recently I went outside and shovelled off the back deck…
a ton of snow had drifted there when we had that big snow a while back…
quite a bit of it had melted, but there was still a thick covering over most of the deck…
as I shovelled I came across a number of peanuts in the shell which had been left by the squirrels… I hope they won’t be too disappointed when they go looking for them, lol…
recently brought in two of my plants which had been on the deck for the last while…
the hibiscus spent the entire summer on the deck and when it came in it sat just inside the door as it acclimatized to the temperature and hopefully dropped any bugs… it took up a fair bit of room, lol… it was moved yesterday to the corner of the dining room and today has a bloom;-)…
the mandevilla had lived right in the garden and only recently started blooming… it was covered with a plastic bag and sat in the bathtub to suffocate any non-invited guests before moving into the dining room this morning…
it will stay there for a little while, but this may not be its final resting place…
had a lovely in-person gathering with my BS buddies…
Monday evening is our usual time to gather, and we’ve been doing that for many years…
since the lockdown we’ve been connecting via Skype, but for the last number of weeks we’ve been meeting on the deck in the garden, unless the weather doesn’t cooperate…
it is wonderful to be together again… we sit apart, but are able to enjoy each other with a cup of tea or coffee…
last night I made coffee, set out cushions on the deck, and watched some Olympics while I waited for my BS friends…
everyone is now two weeks since being double vaxed and we met outdoors… one was away, but everyone else turned up inperson…
it was the first time we’ve been physically together for our Monday evening gatherings in more than eighteen months…
I was pleased that the coffee turned out as it had been a very long time since I’d made any, but apparently the muscle memory was there, lol… and they told me it was good;-)…
we’ve been meeting via Skype each Monday, but it just hasn’t been the same…we’ve also found that we could only meet in that manner for about an hour as it is so much more tiring…
what a treat to be together… we had snacks, laughs and lots of chat…
after everyone left, I took a wander around the garden as the solar lights came on…
since the reminder in January that my eating habits had loosened up a bit too much, I’ve been eating less and much better…
I’ve also been reaching my step goal every day, even though it is not a huge goal…
I am walking a figure eight in the living and dining room, and sometimes on the deck… if I walk on the treadmill my hip gets really grumpy so I am not doing that just now…
sitting in the hot tub last night, remembering my beloved on what would have been his 72nd birthday, I was reminded of all the fun things we have done together during our forty plus years…
I’d been wanting a hot tub since our anniversary many years ago when he rented one for a weekend, but we couldn’t afford one until 2009…
once I chose the one I wanted, he built a deck to put it on, and then a deck to go in front of it… easy to get to, it is now perfect for dips… he never loved the hot tub the way I did, but wanted me to be happy…
when we had friends over (you remember that, right?) for a hot tub, if we needed a drink or towel or anything, we’d bang on the wall of the house and he would come out to see what was required, lol… he’d also take photos when I wanted them…
with the new security light/camera on the garage, I have to go to the side door of the garage and turn off the power so that the light doesn’t keep coming on while I’m in the tub… thankfully the deck goes right there so it is easy to get to and from…
some of our best talks happened late at night in this hot tub… I sure do miss him…
we often get a bit of snow before Halloween, but it usually disappears… not sure that is going to happen this year…
I went out to the garden, dug the shovels out of the garage and shovelled off the top deck and by the hot tub… I set up a few spots for bird seed…
this winter I am going to keep the top deck clear so that I can feed the birds… last year the kids didn’t come by to shovel and my guy only does the bottom so the deck became impassible… still need to figure out how to attach a feeder to the deck…
with retirement, I can clean the deck whenever it works best for me, or a little at a time, lol…
my youngest grandson and I spent a few days together… it was lovely as we don’t get to spend the amount of one-on-one time that I have with the other boys…
we did a few chores around the garden and spent a great amount of time with the monarch butterflies…
we planned meals, watched the fish, birds and squirrels, and talked about life… he was even happy to take a selfie with me;-)…
we made stuffing muffins (chicken stuffing put into muffin pans), one of his favourites, lol… we had chicken and mashed potatoes for our supper to go along with the muffins… we made twice stuffed potatoes for our second supper and he reminded me to put in green onions as he likes the flavour they add to food now…
we watched the space station fly over from the hot tub…
we slept out on the decks… he thought it was a very funny thing to do, but got right into it, bringing out his comforter, a blanket and pillows;-)… I slept in the gravity chair, which wasn’t as comfortable as the lounger I normally use…
he played games with his friends on his phone and watched tv shows when it was too hot (and maybe boring) for him outside…
how wonderful it was for me to have these special moments with this young man;-)…
herbiggirlpants 