18 Wednesday Jan 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
Audubon, big girl pants, birds, blessed, calendar, checking, garden, learning, moments, nature, new, pictures, remember, widow
I’ve had fun checking out the birds on my Audubon calendar each day…
it has been interesting to see birds I don’t know and I also enjoy thinking about when I’ve seen those I already know…
14 Saturday Jan 2023
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
03 Tuesday Jan 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, hoarfrost, hot tub, land, moments, nature, new year, snow, trees, water, weather, widow
started the year off with a lovely hot tub…
the trees were covered in hoarfrost and looked so nice…
I finally got a photo of the icicles hanging along the edge of the house…
I think they are there because of where the hot tub is located and I no longer sit at that end because I don’t want one to land on my head…
02 Monday Jan 2023
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Audubon, big girl pants, birds, blessed, calendar, Chihuly, garden, memories, moments, nature, pictures, Technology, tradition, widow
January first was new calendar day…
for many years we have had Chihuly calendars… either my daughter or I would get two and give one to the other person;-)…
one year I even made one filled with photos from our trip to see his installation in Atlanta…
this year I changed it up…
I found an Audubon calendar online that shows a different bird each day… ordered two and sent one off with the other Christmas presents…
took down the old one and put up the new one…
I think I will learn a bit and maybe it will even help me with bird identification in the garden…
01 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
blessed, coal, dark, definition, family, first footing, garden, her big girl pants, home, loss, memories, moments, remembering, tradition, widow
we have done first-footing since I was a little girl… for us, it meant that just before midnight on New Year’s Eve my dad, who had dark hair, would jump in the car and drive around to all our aunts and uncles and grandparents’ houses and take them an offering – it always included coal, bread and sometimes oranges and a little drink of something… I also remember how my dad would have to search out new coal every year because no one ever kept it from year to year, lol…
from Dalhousie Castle:
“Stemming back to the time of the invading Vikings in the 8th and 9thcentury, it is believed that the first person to enter a house, the “first foot”, can bring luck – or misfortune – for the year ahead. In Scottish tradition good luck comes in the form of a tall, dark-haired man being the first footer.” Dec 7, 2020
I spent time this morning looking back at some of the different ways it has happened for me…
my daughter being the first female to cross the threshold first when she was here in 2017…
my middle grandson taking home a bag and making sure to bring it and be the first one to cross my threshold…
my daughter arranging for friends to come by with a box of items she had sent to them…
while visiting the kids in Ottawa, having a diamond necklace in the bag because there wasn’t any coal, lol… and I did have to give it back🤪…
this morning I went out the back door in my housecoat, walked around to the front door, and first-footed myself…
those big girl pants 😂…
29 Thursday Dec 2022
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cleaning, fish, fish tank, garden, happy, moments, murky, nature, outside inside, struggle, tank, water, widow
it has been a quiet few days here…
time has been spent watching bunnies and birds and squirrels through various windows…
but in the house there has been a problem with one of the fish tanks… it has been very murky… I’ve tried a few things without success…
Wednesday was spent taking about a quarter of the water out of the tank, deep cleaning the pump and filters and finally, adding fresh water…
yesterday I could see the difference… and I was very pleased with how clear the water is so far…
excited to see if it gets even better over the next few days…
27 Tuesday Dec 2022
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunnies, garden, memories, moments, nature, paths, photos, snow, weather, widow
what a treat this morning…
as I was heading downstairs I spotted not one but two bunnies in the garden…
this could explain the numerous paths through the snow;-)…
it always amazes me how those special moments happen… how I just happen to look out the window at that moment…
life is good 😊…
26 Monday Dec 2022
Posted in life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, cold, door, garden, just, light, moments, nature, snow, stuck, weather, widow
it looks beautiful outside…
I decided to take a few photos of the deck and opened the sliding door… well, tried to open it…
it slid open about six inches and then wouldn’t move…
was able to stick the phone out just enough to get a few pictures…
it really is lovely to look at, but at some point, I will need to go out and clear the deck off so I can fill the feeder, lol…
20 Tuesday Dec 2022
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chihuly, food, friends, garage, garden, gathering, group, happy, home, longtime, meeting, moments, pandemic, treats, weather, widow
Monday afternoons our longtime group meets…
we used to meet in the evening when we all worked, lol… since we are all retired now, we’ve moved to the afternoon… for some of the pandemic we met online and since the spring we’ve been meeting in the garden… then we moved into the garage for a while…
we moved into the house in the fall… for a number of weeks, I left the front and back doors slightly open and we wore our masks until everyone was sitting down…
now, the doors are closed and we no longer wear masks, but I still bring the coffee into the living room, where we gather;-)…
everyone drinks decaf, except me and my tea…
we often have pistachios and sometimes folks bring other treats… a great time of conversation and sharing…
what a gift these women have been for me…
17 Saturday Dec 2022
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, delicious, friends, fun, garden, good times, goodies, moments, neighbour, purple, trays, treats, widow
had a lovely visit with my neighbour…
she brought over a cute purple tray filled with delightful homemade goodies…
she makes a number of cookie trays for family and usually puts them on red trays, but had to go out and find a purple one for me😊… what a sweetie…
we usually meet for a little glass of something in the garden, lol, so it was good to get together in the house…
we snacked, chatted and had lots of laughs… and there are still some of the goodies left for me to eat and share🤭…
herbiggirlpants 