Tag Archives: friends

embrace…

02 Wednesday Nov 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

spent last night with my amazing friends… to celebrate a birthday we went to De Luca’s Cooking School for dinner… we were lucky to have the birthday woman’s sister with us as well…

the demonstrations of the various courses by Chef Anna Paganelli were wonderful and the commercials by Tony De Luca were informative and funny…

we received all of the recipes and had them to follow along with during the preparation phase of each course…

my absolute favourite was the Farfalle with Vodka Porcini Cream Sauce… my oh my, was that ever delicious… 

a lovely treat and we all enjoyed it… might need to get a small bottle of vodka so I can make this… although whether it would taste as good is a question, lol…

tonight I made Tempeh Tikka Masala with heirloom carrots, whole wheat couscous and curry dressing… I am really enjoying the process of preparing the recipes from the ChefsPlate boxes…

first time I’ve had tempeh… still a bit unsure about how I feel about it but want to try it again…

my company tonight was this little ladybug…

happy to try new things… makes for special moments… and I continue to embrace those moments… hope you are able to as well…

camping, day 8…

28 Thursday Jul 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

another day in paradise…

about 12:30 am my grandson came and woke me… we went out and looked at the stars… saw the space station going over and the Milky Way…

took a while to get to sleep after that because I was so pumped… tonight we have removed a portion of the tent cover so I will be able to watch them from the comfort of my bed;-)…


we slept in after that and didn’t get up until 8:45, when the groundskeepers decided to start mowing the grass in the campground…

saw the ducks at the beach and my grandson took a few pictures… so I got one of him…


I had cereal for breakfast but everyone else had s’more cakes, ie. pancakes with Reece’s spread and roasted marshmallows… very popular…


and then the loon started calling… close to us… and there it was in the water just off our site…


so pleased with the pictures… this was the very first one…


on the water again in the boat, and today I had fun on the tube with the oldest grandson and then all on my own… going very slowly, lol…

friends joined us and the kids had a blast with all the water toys…



great fun for everyone…

tonight after a supper of perogies, onion, bacon, cauliflower and pea pods got this lovely shot of the sun as it was setting…


every evening the sunsets have been beautiful… the weather has been excellent which certainly helps make the time enjoyable…

thunderstorms…

04 Monday Jul 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

interesting weather day…

started off at 19 Celsius and sunny… but it did say something about thunderstorms later in the day…

when I got into the car at the end of the day it registered 32 and the sky was starting to get dark, but it didn’t rain on my drive…

once I was home and ate my dinner the rain began…


not that we really need more rain… the hibiscus has many yellow leaves from too much water…

and then the sky opened up and dumped so fast that it was difficult to see out the window and it looked like smoke was coming from the neighbour’s roof as the wind blew the rain across it…


it didn’t hail here, although it certainly made me think it was going to… but it did about 15 streets to the west…

by the time my friends arrived it had stopped raining and while we were visiting the sky started to clear and the sun came out…

when they left the sun was shining from the backside of the clouds so I had to get a picture of the lovely pink highlights…


always think how lovely it is to be able to enjoy these special moments in time… not only the weather but the opportunity to spend time with these wonderful and wise women…

friends…

02 Saturday Jul 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

yesterday I discovered this plaque that a dear friend had given to me… it had come down from the bedroom wall four years ago when my older daughter arranged for her friends to come and paint the room for me before my surgery… the bedroom had been looking very worn and we knew I would be spending a lot of recovery time in it…


when I discovered it yesterday it went right down into the bathroom where it has a place of prominence…

on my walk in the Gardens at the Park today I was also thinking of friends…

often meet a friend to take this walk but she is away so I was on my own…

beautiful iris…

one of the gardeners was busy with the ongoing work in the gardens but happily answered my questions…

like why so many of the benches were tipped over… apparently some of the concrete needed repair… kind of funny, because they just put them in about two weeks ago after they had redone many of the walkways…

spotted this leopard frog having a look over its domain… that was just after a turtle slipped into the water on the other side of the pond…

my other question was about the string algae which is rather prominent in their pond as well… they are having pump troubles and also dye the water so the sunlight can’t get through and cause more algae… 

dragonflies were everywhere… didn’t even see this one on the lilypad when I took the picture…

this one posed very nicely for me…

sat on “my” bench – where George and I would often take a break on our walks through the Gardens – and the cutest teeny bunny came out from the undergrowth five or six times… but when I finally spoke to it, it left for good…

not sure why, but I have been missing him terribly for the last month or so…

as I toured around the Duck Pond I caught sight of this mallard mom and her babies having a rest in the sunshine…

while I was walking thought a lot about my friends and how blessed I am to have them…

view…

04 Monday Apr 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

the sun was shining brightly into the living room tonight as I sat waiting for my friends to arrive… four of the five of us were going to be together…

  
so amazing to be sitting in the bright light at seven thirty at night… yay… 

unfortunately there is still a bit of snow on the ground…

received the first drawings of the kitchen today… trying to look at them and decide whether it is just what I want…

  
interesting to see the kitchen from someone else’s point of view… 

been doing a lot of looking at things with an open mind lately and need to stay in that state of mind…

it is so easy to only see things the way you’ve done them for ages… much more difficult to envision possibilities…

need to keep that open mind…

lobster…

31 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in family, health, life, nature, technology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

for most of our married life we would celebrate New Year’s Eve with steak and lobster… started this tradition when we were newly married with a couple of longtime friends…

