Tag Archives: gardens

Ottawa day 3…

03 Saturday Sep 2016

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another fun-filled day…

slept in, and when we finally got up went for sushi for a late breakfast… 168 Sushi is a buffet where they use iPads for ordering… options include sushi, dim sum, Thai and Chinese… was thinking the little boys would love ordering at this place because everyone could get what they wanted:-)…

iPad ordering system…

so far every time we have eaten we have cheered;-)… green tea and 7 Up this time…

beautiful and delicious eggplant…

we stopped at the gas station next door and the very kind attendant filled the car with gas for us as neither my daughter or I can stand the smell… then it was back toward Gatineau on our way to see the Formal Gardens at the Mackenzie King Estate…

here they are…

I had envisioned something on a slightly larger scale, lol… we did take a nice hike to a waterfall, which was more like a trickle… but we had fun…

some very cute mushroom parents with their babies…

not sure what these glossy red berries were, but I did enjoy taking a few photos…

my daughter took a couple too…

the dappled light along the path was reminiscent of the forests close to her home in Courtenay, BC, when she lived there…

had a bit more fun in the tunnel under the highway…

the high point of the visit was afternoon tea at the Mackenzie King Tea Room where we enjoyed finger sandwiches, scones with Devonshire cream and fresh raspberry jam and petit fours… 

the owner was a lovely young woman who brightened our afternoon… 

yummy… I skipped the petit fours and focussed on the scones…

decided to take the scenic route home and came across Pink Lake, which is actually green… but beautiful…

as we were crossing into Ottawa we remembered the rock people we’d read about and stopped to have a peek… we parked and walked about three kilometres there and back…

 they are quite amazing… some of the people who built them sit there daily to keep people from touching them…

here are a couple of builders focussed on their work…

just as we were heading back, the balloons lifted off from the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival across the river… 

we watched at least fifteen rise up and float over the trees… so beautiful…

stopped at Farm Boy and picked up a few things for our supper…

been a full day… now to bed:-)…

formal…

28 Sunday Aug 2016

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took long walks yesterday and today…

yesterday I walked a different path, through Bruce Park, on the way to the English and Leo Mol Gardens at Assiniboine Park… 

okay, okay… it was so I could collect Poke balls at PokeStops for the Pokemon Go game… we ran out of them on Friday… can’t really play the game without them…

the Gardens were fairly quiet and I got a few nice pictures…

this section of the Garden is very formal in nature and everything is blooming right now…

a different view of the wild pond… still a quieter place as the Pokemon Go hunters don’t seem to be as interested in this area, thankfully…

was waiting for some photographers to finish… they were taking pictures of some gorgeously dressed Indian women… and caught this hummingbird, sort of, lol…

couldn’t leave without getting a shot of the women as they waited their turns for pictures… they looked like exotic blossoms in the Garden…

this morning I drove over to the Formal Gardens at the far corner of the Park… again, it was to collect items from the PokeStops…

it was quiet and beautiful…

there are many busts of prominent people as you walk down one side…

this is Nellie McClung… every time I circled past them the light would be shining on them differently… very cool…

the archway of trees is so peaceful and relaxing… was able to get a nice shot of the canopy before too many cars filled up the area…

a band and catering company were setting up for what looked to be a wedding…

it was a nice change from the flowery Gardens… the only issue is having to drive there as it is too far to walk there, then around it, and back…

but nice to discover some other options for my morning exercise… who knew that Pokemon Go would help me find new walking paths, lol…

time…

02 Thursday Jun 2016

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time for a new page on my Chihuly calendar…


a nice one… looking forward to visiting the installations at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in a few weeks…

gardens are such fun to visit and take photos in… amazing to me how many places I have travelled to in the last four years…

the other thing I took time to take a photo of this morning was the new stem and buds on the October orchid that I picked up from IKEA… the last blossom just fell off on Monday… I’ve had it since October… longest blooming orchid I have ever had…


seems like many of those in my extended circle are struggling with health issues… 

keeping them in my thoughts during these difficult times…

gardens…

01 Sunday May 2016

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always great fun to turn my beautiful Chihuly calendar from one month to the next…

  

these orbs make me very happy… remind me of the lovely purple ones that the kids gave me for Mother’s Day…

  

still have to put a bit of water in them and then silicone the small hole in each one so they will float… also think I might join the three of them together with some fishing line through the silicone…

had a decadent lunch… hard to believe that a chicken sandwich on flax bread with chips and a salad is decadent, lol… 

bread is really one of the most problematic foods for me… makes my sugar levels go up all of the next day so I have to be very careful how much of it I eat…

  
when I was shopping today the bread really jumped out… my favourite technique is to buy bread, have some, and then feed the rest to the kids when they come for dinner or take it to work the next day… that way I can have the treat but not overdo… the last few days have been quiet as I saw the kids and had dinner with them on Friday… bread’s going to work tomorrow, lol…

have been watching the information about the new Chihuly opening at the Atlanta Botanical Garden… today I came across a great article in Houzz showing pictures of a number of the installations… sure looks awesome…

  
my new frog friend is very talkative… there is a lot of noise coming from the pond area… not sure if there are more there, or whether it can throw its voice…

restful time in the garden…

  
loving the beautiful weather…

change…

26 Friday Jun 2015

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worked this morning but was home by 12:30… changed and walked over to the Park to meet my BS friends for a birthday lunch on the patio at The Park Cafe…

walked under this tree which seemed to have flowers and berries on it at the same time…

  

gorgeous day and enjoyed the walk…

we had a wonderful time together…I had a burger with coleslaw on a pretzel bun…

  
yummy… not sure when I last ate a burger but that was what I wanted today…

am always amazed at the depth of our conversations, even after twenty-five years… today we talked about our end of life wishes as well as how we had dealt with our elders’ transitions from life to death… there is a deep well of wisdom within these women…

after lunch I took a quick trip around my favourite gardens before heading home…

was very surprised to see that all the lilac bushes have been removed from two areas… they had been there since the gardens opened… it was just a few weeks ago that I had rested under a canopy of lilacs enjoying the beautiful scent…

  
removing them has certainly opened up the garden… and I’m sure that I will get used to the new look…

change is always happening, whether I am ready for it or not…