22 Thursday Aug 2024
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, De Luca's, food, friend, lunch, moments, pizza, vegetarian, widow
went to De Luca’s on Portage Avenue for lunch the other day…
ordered the vegetarian mushroom, spinach, and cheese pizza, along with half of a shared Greek salad…
it was delicious…
and I brought some home which I had for lunch the next day…
so good;-)…
25 Thursday Jul 2024
Posted in business, food, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
adventure, big girl pants, blessed, buddy, delicious, drive, food, friend, fun, lunch, moments, Pineridge, Pineridge Hollow, restaurant, shopping, treat, weather, widow
it was a beautiful day for an adventure yesterday… and we hadn’t been on one for awhile…
my adventure buddy and I drove out to Pineridge Hollow for lunch and a wander around the new shops that are there…
we had a lovely drive out and only got a little lost, lol…
we were just in time for our lunch reservation so we ate first… we shared a number of things…
rosemary and salt beet chips with a goat cheese ranch dipping sauce… my oh my, those were addictive…
next we shared a small Pineridge salad with mixed greens, apples, candied pecans and smoked Gouda tossed in a maple Dijon dressing… I forgot to take a photo before we dived in, lol… the small was more than enough for the two of us… and it was delicious… actually it was my favourite of all we ate…
she had the pulled pork tacos and I had the carpaccio – seared beef tenderloin, pickled rhubarb, strawberry gastrique, fresh herbs, arugula, pistachios, and a garlic scape aoli…
it was fun to try something different;-)…
and because we hadn’t eaten enough, she had schmoo and I had panna cotta with haskap berries…
we could have just had the beet chips and salad, maybe with a bit of chicken in it…
but we enjoyed everything and had leftovers to bring home…
from there we wandered through the shops and picked up a few items before heading home for naps, lol…
23 Tuesday Jul 2024
Posted in business, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beans, big girl pants, blessed, cook, food, garden, green beans, lunch, moments, nature, shopping, summer, supper, trimmed, widow
yesterday a friend brought me a large bag of fresh green beans…
this morning while I was watching a tv show I trimmed them all and put some into two pots…
I cooked the first batch for my lunch…
then the second for supper, with a few leftovers for tomorrow…
they were delicious…
I do love fresh veggies;-)…
09 Tuesday Jul 2024
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
babies, big girl pants, birds, blessed, food, garden, happy, hover, moments, nature, sparrow, testing, widow, wings
we’ve come to that time of summer when the sparrow babies are testing out their wings…
it can be a dangerous time in the garden, because many of them believe they can hover, like hummingbirds, lol… which they can’t…
they come very close to my head as they manoeuvre around trying to follow their parents and land without injury…
they think they can have dust baths on cushions and land on a dime…
but they still want mommy and daddy to feed them…
06 Saturday Jul 2024
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, develops, food, garden, moments, nature, plants, shade, shade garden, tomato plants, veggies, weather, widow
this morning I spent some time in the veggie garden… formerly known as the shade garden, lol…
there are peas starting to fill out the pods and the bean and cucumber plants are stretching up to the arch…
I’ve been doing some reading on tomato plants and decided to trim back the bottom leaves to give them more air…
I was surprised at how many branches were removed…
I guess we will see what develops…
26 Wednesday Jun 2024
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bread, cottage, food, Gibson’s, moments, Saffie’s, shopping, sunshine, Village Green Bakery, widow
had a wonderful day on Saturday…
we had ordered bread and some goodies from Village Green Bakery online and went to pick the order up…
while we were in the store next to the bakery I came across a butterfly net which will work perfectly for catching fish in the pond…
next we went to Saffie’s in Albert Beach and found an adorable long dress – purple – with pockets… woohoo…
across the street at Gibson’s Glass & Art, I found a beautiful purple mug and a delightful stained glass dragonfly…
lovely treats and reminders of our excellent week at the cottage…
16 Sunday Jun 2024
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cook, dad, family, father, food, light, lunch, memories, moments, scrambled eggs, widow
was thinking of my dad as I was making scrambled eggs recently…
he was a great cook and always used a fork when scrambling eggs… he said it made them fluffier… he always added a touch of milk or water as he prepared them…
it was a lovely memory around Father’s Day;-)…
he was a very special person and I think of him often…
12 Wednesday Jun 2024
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, food, garden, growing, happy, moments, nature, planters, plants, rain, squash, vegetables, weather, widow
this was the garden when I planted the seeds on May 14…
and here are photos from today…
the black planters are coming along very nicely… the tomatoes at each end have started to flower, the peas and beans are thinking about climbing the trellis, and the cucumbers have popped through the ground…
the vegetables in the gray planter are coming along, although the squash seed has not sprouted yet…
this is rather amazing, considering all the rain we’ve had…
11 Tuesday Jun 2024
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeders, blessed, deer, discourage, food, hostas, lane, moments, nature, pictures, snacking, surprise, widow, wildlife, window
Sunday morning I saw a deer in the field across the creek… I pointed it out to my neighbours so a couple of them went over to watch it…
apparently it had been eating their hostas…
later in the day we had a visitor at the bird feeder…
I had wondered why the seeds in one feeder had gone down so quickly, lol… eventually I opened the door and it headed across to the lane and out of sight…
today I was looking out the window only to see it back again…
as it came to the feeder I knocked on the window but it didn’t care… finally I opened the door to encourage it to leave the birdseed alone… and off it went…
I’m happy to see wildlife but don’t want to encourage eating of sunflower seeds… I may have to bring the feeders in for a few days to discourage the snacking…
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…
herbiggirlpants 