Tag Archives: flowers

orchids…

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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this morning before I left home I took some pictures of the October orchid… the one I got from IKEA last October… which has been blooming since I brought it home… except for a few weeks… it has been amazing… 

it almost looked artificial as the blooms stayed perfect for months at a time… when it finally dropped the last blossom, a new branch emerged and these blossoms have been open for months as well…

my beloved brought me orchids on a fairly regular basis… some for home and some for my work space as well…

he also picked them up for some of my colleagues…

one of my colleagues is away this week and I am orchid-sitting… can’t remember if this is one that he picked up for her… anyway it has seven blossoms on it…

have made sure the light is on in the office and the blinds open… even put the heater on for a while…

it has been so long since it bloomed that we can’t remember what colour it is going to be…

very exciting, although I do hope it waits until her return before opening…

drops…

16 Friday Sep 2016

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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…

Ottawa day 6…

06 Tuesday Sep 2016

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last night we had a fun time doing a chocolate tasting…

we had gone to the liquor store to get an appropriate bottle of wine and picked up Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Reserve… two different staff members recommended it…

while I was doing the dishes before our dinner arrived my daughter was preparing the plate of chocolate…

she chose six different chocolates, most of which were around 70% cacao and made a list on a sheet that we would review at the end of our tasting…

then we tasted them one by one with and without the wine…

after each piece we both made notes… she wrote on paper and I entered comments into the Notes app on my iPhone…

we took our time and toasted each piece of chocolate that we tried…

it was great fun…

they were different shapes but about the same size…we took a short break after the third piece to give our mouths a chance to rest…

the wine was very good and we found that it certainly did enhance the taste of the chocolate…

once we were done, we reviewed and compared our notes and picked our favourites… 

as it happened we both chose the same bar…

afterwards we went over ways to make the tasting experience even better…

don’t think it will be too long before she has a group of friends over for an official chocolate tasting…

nice flower bed down the street…


today she worked and I went out and picked up steak for our supper, read, napped and prepared the ingredients for the meal… 

glads opening…


lovely, restful day…

formal…

28 Sunday Aug 2016

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took long walks yesterday and today…

yesterday I walked a different path, through Bruce Park, on the way to the English and Leo Mol Gardens at Assiniboine Park… 

okay, okay… it was so I could collect Poke balls at PokeStops for the Pokemon Go game… we ran out of them on Friday… can’t really play the game without them…

the Gardens were fairly quiet and I got a few nice pictures…

this section of the Garden is very formal in nature and everything is blooming right now…

a different view of the wild pond… still a quieter place as the Pokemon Go hunters don’t seem to be as interested in this area, thankfully…

was waiting for some photographers to finish… they were taking pictures of some gorgeously dressed Indian women… and caught this hummingbird, sort of, lol…

couldn’t leave without getting a shot of the women as they waited their turns for pictures… they looked like exotic blossoms in the Garden…

this morning I drove over to the Formal Gardens at the far corner of the Park… again, it was to collect items from the PokeStops…

it was quiet and beautiful…

there are many busts of prominent people as you walk down one side…

this is Nellie McClung… every time I circled past them the light would be shining on them differently… very cool…

the archway of trees is so peaceful and relaxing… was able to get a nice shot of the canopy before too many cars filled up the area…

a band and catering company were setting up for what looked to be a wedding…

it was a nice change from the flowery Gardens… the only issue is having to drive there as it is too far to walk there, then around it, and back…

but nice to discover some other options for my morning exercise… who knew that Pokemon Go would help me find new walking paths, lol…

structure…

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

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been thinking a lot of the beauty around us…

four years ago I was just home from a big surgery and trying to lean through the pain…

I remember looking at my beautiful flowers, in the house and outside in the garden and how they made me feel better… beauty does heal…

the sky this morning was filled with many colours and cloud shapes…

over the last few weeks I’ve taken a few pictures of some other amazing shapes…

the spiral architecture of this datura as it opens is so amazing and beautiful… I look at every one of the blooms as they open, in awe of the breathtaking structure…

this mandevilla is blooming like crazy… so many flowers as it spreads out of its container… think we’ve had one on the deck every year for at least a decade… sadly they only last a few years going in and out of the house… it also has a wonderful architecture as the bloom slowly prepares to open…

past its prime, this dahlia is still amazingly beautiful…

spent a while sitting on a bench beside this lovely flower bed on Portage Avenue recently… love the shades of green and pops of colour…

always remind myself to take the time to see the beauty around me…

collecting…

21 Sunday Aug 2016

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maybe, just maybe, I am caught up in the Pokemon Go game…

I have been catching Pokemons from the house for my grandson… apparently there are a few nests around here…

but today I used up the last of the Poke Balls…

my oldest grandson came for dinner and then we went to Bruce Park where there were five PokeStops, which is where one collects the Poke Balls, lol…

we walked around collecting things from them until his bus came… 

then I walked around a few more times collecting more before walking home to watch the Olympic Closing Ceremonies…

did take a few pics of the lovely flower beds while I was there…

shade…

16 Tuesday Aug 2016

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took some lovely flower pictures at the Park on the weekend, so wanted to share a few of them with you…

seems I am drawn to blooms made up of tiny flowers, lol… lovely shade of purple…

multi shades of pink… odd I would be drawn to this…

and yellow-y orange…

there is a whole section filled with beautifully coloured foxglove… such a pretty light shade of purple… 

really admire the way the gardeners combine the plants to get such striking beds…

these roses were heavy with the dew…

final view before leaving the English Garden…

flowers do make me happy…

stunning…

15 Monday Aug 2016

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been getting up around six so that I can get in a bit of the Olympic coverage before work…

today it was dark enough that I needed to turn on the light in the bedroom, sigh…

then I went down the stairs and saw this…

absolutely stunning sky… took out the screen so that I could get a clear picture… 

made me realize that I’d just opened that window and I had to run and close it so no bugs came in, lol…

yesterday I picked up some gladiolas when I was at the grocery store as a special treat…

although they are white, (I love the purple ones) they are stunning… in the process of checking on the correct spelling I discovered some interesting facts about flowers and birth months, lol…

decided to take a few stems to the office to brighten up my space…

so they travelled in the passenger seat…


a number of colleagues asked if they were from my garden… would be amazing if I could grow something like this in the garden…

start…

05 Friday Aug 2016

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this morning the sky was stunning… it started with white clouds, then dark clouds, and finally sunshine, all within what felt like minutes… 

then it was off to the Park for breakfast and a walk through the Gardens with my friend…

as I walked there, the sky continued to provide a variety of views…

once inside the Park, came across a huge tree down on the pathway…

great meal and stroll as we caught up on one another’s lives over the last few weeks…

the Gardens were at their absolute best with blooms bursting out everywhere we looked…

clearly the gardeners have been working nonstop…

and there were others hard at work in amongst the flowers…

this morning the Boy and his Boot were dry, but there were some new plants in the pond and they were lovely…

took a turn around the Riley Family Duck Pond and got a few shots of some mallard babies… not so little anymore…

nice view of the Pavilion and Lyric stage…

sky continued to change on my walk home… bit of darkness off in the distance as I crossed the bridge… and the wind started to pick up…

by the time I reached the corner of my street the temperature had probably dropped five degrees…

and it was very dark… but it all blew over and was sunny for the remainder of the day…

was sure to have my supper organized and eaten before six, when the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies started…

firmly ensconced in front of the tv… happily won’t have to get up in the middle of the night to watch as the time zone is so close to ours…

going to be busy for the next seventeen days, lol…

downloaded from the internet…

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…