to the pond and they also brought out the two fish from their winter condo…

pond at 9 pm...

pond at 9 pm…

what a wonderful day…

yoga…

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

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usually I take part in yoga on Friday… we have a yoga instructor come to the office and use our lunch hour for our class… we are very lucky as our workplace subsidizes this as part of our Health and Wellness program…

Friday yoga started out as restorative… since then it has also included yin and something else I can’t remember… the point is, it is more relaxed… I have been taking part for a few years and have gone through ups and downs regarding how much I have been able to do during that time with my various health issues…

for five weeks I will be having Fridays off and I decided to try Tuesday yoga to see if I might take that class so I get some exercise during the week…

Tuesday yoga is the real deal, so I wasn’t sure how it would go, but today I checked it out… I was worried but went anyway…

well, it is certainly more strenuous, lol… my classmates are amazing and when I see what they can do, I am hopeful that some day I might be more flexible… they did tell me that the class was much more difficult than usual…

at the end of the class I was in tears just thinking that last year, and even the year before, I couldn’t do downward dog for more than a second or two… today I held that pose while the others were doing something way more complicated… but the point was that I was able to hold the pose for quite a long period of time…

I have grown in strength and flexibility over these few years and look forward to more Tuesday classes… just hope they aren’t always so hard…

tonight while speaking with my daughter on the phone, I had to go see who was making all the noise in the back yard… Mr Goldfinch was singing to Mrs Goldfinch while she was having her dinner…

goldfinch singing away on a wire just outside the back door...

Goldfinch singing away on a wire just outside the back door…

feel a bit like I was singing myself… little steps on the journey… my beloved would be so proud of me…

today’s pond construction…

08 Monday Jul 2013

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today I got home and was excited to see that more sod had been put down… to deal with the grass that was destroyed by the construction…

some of the items in the yard have been cleaned up from all the rock dust and… the bridge has been put down…

I didn’t walk over it just yet… want to be sure it is ready…

more soil has been arranged and I am looking forward to the landscaping…

the one sad thing is that the water isn’t running and I am missing the beautiful sound…

we shall see what tomorrow brings…

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what a year…

07 Sunday Jul 2013

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this morning I continued working a bit in the side garden… slowly but surely I am getting it tidied up…last year at this time I wasn’t able to do much of anything due to my health… I was lucky to find a wonderful woman who came and tidied up the garden for me…

side garden after more weeding... 3/4 done...

side garden after more weeding… 3/4 done…

about this time last year I was getting my personal affairs in order, because I was expecting to die on the operating table when I had surgery in mid July…

was told on May 22nd, over the phone, that I had cancer of the uterus… I had been waiting for hernia surgery for some time and, after this diagnosis, worked with my doctors to ensure that the hernia surgery I needed would take place at the same time as the hysterectomy…

in my mind I was sure that I was going to die, and so I went about organizing all of my affairs… had a new will written, as well as power of attorney and a health directive… made sure that the money from George’s insurance policies was easily accessible… I wanted to be sure that the girls would have a simpler time with my estate because I didn’t want them to go through all the struggles I had with George’s…

it wasn’t until just the week before my surgery that I began to think I might live through it…

and here it is, nearly a year later… I am healthy, happy and enjoying life… putting on those big girl pants is not nearly as difficult as it was…

missing my beloved every day but moving forward on this journey…

laughter and lazing…

06 Saturday Jul 2013

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got up at eight with the boys… they had cereal on the deck and we discussed our plans for the morning… decided to see if Daddy wanted to meet us for breakfast at the “A”… then we watered the new sod and some plants before everyone but me got bored… cartoons for them and tea on the deck for me… we did spot a goldfinch and some squirrels in the garden…

before we knew it, it was time to head over for breakfast… as we walked down the back lane by the toboggan hills I thought of George walking along holding their hands just a few years ago and how excited they were to be with him…

they ran up the hill and rolled down on our way to breakfast… lots of laughter and even spotted a red-winged blackbird for me… if you move through the pictures fast enough you can almost see the motion… should have taken a video, lol…

running and rolling 1...

running and rolling 1…

running and rolling 2...

running and rolling 2…

running and rolling 3...

running and rolling 3…

running and rolling 4...

running and rolling 4…

running and rolling 5...

running and rolling 5…

after breakfast – Mommy came too – they headed home and I had a little lay down… then did some planting and rested for most of the day…

tested out not using the air conditioning and kept the house cool by closing windows when the sun was shining on them… worked very well…

had a lovely dinner of pickerel with fresh beets and greens and potato salad… again was thinking how much George loved beets…

I have wonderful memories of my beloved…

the pond…

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

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been thinking about those tv shows were they don’t let the family see what is going on with the construction…

we are at a pivotal stage in the construction I think… the yard is a muddy, wet, rock dusty mess… the waterfall looks too short… the pond doesn’t look like it is going to hold enough water… every part of the area is filthy… even my plants, deck and back door are covered…

sand and dust...

sand and dust…

it looks like a disaster area… I’m starting to think I just shouldn’t look back there until it is done…

trench for edging...

trench for edging…

tonight, I met with a couple of the staff at a landscape garden to choose plants to go around the pond… apparently we are getting close to the end…

waterfall rock at the back...

waterfall rock at the back…

I got completely lost and had to drive up and down McGillivray a couple of times before I eventually found the place…  once I finally got there, it was great to wander around and choose shrubs and other items to fill up the space…

there will be white hydrangeas, purple clematis, a white lilac, a wavy grass, some purple spiky things whose name escapes me right now and some white ground cover…

full view with the deck back in place...

full view with the deck back in place…

I already have water hyacinth, some other edge plants which were in the pond pre-construction and a couple of callas I bought last week…  a few baskets are also ready to be hung from the pergola that George built…

must go looking for a couple of water lilies to finish off the collection…

hmmm…

02 Tuesday Jul 2013

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first thing this morning I spotted a purple finch at the front bird feeder… from there the day went downhill a bit…

Purple Finch...

Purple Finch…

the kitchen sink appeared to be blocked, even though I thought I had unblocked it on Sunday, what with the big girl pants and all…  my son-in-law came over to check it out and discovered it was actually broken and leaking when the tap was running… he found George’s plumbing supplies and picked up a few things and thought he had it fixed, but not so… so he contacted a plumber friend of his to stop by and see if he can sort it out… now the plumber needs to come back in the next few days to fix it, sigh…

Jeff couldn’t even mow the grass while he waited, because the pond guys were busily working and had blocked the entrance to the shed where the lawnmower lives…

trying to sort out the landscaping for the new pond area seems to be a bit difficult as well… not sure exactly what plantings are included so look forward to getting this sorted out…

and their electrical guy is very busy so I am trying to connect with my guy to see if we can get this piece done in the next few days…

feels like the money is flying out the doors and windows, lol…

good news is that my colleague is back from a few days away and another colleague who has been off for a few months has also returned…