08 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
while I was at The Leaf the other day, I got some great photos of various bulbs…
the amaryllis were beautiful and there were lots of them;-)…
I also spotted a variety I had not seen before…
and then I found this lovely white hyacinth;-)…
wasn’t able to smell it, lol…
I expect that they will all be gone the next time I visit…
07 Wednesday Jan 2026
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, hoarfrost, moments, nature, nonetheless, rime, trees, walk, weather, widow
went for a walk the other morning and admired the gorgeous trees…
I’m not sure if it was hoarfrost, or rime, or something else, but it was beautiful…
the ones on my street were lovely;-)…
this one was clearly snow but beautiful nonetheless;-)…
and this morning there was more beauty…
04 Sunday Jan 2026
Posted in family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blowing, family, leaf blower, moments, nature, shovelled, snow, weather, widow
Saturday morning I wandered around the house going to each window to look out and take photos of the beauty outside…
it snowed a lot overnight, but the lovely light kind of snow… the trees were gorgeous…
sometime later my housemate was outside blowing the steps and sidewalks…
he doesn’t like to be photographed, lol…
on his return home later he made sure the driveway was shovelled…
I truly am blessed;-)…
02 Friday Jan 2026
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, boxes, Christmas, grandson, moments, ornaments, undecorating, widow
spent New Year’s Eve and New Year’s morning undecorating the Christmas tree and putting away the ornaments (with a little assistance from my housemate)… even found a few for the pass-along box… the snow people also found their way into the appropriate container…
it always seems to be a much quicker process than decorating, lol… and I put some plants back into the window…
finished by putting away the trees which, besides being on the stairs, were in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom;-)…
likely I will still find one or two ornaments that were missed, lol…
01 Thursday Jan 2026
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, first-foot, hot tub, moments, picky, weather, widow
prepped my first-footer bag with a few additional items… besides the usual coal, an orange, and a little bottle of Bailey’s; added in some cookies, a toonie, salt, and chocolate…
then, just after midnight, I put on my coat and boots, walked around the house from the backdoor and first-footed myself;-)…
I used to be very picky and insisted on a dark-haired male, but have come to the realization that a dark-haired woman is equally as good;-)…
after that I changed and went out for my first hot tub of the new year…
the temperature was -32° C with the windchill, but once I got in, it was quite lovely… it was overcast, so no stars, and I could hear fireworks going off in various areas, lol…
what a lovely way to begin the year;-)…
30 Tuesday Dec 2025
Posted in garden, health, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
today, I finished my hundredth book of 2025…
I am very happy… I would have done better except for one book which I didn’t like, so kept on putting reading off, lol… but I did finish it…
so many of the books were enjoyed in the garden over the spring, summer, and fall;-)…
I need to work on putting a book aside, without finishing it, if I don’t like it, lol…
29 Monday Dec 2025
Posted in life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, door, door handle, family, fixed, grandson, housemate, loosening, moments, oven, widow
went to finish the chicken soup, and noticed the oven was on, so I tried to open the door and the handle came right off…
it had been loosening before and I would just tighten it…
my housemate and I couldn’t put the handle back on because the oven was hot… we left it to cool and then tried again…
when we went to open it, the inside sort of separated… I was hoping this allowed us to get to the window that we could clean…
unfortunately, it was not the one, although we did clean this portion…
next he went out and bought some loctite to make sure the handle stayed on… we weren’t able to get to the really messed up window, but the important thing was to get the handle back on the door, which was being held closed by the stepstool…
now it is fixed… we will see if it comes loose again…
28 Sunday Dec 2025
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
appetizers, big girl pants, blessed, busy, Christmas, family, food, grandson, mid-day, moments, shrimp, weather, widow
my grandson usually arrives here on Christmas day around noon…
our current tradition is to have appetizers for our mid-day meal as he may have already had breakfast and will be heading out for dinner a bit later in the day…
we had wandered the aisles at the grocery store picking up things that looked fun…
we had shrimp dumplings, fancy cheese fries, tempura shrimp, wontons, veggies and dip, sausage rolls, and a shrimp ring… lots of shrimp on that list, lol…
this year we did stockings for each other, which was great… it has been many years since I had a stocking…
it was filled with a great many treats…
then the second round of presents were opened, and I was royally spoiled;-)…
although he only had a few gifts he was very pleased with them…
we sat around and visited before he had to leave for his next engagement, lol…
I truly am blessed to have this thoughtful young man in my life;-)…
27 Saturday Dec 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
adventure buddy, big girl pants, blessed, driver, Elf - The Musical, mesmerized, moments, MTC, volunteered, widow
this week my adventure buddy and I volunteered at MTC a couple of times… both shows were sold out…
it was the first time either of us had done this and we enjoyed the experience… there are around 20 volunteers at each performance and you have the opportunity to choose which of the spots you would like to work at…
there were people from every age and even the littlest kids were mesmerized;-)…
we saw the show from both sides and were pleased because it was so different depending on the side, and who was in front of us, lol…
we were especially lucky to have our own personal driver for both shows…
kind of look like twins;-)…
26 Friday Dec 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas morning, dripped, moments, strawberries, waffles, whipping cream, widow
on Wednesday I made waffles to have on Christmas morning…
of course a few were too filled and the batter dripped out around the edges, lol…
most went into the freezer, but two stayed out for the morning…
fresh strawberries were sliced into a jar and a teaspoon of sugar went in as well…
in the morning, the cream was whipped with the immersion blender and one waffle went onto a baking tray to warm in the oven…
then, everything was combined for a delicious breakfast;-)…
herbiggirlpants 