29 Saturday May 2021
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, couple, ducks, friends, garden, mallards, moments, nature, purple, walk, widow
today I spotted a few visitors in the neighbourhood…
all day my baby bunny friend has been popping up in the garden… I think we are becoming friends, lol…
now it sits closer to me and for longer periods;-)…
later in the day, as I was getting my steps in, I saw a mallard pair sitting under the pine tree next door… not sure I’ve ever seen ducks this close to the house…
beautiful couple…
20 Monday May 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, ducks, finches, geese, Great Blue Heron, heron, purple, treat, widow
noticed a number of birds over the last few days…
common or purple finches at the bird feeder, and ducks and geese at the Park…
the mallard was at the door to the Leo Mol Gallery… not sure if it was waiting to go in, or what…
but, the most exciting creature I’ve seen was the great blue heron by the bridge to the Park…
I was so excited to see this beauty… I must have stood watching it for ten minutes before it flew away…
herons are everywhere in Ontario and BC, and I’ve seen a few at Manitoba lakes, but not in the city…
a wonderful treat…
06 Monday May 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
as I walked up the street tonight I saw a few couples…
the mallard couple have been coming to this creek for many years… these might be the children or even grandchildren now…
a few steps further along I came across the bunny couple… they weren’t sitting quite as close together, lol…
nice walk…
16 Friday Sep 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, dahlias, drops, ducks, flowers, Park, soccer, volleyball, water, water lily, widow
spent the morning wandering through the Park…
most everything was damp and there were lots of drops on the flowers…
this branch was so pretty with the raindrops…
purple water lily in the lily pond…
dahlias are so beautiful… even if they are not purple…
these are so delicate and airy… and the water drops look great…
not sure what kind of duck this is but it was kind enough to stand still so I could get a good shot…
once I got home I had some lunch and a nap… and headed down to the U of W to watch my grandso play volleyball… it was great fun and they played really well…
got this great shot of some of the action… then we blasted to their house, grabbed jackets, picked up supper and headed to his final soccer game of the year… at the end of the that game, one of his buddies poured water on him so he was rather damp on the ride…
back to the volleyball tournament where he played one last game…
I think he will sleep well tonight… me too, lol…
13 Saturday Aug 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, ducks, frogs, grandson, Leo Mol Garden, peaceful, Pokémon Go, quiet, swarm, weddings, widow
in the last few days I’ve been to the Gardens three times…
twice I wasn’t able to get to my favourite spot as there were weddings taking place…
but the biggest oddity was the huge number of Pokemon Go hunters who are swarming the area around the tropical lily pond in the Leo Mol Garden…
at one point I counted 36 people sitting on the edge of the pond, and not one of them was looking at the lilies or statues…
did find this a bit sad… such a beautiful place and it seems as though many of those present weren’t even looking…
although there were many of the hunters, it appears that about half of the people today were there to admire the Gardens… I spent a while waiting for my kids by the Boy with the Boot and was happy to see so many visitors who were excited and taking lots of photos as they entered the English Garden area…
my youngest grandson and I were able to spot a few frogs…
and also had some fun checking out the Duck Pond…
he’s at a phase where he doesn’t want his picture taken but he didn’t know I was taking this one, lol…
and then his daddy gave a little assist for this one…
had a few minutes to focus on some beautiful leaves… the colours were amazing…
the purple waterlilies are still my favourite…
happy that my usual time to visit is early in the morning, when the Gardens are quiet and peaceFULL…
28 Thursday Jul 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, boat, camping, camping day 8, ducks, friends, loon, Milky Way, space station, sunset, toys, widow
another day in paradise…
about 12:30 am my grandson came and woke me… we went out and looked at the stars… saw the space station going over and the Milky Way…
took a while to get to sleep after that because I was so pumped… tonight we have removed a portion of the tent cover so I will be able to watch them from the comfort of my bed;-)…
we slept in after that and didn’t get up until 8:45, when the groundskeepers decided to start mowing the grass in the campground…
saw the ducks at the beach and my grandson took a few pictures… so I got one of him…
I had cereal for breakfast but everyone else had s’more cakes, ie. pancakes with Reece’s spread and roasted marshmallows… very popular…
and then the loon started calling… close to us… and there it was in the water just off our site…
so pleased with the pictures… this was the very first one…
on the water again in the boat, and today I had fun on the tube with the oldest grandson and then all on my own… going very slowly, lol…
