27 Sunday Mar 2022
Posted in family, food, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolates, daughter, family, hot tub, mid-day, moments, packed, suitcases, Tony Roma's, weather, widow
today, we had one hot tub mid-day and a final one is planned for just before bed…
laundry was done and bags were packed…
a favourite meal was ordered and enjoyed…
we visited, napped, and ate chocolate…
things are lined up at the door for the very early morning trip to the airport…
it was a wonderful time and I enjoyed every single minute;-)…
26 Saturday Mar 2022
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, company, daughter, garden, hot tub, moments, nature, own, sleep, weather, widow
we’ve been out in the hot tub every night since my daughter arrived for this short vacation… I have been enjoying the company…
it has been great as I hadn’t been in it for quite a while… the deep snow had kept me from opening it up…
today has been quiet as she headed out to visit with friends and is spending the night away…
I must say that time in the hot tub before bed really improves my sleep, so I am going to go out on my own tonight, lol…
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…
31 Thursday Dec 2020
Posted in garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, camera, daughter, flowers, garden, home, Instagram, joy, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, orchid, photos, plants, pond, purple, remembering, walk, widow
last evening I spent time on Instagram… people tend to put up their nine most liked photos of the year, but I decided to put up my nine favourite ones…
I was thinking they would be flowers, with maybe a bird or piece of chocolate included…
once I finished, there were seven with flowers, one bird and a monarch butterfly…
looking through the pictures reminded me of some wonderful times over this past year…
my orchids, which provide such joy for me all year long…
planting, growing and enjoying morning glories, datura and dahlias…
time spent, with and without cameras, viewing the birds in the garden…
a rose along the sidewalk on one of the walks I took this year, with my daughter in my ear;-)…
the amazing time I spent over the summer with eggs, caterpillars and butterflies… and the day my grandson and I watched the butterflies appear…
time with hearts and flower bouquets…
the water lily flowers that erupted in the pond… had the most blooms ever this summer… and I hope to overwinter them in the aquarium…
lovely reminders of a crazy, but wonderfully special year…
29 Tuesday Dec 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, daughter, dishes, family, gift, macadamia, Maui, memories, moments, treat, widow
yesterday I had one of the chocolate covered macadamia nut clusters that were part of my Christmas present from the kids in Ottawa…
for fun, I went and found one of the little dishes that we took to Hawaii when we went in April of 2019… it looked very cute with the nut cluster on it…
so happy that we were able to go, and have such wonderful memories from our time there…
as I ate the chocolate I spent time remembering the same chocolates that we enjoyed throughout our trip;-)…
13 Sunday Sep 2020
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, daughter, fun, Google Duo, moments, notes, package, Qantu Chocolate, tasting, Technology, treat, widow
received a chocolate tasting package from my daughter months ago…
we finally got together via Google Duo and did the tasting together… the last time I participated in one was over Christmas in her dining room… it was set up beautifully…
this one was certainly different… I didn’t think to put them on a pretty plate, but did have them lined up and with the note pages… in the end I felt very happy and enjoyed what I had learned… she really helped me discover the different notes of the five pieces of chocolate;-)…
my favourite was a Qantu 70% Chuncho bar…
next time it would be fun to have a few other people participate and hear their thoughts;-)…
29 Friday May 2020
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chihuly, chocolate, chocolate tasting, daughter, family, garden, happy, mail, masks, moments, purple, stickers, treats, widow
on Sunday as it was raining out a bit I came into the house and decided to do another of the puzzles from the Brain Games Sticker by Number In The Garden book that was one of the treats in the package that arrived from my daughter last Friday…
it included a number of items and was one (or two!) of my Advent All Year parcels:-)… she is trying to only go to the Post Office occasionally… besides the fun sticker book, there was a Chihuly postcard to colour, a Soma Coconut chocolate bar, a very cool magnetic bookmark, two face masks and a chocolate tasting!
