26 Friday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterfly, discovery, eggs, flowers, garden, milkweed, moments, monarch, nature, plants, treat, widow
recently, I wrote about all the caterpillars and the butterflies that emerged and my hope that, as the milkweed has new leaves, another monarch mother might stop by and leave a few eggs…
well, on Thursday, this happened;-)…
I was very excited and after she left, and a bit of searching, made the discovery of at least four eggs…
babies, here we come;-)…
24 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, caterpillars, flowers, garden milkweed, growing, leaves, moments, monarch, nature, plants, re-emerge, widow
the monarch caterpillars decimated every leaf of the milkweed in June through to the beginning of July…
now, in the last few weeks, the leaves have begun to re-emerge…
some have even started to flower…
I am hopeful that another monarch butterfly might come by and lay a few eggs, not twenty, lol…
22 Monday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, happy, hot, moments, morning glories, nature, photos, purple, shades, smile, walk, weather, widow
had some fun wandering around the garden this morning…
focussed on the morning glories…
different shades of purple;-)…
morning glories bring such a happy smile to my face…
14 Sunday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clematis, comparison, family, flowering, flowers, garden, growth, moments, nature, plants, purple, remembering, weather, widow
the clematis on the south side of the house has been outdoing itself this season… maybe it likes all the rain, lol…
I would say there are maybe a hundred buds or blossoms… and that is after two serious thunderstorms which knocked tons of petals off…
came across this photo from July, 2013…
at that point it was probably five or six years old… before this one we had probably planted five or six that all died…
nice to have the comparison as it is easy to forgot how much something has grown…
13 Saturday Jul 2024
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, happy place, Hilda the Gardener, lawn, moments, mowing, nature, Wednesdays, widow
I do enjoy Wednesdays…
that is the day that some lovely young men come in the morning, and within about fifteen minutes, have mowed the front and back, trimmed everywhere, blown any grass from walkways, and left;-)…
and often it is the day (usually every second week now) that Hilda the Gardener comes to tidy up the gardens…
so I particularly take pleasure in the rest of the day in this delightful space…
10 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bachelor buttons, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, inukshuk, moments, nature, overcrowded, pictures, poppies, widow, wildflowers
this morning I discovered a number of poppies and bachelor buttons were blooming in the wildflower pot;-)…
apparently, a couple of the poppies had slipped under the fence and grown up between the bricks in the neighbouring yard, lol…
it was fun to get a photo of all of them beside the Inukshuk;-)…
the pot is overcrowded so I hope that more will bloom before a space problem arises…
18 Tuesday Jun 2024
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, columbine, family, flowers, garden, moments, nature, phone camera, plants, purple, Technology, trick, widow
the other day my daughter taught me a great trick for photographing flowers that haven’t turned up… this was her before photo…
as she was taking the picture she put the camera on reverse and set it below the flower…
what a great idea… here is one I took…
how cool is that…
15 Saturday Jun 2024
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, buds, family, flowers, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, orange, pictures, plants, poppies, thirty-two, weather, widow, wild
the other day I counted thirty-two poppy buds…
since then twenty-six have opened… I go out every morning to take pictures and count them, lol…
they look so beautiful weaving back and forth in the breeze…
they were one of my beloved’s favourite flowers… maybe because they signalled the beginning of summer…
they decide where they will pop up and I am always so happy when they turn up each year… this time they are in the front of the garden;-)…
13 Thursday Jun 2024
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, columbines, doubles, flowers, garden, growing, harvested, moments, nature, plants, purple, weather, widow
the columbines are filled with buds and flowers…
I am particularly happy because the double flower one, which I purchased last year and harvested some of the seeds, is doing well…
in the fall, we sprinkled them alongside the house, near where the other columbines were…
the side garden is looking very pretty;-)…
10 Monday Jun 2024
Posted in business, food, garden, health, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birthday, blessed, chocolate, flowers, food, friends, garden, happy, lunch, moments, offerings, party, table, time, treat, umbrella, weather, widow
what a delightful day…
yesterday we moved the table on the deck to the middle of the space and this morning I put on the tablecloth and runner that I picked up on Saturday…
then my housemate put the umbrella back in its hole and we opened it up…
I folded silverware into napkins and brought out pretty, but unmatched, plates to put around… glasses and mugs followed… everything was upside down so they wouldn’t get dirty…
found bowls, covers, and spoons for the two salads – ham and German potato, as well as the coleslaw…
crackers went onto a wooden tray and the salt and pepper shaker made it onto the table, alongside some lily of the valley flowers from under the deck…
chair covers and cushions went out and umbrellas went up…
friends arrived with other food offerings… there were fresh veggies and hummus, devilled eggs, fresh fruit, whipped cream, chocolate, and custard…
there were flowers for the birthday woman…
we gathered at the table and enjoyed everyone’s delicious offerings… of course there was our usual coffee and tea to go with the fruit, custard and whipped cream, topped with a piece of chocolate and a pistachio, lol…
the bubble machine came out and was on until bubbles started to land on plates… the weather was beautiful as the sun shone with a slight breeze every now and then… conversations were free flowing and stories made us laugh…
we took a group photo, as we always do when we gather for special times;-)…
as everyone began to leave the clouds filled the sky and the temperature went down, but no rain fell…
I had a relaxing time as I cleaned up, filled the dishwasher, put away the cushions, and got the table back into its original location…
read my book as the last of the bubbles flew around the deck…
