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…
07 Friday Jun 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, columbine, cucumbers, cushions, flowers, garden, growing, hibiscus, moments, morning glories, nature, plants, pond, poppies, purple, reading, slips, walk, weather, widow
this morning I started my day with a wander around the gardens…
I started with the vegetable garden and checked on the two tomatoes, miriad of peas, beans, and the couple of cucumbers that appear to have made a go of it…
the cucumber and butternut squash seeds have yet to reach the surface…
the columbines are getting ready to flower and it appears that the ones with double petals are happy in their new location along the house…
the dahlias are growing taller every day and the ivy slips from the house are holding their own…
next I checked out the pond garden, where the irises are blooming and the poppies are raising their heads slowly to get set to open… I had to detour back around the deck so that I didn’t brush against any of them… the hanging baskets are filling with flowers as they recover from the hail storm…
the petunias around the deck look good, but I need to find a way to raise up the new planter boxes as they are just a tiny bit too narrow…
the begonia and orchid in the back shady area seem to be doing well and the pansies by the bathtub pond are growing nicely…
the hibiscus is still in the shade since coming outside recently and the begonias and verbena are happy… sadly the pansies in between them are not doing well…the strawberry pot and dahlia next to the back door look excellent as do the morning glories as they come up…
on the deck the mandevilla seems content in its new location and the clematis continues to wind its way up the obelisk… the lobelia and alyssum on the table are doing very well…
after that lovely stroll, I brought out all the cushions, uncovered the deck chairs, and sat with my tea and read some of my book as the birds sang their morning welcome;-)…
06 Thursday Jun 2024
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Alaska, big girl pants, blessed, family, flowers, Free Spirit Spheres, gardens, happy, memories, moments, nature, Seattle, spirit, treehouse, Victoria, widow
this morning a memory came up from our night at Free Spirit Spheres on Vancouver Island…
it was the cherry on top of our trip that took us on a cruise to Alaska; visiting Chihuly Gardens and Glass, and blowing glass in Seattle; tea and a carriage ride at the Empress Hotel in Victoria; and a morning taking photographs in Butchart Gardens in Brentwood, BC…
it was delightful and we enjoyed every minute… delightful times…
30 Thursday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
admire, big girl pants, blessed, busy, flowers, garden, Hilda the Gardener, moments, mowed, nap, nature, planting, plants, purple, weather, widow
Wednesday, a ton of work took place in the garden…
Hilda, the Gardener, planted milkweed, beardstongue, and pansies in the garden…
weeds were dug out and she also planted up the pots at the front of the house so it looks great everywhere…
I am so blessed to have someone who can do the heavy lifting in the garden… she has made it look amazing over these last years;-)…
my grandson and I walked the irrigation line and fixed or replaced the tiny hoses that the bunnies find very tasty, lol…
we also worked on the pallet planter using landscape cloth to make bags for a few flowers to grow in…
clearly, I need to have company over to admire the space, lol…
and Wednesday is also the day that the grass gets mowed, whipper snipped, and blown clean…
busy day which meant there was no nap🤪…
26 Sunday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cold, flowers, fundraiser, garden, moments, nature, newbie, plants, protecting, sheets, shopping, Technology, towels, weather, widow
Wednesday was a plant pickup from a friend’s church fundraiser…
there was alyssum, lobelia, petunias, and silver falls…
transplanted some in two planters that afternoon, hoping that they wouldn’t have a problem with the 4°C temperature that was expected that night…
in the end I covered all the newbie plants with sheets…
they all made it through the night;-)…
24 Friday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
adventure buddy, big girl pants, blessed, buddy, flowers, garden, happy, moments, nature, planting, plants, purple, shopping, verbena, widow
Tuesday, started the day by planting a tomato and a couple of types of cucumbers, including the splinted ones…
then I went to LeClerc’s with my adventure buddy…
had fun;-)… found some purple petunias, a fuchsia, a white begonia, salvia, white and purple verbena, and parsley for the swallowtails…
then stopped by DJ Paterson’s and found some milkweed and a beautiful purple clematis…
was able to get the begonia and verbena planted…
still have some planting to do…
17 Friday May 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beaten, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, hail, hailstorm, moments, nature, plants, rain, thunderstorm, weather, widow
yesterday we had a hailstorm… it started as a bit of rain, then a thunderstorm, and then it turned into this crazy pounding of pieces of hail that went from pea to marble sized…
it happened around five and there was still lots left at nine-thirty…
the garden seemed to get it much worse than the front yard…
the poor baskets took a real beating… fingers crossed that they all come back…
this morning I discovered that two of the cucumber plants had been nearly broken in half, so I created splints for them and we will see if they recover…
what a sight…
16 Thursday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beardstongue, big girl pants, blessed, butterfly bush, flowers, garden, moments, plants, pond, purple, Shelmerdine, shopping, weather, widow
yesterday we went to Shelmerdine…
I had called and they had a new shipment in, which included butterfly bush…
they are referred to as delicate perennials or hardy annuals, lol… that means you have to bring them in over the winter if you want them to survive… I managed to get one to survive one year, but it didn’t make it the following year…
I also picked up some beardstongue – which hummingbirds like, and has purple flowers…
finished up with cucumbers, dill, a tomato and a couple of waterplants…
the butterfly bushes went right into areas around the pond and the rest into the garage to harden off… likely the water plants will make it into the pond in the next few days…
14 Tuesday May 2024
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, flowers, garden, hanging baskets, happy, holler, moments, nature, petunias, plants, purple, shopping, treat, white, widow
for Mother’s Day I got four beautiful hanging baskets;-)… so far they have been going into the garage on cooler nights…
two are purple and white petunias…
the other two have white petunias and (maybe) lantana in them…
it is lovely to have flowers all over the garden…
and the morning glories are popping up;-)…
the garden is beginning to holler spring…
herbiggirlpants 