18 Sunday Oct 2026
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
arrangement, big girl pants, family, flowers, fresh, moments, widow
redid this arrangement today after some of the flowers had died…
a bit of tossing, trimming, and rearranging, and it came out looking fresh and new…
17 Saturday Oct 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, growing, mandevilla, moments, nature, transplanting, widow
the mandevilla is taking the transplanting and moving into the house very well…
there are still flowers blooming and the leaves remain green;-)…
04 Sunday Oct 2026
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, family, flowers, giant trees, Hatley Castle, Japanese Garden, meadow, moments, nature, paths, ponds, Royal Rhodes gardens, vistas, widow
we took an Uber across Victoria from our hotel to Royal Rhodes University… it also is the location of Hatley Castle…
we weren’t interested in the castle, and had a bit of trouble finding the gardens we were looking for, lol… eventually we found a gardener and they set us on the correct path…
we were headed toward the Japanese Garden and did find it… there was an upper part and a lower part, with big trees, a few buildings, and peaceful vistas…
it had a lovely pond as well as some creeks…
we had fun getting some lovely shots in the garden next to the castle where it looked like you were in a beautiful meadow 🙂…
30 Wednesday Sep 2026
Posted in family, life, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
Beacon Hill Park, big girl pants, ducks, family, flowers, giant trees, moments, nature, roses, Terry Fox, walking, widow
we wandered through Beacon Hill Park… it is huge…
we saw giant trees, flower beds filled with flowers, roses, numerous ponds and creeks, and lots and lots of ducks…
and, the moss lady… once we found her, I was reminded of the Earth Goddess, which we visited in Atlanta in 2016… at that time I slipped under the fence and got a close up with her…
did the same thing with the moss lady, although I did not touch her…
from the bus we saw the mile zero monument, and the Terry Fox memorial…
clearly, you could spend days wandering through this park😊…
29 Tuesday Sep 2026
Tags
Beacon Hill Park, big girl pants, ducks, Empress Hotel, family, Fan Tan alley, flowers, giant trees, hop on hop off bus, moments, nature, ponds, widow
we decided to take the hop on, hop off bus and to do the whole loop to see what we might want to do the next time we took it…
the tour started at the Empress, so while we waited to board we visited the gardens there… we stepped inside the lobby to admire the beautiful arrangements and then wandered the lawns and gardens…
we found lovely flower beds and a few giant old trees…
we decided that the next day we would visit Chinatown and Beacon Hill Park…
after we’d been around once we walked to the Parkside Hotel where we saw the koi and had a snack beside the pond…
we went back to one of the stops and hopped on, and hopped off, just a few blocks from our hotel… very handy…
the next day, after I’d put on just about all the clothes I’d brought because I’d been cold the day before, lol, we caught the bus by our hotel and hopped off at Beacon Hill Park… it is very large…
we hopped on and hopped off again at the Empress and walked up a street to check out the shops… after lunch we walked to see Trounce Alley and Fan Tan Alley, which is only 3 feet wide!!! after buying a few treats, we caught the bus and hopped off at the stop which was close to our hotel;-)…
the hop on, hop off bus was worth every penny as we used it from around 1 pm the first day until around 5 pm on the second day…
27 Sunday Sep 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, moments, moving, nature, partially, sunshine, weather, widow
what a delightful day…
I spent a good part of it in the garden, moving from one area to another…
at first it was because I was trying to stay partially in the sun… then out of the sunshine as it was very bright and a bit warm…
then, later it was to get into the sunshine to keep warm again, lol…
and I had some fun taking photos of various flowers…
what a lovely treat, particularly as the weather has been dull, overcast, and rainy for the last few days…
I am blessed…
22 Tuesday Sep 2026
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
amazing, big girl pants, blessed, Butchart, Butchart Gardens, family, flowers, gardens, moments, nature, Vancouver Island, widow
we made it to the Butchart Gardens…
what an amazing place it is… the first day, we spent six and a half hours wandering the many gardens and had a delightful high tea with a wasp guest…
I was absolutely stunned (in a good way) when I stood at the top of the sunken garden… it is so beautiful it brought me to tears, and what a way to start the tour…
we saw giant trees, beautiful beds, topiaries, and rows of stunning dahlias…
we also saw beautiful Japanese Gardens where I took maybe one picture and then just absorbed the quiet beauty around us…
many water features, a carousel, and so many flowers;-)… awed by the wonderful combinations of plants that made every corner more interesting than the last…
day two, we arrived later in the day with plans to see the gardens lit up at night… we visited some of our favourite areas, especially the Japanese Gardens and took an electric boat tour… sadly, I ran out of steam and we headed back to our AirBnb just as dusk was taking over the gardens…
21 Monday Sep 2026
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
my daughter brought tulips for our trip, as it was all about gardens and flowers…
we had them on the train…
at the AirBnb…
and in our hotel… as well as some fresh ones…
currently they are residing in the bathroom where I can see them every day and be reminded of the spectacular time we had together 😊…
05 Saturday Sep 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
got up early and went outside for a look at the lovely sky and my flowers…
the previous evening I’d noticed that one of the buds on a morning glory plant was getting ready to open…
I’ve been waiting for these ones as they are quite stunning but seem to take an extra long time to open…
sure enough it had opened to a beautiful flower… happily I took a few photos before going back inside and back to bed…
when I next got up it had just stopped raining so I went out to check on the bloom…
of course it was a little worse for wear after the rainfall…
so happy I went out early 😊…
08 Saturday Aug 2026
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bumblebee, flowers, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, pollen, widow
this morning, as I was looking at the obelisk filled with morning glories and cucumber vines, I watched a large bumblebee flitting from flower to flower…
I wasn’t able to get a photo of the bumblebee, but was very interested to see the pollen on the petals, after the bumblebee left each flower…
