03 Wednesday Jun 2026
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterfly, dragonfly, frog, garden, moments, nature, rust-coloured, widow
today, I spotted a small black butterfly with rust along the bottom third… it flew away before I got a picture, lol…
not long after, a tiny little wood frog hopped across the deck by the pond…
not much bigger than a thumbnail…
and finally, a beautiful rust-coloured dragonfly…
such fun to see so much nature;-)…
24 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blow, bunny, family, frog, garden, grass, liner, lush, moments, nature, pond, sunny, tidy, weather, widow
another lovely day…
spotted a baby bunny, snacking on poppy plants…
and a bigger bunny in the middle of the garden…
a bit later my housemate discovered the cutest little frog and popped them next to the pond…
I had an enjoyable time reading outside, although I did have a blanket on as it was a bit cool, but the garden looked tidy following a cut, trim and blow, lol…
everything is so lush following all the rain…
the waterfall area has had the last of the liner cut back now that we are sure it isn’t leaking, yay…
09 Saturday Jul 2022
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
well, had a great day…
sat in the garden and read for a good portion of the day…
made potato salad and coleslaw…
spotted house finches and a goldfinch at the feeders…
and saw my little frog friend again;-)…
such a pleasure to be able to enjoy these moments;-)…
17 Wednesday Jun 2020
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, cats, frog, garden, moments, nature, pond, quiet, sparrow, weather, widow
there has been lots of activity in the garden recently…
these critters were photographed over the last few days…
today the forecast mentioned thunderstorms and rain but I decided to put out all of the cushions anyway… it ended up sunny and hot for most of the day…
looks very quiet, lol…
but this morning there were red and gray squirrels, the frog, chipping sparrows, a bunny that shot across the garden, dragonflies and two cats, one that I haven’t seen previously…
and during that entire period a robin, that I couldn’t see, sang…
I am enjoying every moment that I spend here…
12 Friday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, common frog, fish, frog, froggie, garden, hiding, leaves, lilies, lily pads, moments, nature, pond, quiet, time, widow
saw the frog a number of times yesterday while I was listening to a program on my iPhone…
it has hopped past me a few times over the last while but never when I have a camera in my hand…
yesterday froggie was out sunning on the rocks around the edge of the pond… when it jumps in it swims across in just a few seconds…
according to research it appears to be a common frog… interesting, as for the last few years we had leopard frogs…
got some nice pictures;-)…
and another exciting thing is that the water lily leaves are just starting to rise above the water… this first photo was from last night and only the top corner of one lily pad was peeking out of the water…
now four lily pads are above water on one plant and two on the second plant…
04 Thursday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, butterflies, dragonfly, frog, garden, hot tub, moments, monarch, nature, plug, pond, widow
had the most wonderful morning in the garden…
when I went out for a hot tub first thing I realized the pump had stopped in the pond…
before I went in, I pulled the plug and then spotted a dragonfly sitting on a rock in the pond…
took my breakfast outside and sat and watched it for quite some time… wondering if it had come up from the water and was drying its wings…
it was windy and I watched two butterflies flit past… an orange one, maybe a monarch although it wasn’t close enough to confirm… and a black one… it had some yellow along the outside of the wings…
went into the house for a cup of tea and when I came back, noticed the dragonfly in the pond and thought it might be dead, but then its wings fluttered… I found a stick and pulled it out and set it down in the sun… after about half an hour it flew away;-)…
a short while later I saw my buddy the frog jump in and swim across the pond… and finally the fish came out from under the bridge…
31 Sunday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chinese food, dredged, family, fish, frog, garden, grandsons, leaves, lunch, moments, mowing, nature, pond, supper, treat, visit, water, widow
sitting by the pond after my visitors have left and enjoying the last bit of sunlight…
my water shoes are on the deck because I went into the pond once again and dredged up another pailful of leaves… the fish are still not coming out, but I did see the frog hop by earlier in the day…
all three of my grandsons came by just after noon… I made them grilled cheese sandwiches with the wonderful La Belle Baguette whole wheat sourdough that was delivered yesterday…
the oldest left, the middle one mowed the grass, front and back, while the youngest watered plants and pulled weeds…
some days it is hard to realize he is eleven and can reach and do more things…
after the work was done, relaxing happened and visiting took place…
this was the first time I’ve had people in the house and the system was they had access to the basement for cooling down and using the washroom and I had the main floor… worked perfectly…
we ordered Chinese food for supper and it arrived just before the daddy, who had been at work all day… afterwards my downspout got fixed, a stair board tightened and then off they went…
it was a treat to see them and I enjoyed every minute… I missed my nap, but plan on making it an early night;-)…
17 Sunday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, deck, frog, garden, lunch, memories, moments, nature, pond, supper, waterfall, weather, widow
had a lovely day in the garden…
set out the cushions, tidied a bit, and then read, napped and watched a few birds…
moved from chair to chair as I followed the shade and ate lunch and supper outside…
spotted the frog for a brief minute… it has been calling for days and this was the first time I was able to see it;-)…
22 Sunday Jul 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, critters, English Garden, fly, frog, hot tub, hydrangeas, Leo Mol Garden, lilies, Park, pond, walk, wasp, widow
this morning after a hot tub I walked over to the Park, and then around the Gardens…
found a few critters in my travels…
first was a frog in the lily pond… only one I spotted today… there were many open lilies but no other frogs…
took quite a few photos of this cool flower and found this wasp… 
the hydrangeas are blooming everywhere and when I took this shot caught a fly in amongst the flowers…
no spiders today;-)…
02 Friday Jun 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, dandelions, fish, frog, garden, neighbours, overwhelmed, planting, struggle, widow
not sure what is going on but I am really struggling with getting the garden planted and cleaned up…
feeling bad for the new neighbours who appear to be gardeners… at this point my yard is the bad one, sigh…
the front looks like a dandelion forest… got some feelers out to find someone to come and mow and whippersnip on a regular basis…
I’ve got all these lovely plants and have had to force myself to get them into the appropriate pot…
this is all I managed today… still have a number that need to be dealt with in the garden and haven’t even picked up plants for the front beds…
was nice to have my frog friend show up…
and tonight the fish even came out of hiding for a while…
feeling overwhelmed and missing my beloved… five years and it feels like yesterday…
herbiggirlpants 