I can remember the first year, before we had kids, when we were in their yard and the old style charcoal bbq melted the snow all around it… the guys were in their shirtsleeves, it was giving off so much heat…

what great fun we had… over the years we kept up the tradition with appetizers early on, and then the steak and lobster very late in the evening, usually with at least one other couple… for much of the time the girls didn’t participate as New Year’s was our adult celebration…

when the girls were adults, they started to come for the dinner before going out with their friends, so we began eating earlier so it would fit with their plans…

the last few years before George died we would spend the remainder of the evening reading or watching tv and heading to bed after the midnight glass of bubbly…

last year I decided not to have steak and lobster on New Year’s Eve and instead had it on New Year’s Day with the family… I spent a quiet evening, watched fireworks at our community club from the dining room window… tonight I could hear the fireworks at The Forks…

  

I roasted a Cornish hen with mashed potatoes and cauliflower, with a carrot and raisin salad… a lovely remembrance… for years having a Cornish hen was a special treat for the two of us… a tasty reminder of my beloved…

  
the lobster is thawing in preparation for tomorrow’s dinner… 

  
everyone in the family loves it now… not sure why we ever fed it to the little boys, lol…

likely I will be asleep at midnight…

dumplings…

21 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in family, health, life, nature, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

busy day… tidied up from last night’s dinner and started on some healthy turkey soup and dumplings for tonight’s potluck party…

  
had a little time with my girl before they headed out for breakfast with another friend…

  

first time I watched Shadow leave without me…

the party was a great success and lovely to visit with these young people whom we have known for basically their entire lives…

  
the house was full of people, many in the kitchen, having lots of fun…

  
some of the girls visiting… the dumplings and soup were a big hit… and tasty…

  
some story time…

early today got a lovely shot of the pergola along the garage and the lovely sculpture the snow and wind have produced…

 
very full day… 

frost…

27 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

last night I was quite excited to look out and see that the solar powered lights glowing…

  
that means the sun had been shining during the day…

  
really enjoying the sunlight as much as possible… today I was commenting on the sunlight streaming through the office windows…

was very pleased tonight when I arrived home and looked at the garage windows… had to get out my phone to take a few pictures…

  
a few years ago I was at a friend’s house and got some amazing shots of hoarfrost on her garage windows… so these pictures reminded me of that special evening when we decorated her living room for Christmas…

  
frost is amazingly beautiful…

as I walked up to the door my phone chirped with a text from another friend who had just cuddled up on her couch with a crocheted blanket I had made for her a year or so ago and wanted to tell me how she enjoyed it… 

lovely memories to finish off a long week…

market…

13 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

so excited this morning because the second batch of morning glories have blooms on them… when I bought them I had no idea what size or colour they would be…

  
they are huge and purple… I was thinking they would be light blue so I am very happy…

  
the mandevilla continues to produce more flowers and buds…

ran across to the drugstore before work and picked up some AfterBite to deal with these mosquito bites… not sure if it is working that well…

this afternoon I wandered over to the Farmers Market and picked up some great items…

  
besides the great veggies I got some amazing tziki, some yummy cheese biscuits and a beautiful purple glass pendant…

ran into a friend on my way… great to spend a few minutes catching up… she and her daughter were just coming from the Market… she is an amazing person and we plan to meet at the hot dog cart on the corner one day soon…

had the eggplant and cucumbers as part of my dinner… tasty…

cleaning up my Contact list, came across a fabulous picture of a recently departed friend… she loved orange, which made me think of this picture I took this morning…

 I miss her…

 

friends…

30 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in health, life, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

had a vacation day today and spent most of it in the garden…

my grandson came over and helped with some yard work…

he is becoming proficient in weeding and knowing what shouldn’t be pulled…

he dug the hose into the grass and under two flower beds so that it just needs a button flipped and water will go into the pond when it runs low… we bought some hardware which we haven’t installed yet, but at least the hose is ready, lol…

  
the grass should grow over in a few weeks and there won’t be anything visible at all…

lots of wild roses were cut down but we also got to see blooms on the two rose bushes that came from my friend and neighbour Ellen’s house… she was a very special woman…

  
been feeling that I haven’t been a very good friend lately… maybe I am still all wrapped up in my own struggles with losing my beloved or I just haven’t been taking the time to connect with friends… maybe I’m turning into a hermit…

sometimes a friend needs space but I wonder if I’ve been using that as an excuse not to connect… and sometimes they just grow away from you for a while, and that’s okay too…

was talking with someone and they were having similar feelings…

I don’t know for sure, except that I am feeling guilty of not trying hard enough to connect with at least one person… maybe I need to sit with that for a while…