Tag Archives: family

dreams…

23 Sunday Oct 2016

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yesterday we went to a play in the afternoon…

it was about a woman and her adult children and how they dealt with her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s…

I am always amazed at how they can take a few inanimate objects and make them appear to be different things throughout the play…

there were a few moments that brought back memories for me…

they talked about the loss of the husband a year previous and how difficult that and the intervening time had been…

the mother told one of her daughters that she was going to take her own life when she felt the disease was overtaking her… 

that reminded me of my own mother asking me to help her die… she was in palliative care in the end stages of esophageal cancer… nowadays there are some options if a person wants to end their life when they have a terminal illness… there wasn’t anything to help a person when my mom asked me… she also asked if she could come home to die… it was difficult to say I couldn’t help her or bring her home to die… at the time she would have been staying in my daughter’s room and I wasn’t sure my daughter would be able to move back into the room if her grandmother died there…

it was a very powerful play and certainly opened up opportunities for people to discuss these difficult situations…

slept very poorly last night… kept having strange dreams with my beloved in them and then waking up… don’t usually remember dreams… thinking the play triggered them…

we did have these cute pumpkin pie cookies my friend picked up and which were very tasty…

kettle…

15 Saturday Oct 2016

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I love my tea in the morning… there isn’t time on weekdays to make it at home, so I have tea at the office…

on weekend mornings the first thing I do is fill my kettle to make a pot… 

every time I take it out of the cupboard and fill it with water I think abut my dear friend Dobby who bought it for me after my hysterectomy in 2012… I wasn’t able to lift anything for many weeks afterward and my usual kettle was twice as heavy…

she stayed and looked after me for a week and fed me, entertained me and reorganized my freezer while she was here…

it made all the difference to my recovery as I was still struggling with pain and couldn’t even go up the stairs… she made lovely bits of food to encourage me to eat and helped me get outside to sit and enjoy the sun and fresh air…

so every time I see the kettle I think of her wonderful care…

and now I also remember fun with family… 

this summer I went camping with my kids for a few weeks and I took along the kettle… it became a lifesaver… the first site we were at didn’t have electricity so I’d go to an empty site early in the morning so I could make a thermos of tea… then I realized that if I just put the hot water in the thermos there would be water for the tea I wanted and the coffee the kids like, but needed quite a bit later, lol… it also came in handy to heat up water for dishes…

at our second location we had two sites, one with electricity and one without… we’d put the kettle on the table by the power to heat for tea, coffee, hot chocolate and dish water and would run back and forth to get it for whatever we were working on… lots of fun…

this morning I had a raspberry smoothie with my tea…

great memories…

fleeting…

11 Sunday Sep 2016

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what a lovely ending to my vacation…

enjoyed a walk to and through the Park before a breakfast date with my sister-in-law, nephew and his girlfriend…

after breakfast we took a quick tour of the Gardens…

she lives in Calgary so it is always great to spend time with her when she comes to town…

had just pulled my camera out to take a picture of a butterfly bush when this butterfly decided to land on it… and pose…

surprised how this picture turned out with the light and dark from my shadow…

I love this spot and often sit here for long periods of time… a favourite place where my beloved and I would rest when we walked through the Gardens…

and my kids came for supper… soccer is over, yay… we had a great time, Pokemon-ing and visiting… everyone enjoyed the food and there were leftovers to share for a few meals this week…

kitchen is tidy, laundry is done and I am ready for my return to work after a fun and fleeting break…

I think I enjoyed every moment of the ten days… lots for the memory banks…

coexist…

14 Sunday Aug 2016

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out and about today…

to the grocery store for veggies and a few other things…

the kids came over for lunch and we made individually designed sandwiches along with chocolate milk, pickles and grapes…

they downloaded Pokemon Go on my phone so my middle grandson had his own device to play on…

we went to the Park and wandered through the English Garden and the Leo Mol Garden where there was a jazz concert…

music aficionados filled the space… there was every kind of portable chair you could think of…

and many Pokemon Go players…

four of whom were from my family…

was impressed how well the two groups coexisted in the space… lots of respect, clapping, and quiet play…

got some great photos at the lily pond…

and a few from the English Garden, where the eagle eyes of the oldest spotted two hummingbirds… what a treat… was able to watch them flit about and land on a branch for a moment before darting off…

this was my favourite shot from the English Garden area…

Pokémon…

03 Wednesday Aug 2016

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today my kids met me at the Millennium Library Park over the lunch hour…

my daughter has given in and downloaded Pokémon Go on her phone so both little boys can help search for Pokémons, PokéStops and gyms… daddy had downloaded the game before we left on our vacation, so they would either take turns or share the phone…

the boys wandered all around the Park and found a PokéStop and two gyms… apparently they fight in the gyms, but the boys tell me they aren’t fighting others… they know how I feel about fighting, so I’m not sure about that…

while we were camping they would go for walks to hatch eggs and searched wherever we were to see if there were any Pokémons in the vicinity… then there would be great excitement as they described what they had caught…

it has been interesting to see how many people are playing and how there seems to be lots of cooperation where one person will suggest to other hunters where to search…

we chatted with many people we wouldn’t normally have spoken to, as it was clear they were also playing the game… appears to be a bit of a family game for our family and it is nice to see them playing it together…

since the first day my oldest grandson showed me the game, with great excitement in his eyes, I have been interested in how it has entertained them… 