friends joined us and the kids had a blast with all the water toys…
great fun for everyone…
tonight after a supper of perogies, onion, bacon, cauliflower and pea pods got this lovely shot of the sun as it was setting…
every evening the sunsets have been beautiful… the weather has been excellent which certainly helps make the time enjoyable…
25 Monday Jul 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beach, big girl pants, boat, campimg day 5, camping, ducks, fish, mosquitoes, widow
well, when I got back to the campsite after posting my blog last night, I discovered that my son-in-law had caught a fish… that was exciting…
after supper we sat around the fire and were attacked by a zillion mosquitoes… really… this is what the perfectly clean sink looked like in the morning…
followed some mallards around the beach early…
they didn’t want to play with me…
got a few pictures of the beach area…
spent most of the day sitting around and reading… relaxing… sunny and warm…
headed into the city late afternoon to pick up the boat… happy to have it with us and looking forward to some water activities over the next few days…
yesterday the boys deigned to all sit together and let me take a few pictures… in the hammock – where everyone wants to be – you can either look toward the lake…
or into the campsite…
we have arrived and the boat is settling in…
22 Friday Apr 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, ducks, earth, English Garden, flowers, Park, Spring, walk, widow
had a nice walk to the Park just before lunch and met up with a friend… after lunch we wandered through the English and Leo Mol Gardens…
she very kindly took a picture of me with the lady reading inside the gate to the English Garden… 
was sad to discover that there are no words in the book, lol…
the Gardens are starting to show signs of Spring… a few plants were starting to pop through the earth and we also came across a few flowers blooming…
saw ducks, geese, bunnies, squirrels, juncos and sparrows…
beautiful day for a walk…
a lovely earth day…
16 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
A1C, big girl pants, changes, cholesterol, ducks, hospital, iPhone, moments, Pro-Activ
weather wasn’t quite so nice today… it was cooler and rainy for much of the day…
arrived early at The Forks for breakfast with a dear friend, so wandered along the river walk before the rain really got going… took this picture of the newest sign…
looks pretty cool, but then I spotted the mallard ducks…
and geese… I do love my birds…
also took a few pictures of St. Boniface Hospital… reminded me that George’s bypass surgery took place in November of 2008 and he enjoyed the next four years… seems like a different life ago…
then there were the six weeks I spent there in 2010… many hours of looking out onto the river…
was realizing how I have grown and changed over the last few years…
after breakfast I stopped to visit with a former colleague… not something I would have done before without causing a lot of stress…
went to the mall, had a problem on my phone sorted out, and picked up a number of gifts for Christmas… very happy to have that pretty much done… stopped at a few other spots to finish up the shopping… am feeling more excited about Christmas this year I think…
went to the doctor and was thrilled with the report on my A1C and cholesterol… it was so good that we don’t have to think about drugs for at least the next three months…
he was astonished at how low both numbers were… woohoo… I am sure the cholesterol came down due to the Becel Pro Activ margarine I’ve been eating every day…
also feeling less concerned about checking my blood sugar more often… he had me stop testing when I saw him last and I have felt like I lost a crutch… but I can trust that I know what I can and can’t eat…
haven’t lost any weight according to their scale but I think I am actually at about 160… think I have lost about 38 pounds since last November…
during the appointment I realized that it was last November that I was diagnosed with diabetes… lots of lifestyle changes since then…
some wonderful moments to savour today…
01 Monday Jun 2015
Tags
big girl pants, Cathedral Grove, ducks, eating out, lilacs, tulips, walking
this morning I took myself to the “A” for breakfast … this is about the fourth time that I have eaten out on my own, so I was feeling rather proud and certainly had those big girl pants on…
walked over to the Park and wandered around the English Garden and the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden…
took a lot of pictures… here are a few…
the path in the forest… not exactly like Cathedral Grove…
thousands of tulips… the main reason I wanted to get over there… didn’t want to miss them…
a couple of guys were taping a TV show about the city while I was sitting on my favourite bench…
moms with babies were doing some boot camp training beside the Duck Pond… and I got a few shots of ducks and geese…
spent some time under a canopy of lilacs… I do love the smell and the blossoms… they draw me like a magnet…
there was a bit of wind and it was cool, but nice weather for walking…
the datura and rose standards were in place and starting to bloom… quite a change from my last visit when the gardens were basically bare…
wonderful day with a spectacular sky to top it off…
herbiggirlpants 