pretty fine haul… we’d been expecting it since Tuesday and each day were disappointed when it didn’t arrive…
her app told her it had arrived and she texted and called me to check the mail as she didn’t want the chocolate to be out in the sun for too long, lol… she was on the phone as I brought it in and we had a lovely visit as I opened each piece of the package… right after we got off the phone, I did the first puzzle – a vase filled with lilacs, which we both love…
since then I’ve used the bookmark, eaten some of the chocolate bar but haven’t started on colouring the postcard… I haven’t been out yet so haven’t used the face masks, which one of her good friends made for me…
once she knew I had received the package she emailed me instructions on the chocolate tasting, which she had also sent to 3 friends in Winnipeg… I think we’ve also decided to do a Skype or Google Duo together for the chocolate tasting… should be fun…
not sure which picture I will do next:-)…
05 Tuesday May 2020
Tags
bag, big girl pants, blessed, boiled, daughter, delicious, dinner, Florida, Hawaii, Maui, memories, moments, remembering, Shrimp Hale, taste, vacation, walk, widow
someone recently talked about taking the time to enjoy eating, whether it is a snack, a meal, a treat…
tonight I had shrimp with cocktail sauce for my dinner…
while I was eating, I was remembering…
many years ago I flew to Florida with a dear family friend on vacation… I was there in case she had any problems with her health… we had a wonderful time and I enjoyed every minute with her…
one of the things you could do there was order cooked shrimp while shopping at the grocery store… while you shopped they were boiled and bagged for you to take home fresh… many evenings we peeled these delicious cold shrimp for our dinner as we discussed our day and life in general…
the other special memory was when we were in Hawaii last year and went to Shrimp Hale… it was a little restaurant in a strip mall just a short walk from where we were staying that we just happened upon…
the shrimp were boiled, butter, garlic and fresh lemon were added, and it was brought hot to the table in a plastic bag… we were given plastic bibs and gloves… the shells just went onto the paper on the table… it was such fun and so delicious…
such wonderful and special moments and memories… how blessed I am…
made my dinner taste even better…
21 Tuesday Apr 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
banyan, banyan tree, blessed, care, Cathedral Grove, daughter, kindness, Lahaina Maui, moments, nature, peaceful, respect, special, tree, vacation
a photo of the banyan tree in Lahaina came up in my Facebook feed this morning so I pulled out a few more…
I’ve been thinking of this particular tree for quite a while… it is the largest banyan tree in Hawaii, and covers an entire block… the aerial roots are astonishing… it is stunning, and also one of the most peaceful places I have been…
the area is filled with visitors, many, like we were, there from out of the country, but lots of regulars as well… a gathering place for lunch and work breaks, there were many of the town’s workforce in the space… it is also clearly a place where those who have very little spend their time… what was also obvious was how they cared for the place and treated it, and everyone there, with respect and kindness…
we visited it a few times while we stayed in Lahaina and it provided a wonderful break… the weather was very hot and it always provided shade and a slightly cooler place to be… each day as the sun goes down the tree is filled with the sound of hundreds of birds gathering there for the night…
before we left the town, it was the last place we stopped, to soak up the amazing feeling…
I took this panorama of a corner of the block…
this beauty of nature reminded me of Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, another breathtaking place which I will never forget…
I hope you have memories of a special tree…
13 Monday Apr 2020
Posted in family, food, life, moments, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, computer, daughter, Easter, family, Google Duo, options, Ottawa, son-in-law, supper, table, Technology, treat, widow
played with some technology so that I could have Easter dinner with the kids in Ottawa…
we tried two or three options and ended up using Google Duo… worked nicely, once we got it figured out after my son-in-law found it, lol…
they got a bit fancier with their table… I was focussed on getting the computer set up, lol…
I had roast chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, turnip, asparagus and cranberry jelly… they had homemade pasta, salad and chocolate bunnies:-)…
everything was delicious and it was a nice treat to eat with others…
herbiggirlpants 