here is my tower of Christmas treats… it is beautiful…
I am eating my way through them, one piece at a time…
I have such wonderful friends;-)…
tower…
13 Wednesday Jan 2021
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tag Archives: blessed
contemplating…
12 Tuesday Jan 2021
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
artwork, big girl pants, blessed, cards, contemplating, moments, purple, reflect, widow
this morning I started a new activity…
for each of the next 24 days I am going to read and think on one of the cards that I received last year for Advent…
I really enjoyed the process then and am looking forward to this time of reflection each day…
I am going to start each day with a time of looking at the artwork and contemplating the quote on the back…
today I was thinking about how much sunshine can affect my mood and feeling of well-being… when the sun is shining everything seems more upbeat and positive…
where I live, we used to have a lot more sunny days… they are particularly helpful during the cold winter months, as even the cold seems more bearable in sunlight and blue skies…
I was reading some data which showed we averaged 51% sunny days between 1981 and 2010… for the past few years we have noticed that there is less sunshine that’s there used to be…
this morning, as I look out the window, the sky is blue… gonna be a good day😊…
skiing…
11 Monday Jan 2021
hoarfrost…
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…
goddess…
09 Saturday Jan 2021
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, calendar, Chihuly, daughter, enjoy, flowers, goddess, happy, memories, moments, nature, pictures, remembering, widow
for many years, since my trip to Seattle in 2013, I have had a Chihuly calendar… either my daughter or I have purchased them for Christmas gifts to one another…
this year that didn’t happen, so we were discussing how we missed it the other day…
she suggested that I make one using Vistaprint… I had gone online and found them on the Chihuly Garden and Glass website, but the shipping charge was more than double the cost of the calendar…
so I did… I used the photos from our visit in 2016… it took about an hour to prepare and order…
that was on Monday… on Thursday it arrived;-)… it is beautiful, the photos came out clear and crisp and it is just slightly smaller than the Chihuly ones…
I am very happy…
I had fallen in love with a photo of the garden goddess many years ago that was taken in Montreal… on one of my visits to see the kids in Ottawa, we planned a visit to see it… unfortunately the picture was old and the structure was not in the garden…
in 2015, my daughter sent me information about a goddess structure in Atlanta, and that there was a Chihuly installation happening as well in 2016… I was very excited and so away we went…
it was a special time… I am going to enjoy this calendar…
dining…
08 Friday Jan 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dining, flowers, garden, moments, music, orchid, photos, plants, pleasant, purple, trimmed, widow
spent a lovely hour in the dining room garden recently…
trimmed up, and cut back, the mandevilla and fuchsia… they have both lost most of their leaves but are still alive…
I am hopeful that they will both perk up… the mandevilla looks lovely now…
listened to music and felt such happiness… before you know it, spring will be here…
today I took some photos of the garden, including the blooming orchid…
threshold…
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…
kick-off…
03 Sunday Jan 2021
Tags
barbecue, big girl pants, blessed, bunny, celebrate, garden, kick-off, lobster, moments, snow, steak, treat, widow, wine
on New Year’s Day, I barbecued steak and lobster for my dinner…
the weather was lovely which made standing around in the garage comfortable, lol…
as I came and went, I would visit with the bunny that was hanging around at the back of the garden…
was pleased with how both the steak and lobster turned out, particularly as I so rarely use the barbecue…
and there were mushrooms, a baked potato and melted butter… and a tiny glass of wine…
a great way to kick-off the new year…
scraped…
02 Saturday Jan 2021
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, grandson, hug, ladder, mask, moments, nature, scraped, shovelling, snow, son-in-law, touch, widow
my son-in-law and grandson came over today to shovel…
of course, he helps, lol… the oldest grandson tends to drop off the shoveler and run a few errands for me…
an excellent job, as ice and packed snow were scraped off and everything looks tidy;-)… he also spotted a piece of siding that had come loose so he went and found the ladder and then got it hooked in… it may need a bit more work in the spring…
I went outside with a mask on to visit with them for a few moments… as they were leaving he covered his face with his hat and came and gave me a big hug…
nice to touch someone;-)…
truffle…
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…
herbiggirlpants 