05 Wednesday Jul 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, butterfly, dip, eggs, flit, flowers, garden, happy, milkweed, moments, monarch, monarch butterfly, nature, nectar, photos, plants, treat, widow
for the last few days, in the afternoon, I’ve enjoyed watching a monarch butterfly dip and flit through the garden, landing on the various milkweed plants to enjoy some nectar and maybe lay some eggs…
got a few good pictures…
such a treat;-)…
04 Tuesday Jul 2023
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, biomes, blessed, cacao trees, Diversity Gardens, family, flowers, garden, gather, happy, lilies, moments, nature, plants, The Leaf, thrilled, water, weather, widow
on Friday, before my daughter left to return home to Ottawa, we went one last time to The Leaf…
we walked through the Diversity Gardens in the daylight and were happy we went early, because the temperature was rising quickly…
we checked out the Water area and were thrilled to discover water lily blooms…
then it was on to the Tropical Biome to visit the cacao trees… while there, she provided a little education for a few visitors;-)…
some of us stayed in that spot, and the rest of us checked out the other areas… we weren’t able to see the Butterfly Garden or walk on the skywalk as they were closed for the day, but it was fun to check out both biomes…
we had an early lunch at Gather, one last visit to the cacao trees and then home to nap and finish packing for the flight…
03 Monday Jul 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blossoms, flowers, garden, happy, moments, nature, number, plants, pond, water, water lilies, widow
I continue to be surprised by the number of blooms on the water lily…
there have been flowers every day since June 10th;-)…
I think there have been fifteen so far…
such an amazing treat to enjoy each day;-)…
18 Sunday Jun 2023
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cushions, dad, dressed, family, fish, flowers, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, pond, remembering, water lilies, widow
spent a beautiful, quiet day in the garden…
I always start with putting all the cushions out so that the space feels dressed…
I watched baby house sparrows, at the pond for drinks, flutter as they learn to use their wings… one tried to have a dust bath on the table, lol…
a few nearly flew into me…
the fish are enjoying the shade of the water lily leaves and spent lots of time out and about the pond…
and the two water lily flowers opened slowly and looked so pretty…
yesterday I spotted another bud and this morning I found a fourth one…
heard the drums at the park as the marathoners went through and thought of my dad and my beloved…
it was a lovely day;-)…
17 Saturday Jun 2023
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, biomes, blessed, cacao trees, chocolate, dinosaur trees, family, flowers, food, gather, grown, happy, happy place, magical time, moments, nature, plants, quiet, The Leaf, waterfall, widow
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent hours at The Leaf in Assiniboine Park…
things have grown and been added since I was last there…
there was mist rising from the ground and there are now three cacao trees…
it was very exciting to see them in flower and with pods on one…
Tuesday we were there in the morning and came across some school classes and quite a few other visitors… we had a delicious lunch at Gather and went back into the biomes for a last look before heading home…
on Wednesday we went in the evening… I had hoped the lights would be on but they weren’t until after we left, lol… there were few others in the space and ample opportunities to sit quietly and reflect on the beauty of nature…
thanks to a very knowledgeable volunteer, we found the sugar cane and the dinosaur trees…
we did enjoy dessert at Gather before a quick walk through the Diversity Gardens… one treat was sitting by a fire in the Indigenous Peoples Garden…
looking forward to another visit in a few weeks… cheers;-)…
16 Friday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bloom, excitement, flowers, garden, moments, nature, pond, shock, sunshine, treat, water lilies, weather, widow
great excitement around here…
two water lilies are going to bloom at the same time… don’t think this has happened before;-)… what a treat…
this was one of them yesterday afternoon…
and this is how they both looked today…
I think if the sun had come out they might have both been completely open…
maybe tomorrow;-)…
13 Tuesday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, flowers, garden, moments, nature, overwinter, plants, pond, shock, surprise, treat, water, water lilies, weather, widow
Saturday morning I was surprised and amazed to spot a water lily flower popping up in the pond…
the reason I am surprised is that this water lily was in the pond all winter…
when I closed up the pond in the fall, just before I put a tarp over it, I was only able to bring out two lilies… this one was so stuck in the bottom I couldn’t remove it…
when I uncovered everything this spring, before I put water in, it had already started to sprout a bit, but was purpley-red…
it stayed that colour for weeks and only recently turned green… some of the leaves still have the purple colour around the outside edges…
and there is a second bud now… two buds at once has never happened before;-)…
what a shock…
so this fall I am going to leave all of them in the pond and see what happens, lol…
08 Thursday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
05 Monday Jun 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, Hilda the Gardener, moments, nature, planters, plants, soil, thunderstorm, weather, widow
on Friday, Hilda the Gardener arrived just before a thunderstorm to work in the garden… while we waited for the rain to stop we made tea and drank it on the deck once the storm was over…
then she planted up the front pots and moved a few things around in the garden…
the pots were filled with the bits and pieces left over from the plant collection that hadn’t made it into soil… they look pretty good considering, lol…
04 Sunday Jun 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, forest, friends, further, garden, gardens, geese, moments, nature, pond, time, trees, walk, widow
met up with a friend and went for a walk at the Park… great to visit and catch-up;-)… and get some exercise at the same time…
need to get back to a regular routine of walking over and around the Gardens…
I may have gone just a bit further than I should have… one of my feet was just a touch irritated with me… but so wonderful to enjoy the Gardens…
herbiggirlpants 