they are often sharing what they have accomplished with their walking around and about…

such fun…

screenshot of my daughter’s game…

camping, day 9…

29 Friday Jul 2016

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spent a couple of hours stargazing from the comfort of my bed… worst night of our entire trip for noise… people beside us talked loudly until about 2 am and then their baby cried for quite a while after that… to top it off they woke up early and made lots of noise… sounded like they were there for the week so we were very happy to be leaving, lol…

last shot of our lakefront spot…


then we had a busy day… got up, had a quick breakfast, packed up, spent some time on the boat with friends… and then headed to Falcon Lake for our last night of camping… hot day…

set up one tent and went to the beach and met with family and did some boating…


had a little tour around the lakefront and took the boat back out of the water… lovely ride down the canal to get there…


rode back to the site in the boat on the trailer, which was kind of fun… ate our dinner around 10, as it was getting dark,  and we are now heading to bed…

well, after a bit more stargazing;-)…

camping, day 7

27 Wednesday Jul 2016

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another sunshiny day although there were a number of clouds in the sky…

today we were on the boat again…

the little boys played on the tube a lot… they seem to stick to it like Velcro… 

we also did some fishing… after about two casts my son-in-law pulled in a Jackfish… 


not long after, that my daughter brought one in as well…


we didn’t keep them as this is not their best season, so they got tossed back into the lake…

we also perused another section of cottages on the lake… such fun to look at the variety along the shore and imagine who owns them and what the insides might look like… we especially like to see all the water toys along the docks, lol…

I love trolling as it is nearly the only time we move slowly on the water, lol… we found a section of the lake that is cottage free and beautiful to spend time in…

I was quite tired from all that water activity yesterday…

my son-in-law found wifi that we were able to purchase on a daily basis so we aren’t running around the campground trying to find a good enough signal to be able to post… today he also set up a charging station in my car… we have a lot of electronics that need charging, lol…

sitting in the campsite enjoying some quiet time as everyone else has gone fishing…

a beautiful setting for a great week of family fun…

camping, day 6…

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

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what a lovely day… heard a couple of loons as we were having our breakfast and packing our lunch…

sun shone and we spent the whole day on the water…

started with a number of rides on the big tube…

the two little guys practically fly when their daddy tries to dump them off, and there are huge grins on all their faces throughout the process…

the oldest grandson and I had a blast, when I wasn’t screaming, lol… 

picnic on board and we toured around half the lake, admiring the cottages… then we swam off the boat… 

after that, there was wakeboarding action… my daughter, son-in-law, and middle grandson are all naturals… my oldest was very close to getting up but the water was getting a bit choppy…

then it was my turn… they had to lower me into the water once the boots were on my feet…

my daughter got right in with me and helped me get positioned…

tried and tried but couldn’t get up… laughed the whole time though… they moved on to kneeboarding and the three oldest boys in the group had a great time, lol… and were very good at it… 

 travelled home after a fun time…

got the boat docked and headed back to the campsite…

my daughter and I went on little tubes (from our visit to Courtenay, many years ago) at the water by our site… bit breezy so we ended up with rock burns, lol…

made and had supper, which was cooked over the fire once again… and a couple of us are trying to save the fire, while the others went out for supplies, but it isn’t looking good, lol…

hoping you had a special day too…

camping, day 4…

24 Sunday Jul 2016

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busy day today…

didn’t get up till 7… big sleep-in for me…

then we had pancakes with freshly picked blueberries and bacon… make a bacon sandwich with mine, thanks to my son-in-law’s suggestion;-)…


saw this cute little mushroom which popped up overnight…


then, as the sky clouded over, everyone helped with the packing up and there wasn’t a single hissy fit…

we had a leisurely drive toward our next destination and stopped at Rainbow Falls… pretty, and likely beautiful in the sunshine… wasn’t any when we were there, the wind was blowing, and there was a bit of spitting…


back into the caravan and we moved on… found the campground and our spot… happily no one was in it so we could unload and put up the tents… 


the site is right on the water, without electricity, and the wind was crazy strong… took four of us to get the cover on one of the tents, lol… upside, there haven’t been any mosquitoes… we have a second spot across the road which does have electricity so we can charge  the various technology, and also heat water for tea and coffee in the morning, lol…


all set up, required groceries and drinks purchased, and we sat and had a lovely quiet time reading… bliss… 


sun was shining, screens and doors were open, and the kids went for a walk…

only downside, no showers or Internet… but the boys have found a spot that we can walk to and connect…

critters…

17 Sunday Jul 2016

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saw many critters today…

checked out the pelicans as I crossed the bridge to the Park… got some great shots, particularly this one…


later, when I was sitting in the garden at home, I watched them soaring high above the house…

found critters on and in flowers and lily pads…

bug, not sure what kind…

purple lily and frog…

butterfly and bush, lol…

water lily with ant, maybe…

very happy to get a shot of this shy turtle… I have seen it over the last month but it vanishes into the water when people are even walking on the path… stood and watched it for about fifteen minutes today…


it was clear and sunny as I went for my walk this morning… when I got home I sat out in the garden as some lovely white clouds floated across the sky… as I was making my lunch thunder rolled, and all of a sudden there was a huge downpour …


a bit later, it was sunny again… 

kids were here for supper, and as they left my daughter spotted this critter sitting in the front yard… 


was there for easily twenty minutes…

fun times…