privileged…

03 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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big girl pants, camera, cleaners, flowers, health, leaves, lunch, money, priviledged, walk, widow, work

been reminded a few times recently of how privileged I am…

today I was able to take an extra half hour and have lunch with a great friend… we try to get together every month or so and check out different downtown restaurants, mostly within walking distance of my office… today we went to the Velvet Glove…

had a good visit and a fine meal…

not only am I able to take a little extra time for lunch but get to spend time with friends…

did laugh at the end of the day when I realized how much of what I ate was green… even the soup had green pumpkin seeds in it, lol…

yesterday I walked to and around the English and Leo Mol Gardens with my camera… another privilege that many people don’t have…

the fact that I have the time, am fit and healthy and able to take on such an activity is great too…still lots of flowers around… and the leaves are turning colour at an alarming rate… for some of my walk it felt like it was raining leaves…

the final reminder of my privilege was in the bathroom after I got home…

the toilet paper is folded all fancy because the cleaners were in today…

talk about privilege…

celebrate…

29 Thursday Sep 2016

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anniversary, big girl pants, cards, celebrate, colleague, flowers, Gerber's, photographs, Technology, treat, widow

this morning I took gerbers to the office to celebrate my seven year anniversary…

I’d picked them up last night and stood them up in a reusable grocery bag… even put the seat belt on to keep them from falling over…

I had spent some time last week making cards with some of my photographs and writing a note for every person…

had a few issues with the technology of getting the note and the picture in the right place, lol… but eventually they were all prepared…

it is always a treat to do something that makes others happy… one colleague commented how she loved when I had special events happening in my life because the rest of the team always get to celebrate as well… another suggested I was confused, as on your special day you are supposed to get the treats, not give them, lol… she’s new to the office;-)…

had a bit of a laugh when I realized that I hadn’t taken a picture of the flowers and vases in the kitchen before everyone started to come and choose theirs… usually I am on top of getting pictures, but the early birds were so excited that I got distracted… don’t have a single picture of the set up or even of any of the flowers in everyone’s space…

then just after lunch I found this at my desk…

in it was this beautiful rose and a lovely note from my colleague, who also happens to be my supervisor…

what a lovely treat…

it is wonderful to be appreciated… whether it is your special event, or someone else’s…

autumn…

27 Tuesday Sep 2016

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autumn, begonia, big girl pants, blessed, colours, flowers, gardenia, purple, trees, widow, work

so excited this morning to take a few pictures of the gardenia blossoms…

there are eight or nine buds and I can hardly wait for them to open…

autumn is coming on strong… as I was driving home tonight I stopped on a side street and got a picture of the trees…

the colours are changing daily, maybe even hourly…

and even in the cooler weather there are plants blooming like crazy…

this planter is filled with neverending begonia blooms, and some lobelia…

took a few minutes to savour the beauty of the freshly purpled door… it is beautiful…

today marks four years since my return to work following my cancer/hernia surgery… I had been off for ten weeks…

I am so blessed… in so many ways…

orchids…

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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beloved, big girl pants, blooms, colleague, flowers, heater, IKEA, orchids, widow

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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big girl pants, dahlias, drops, ducks, flowers, Park, soccer, volleyball, water, water lily, widow

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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70% cacao, big girl pants, chocolate, flowers, fun, gladiolas, Ottawa day 6, tasting, widow, wine

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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big girl pants, bust, canopy, flowers, formal, gardens, PokeStops, pond, trees, walk, widow

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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architecture, beauty, big girl pants, flowers, healing, see, structure, widow

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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big girl pants, Bruce Park, collecting, flowers, grandson, nest, Olymics, Pokémon Go, Poke Balls, PokeStop, widow

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…