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Tag Archives: George

orange…

31 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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beloved, big girl pants, bloom, garden, George, orange, poppies, widow

on the way out to the garage this morning I spotted orange…

the first two poppies were open… I was on a tight schedule but had to stop, get out my phone and take some pictures…

the poppies self-seed every year… such a welcome sign that spring is really here… many years there might only be five or six that bloom… the year George died there were probably forty… 

amazingly, when I looked at my Facebook feed today, it showed an album from 2012 with pictures of many of the poppies… that was definitely the most we have ever seen in one year… felt it was as though he was with us…

here is my favourite picture from this morning…

missing my beloved…

hospitals…

17 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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big girl pants, cell phones, changes, George, heart, hospitals, lost, phones, signs, widow

was recently at a hospital and noticed these signs…

was thinking back to the various hospitals I’ve been at over the years… 

when George was in St. Boniface Hospital for his heart surgery we were able to use our cell phones in his room but not in the halls of that ward as the phones might affect pacemakers… 

a few years later, when I was there, I could have my phone in the room without a problem… was able to use my phone at HSC a few years back as well…

now there isn’t anything saying you can’t use your phone but they don’t want you to take pictures of others… what are people doing that the hospitals need to have these signs all over… yikes…

today people use their phones to keep family and friends informed about how the patient is doing, without having to leave them to find a spot inside or outside of the hospital where they are allowed to use their phones…

while I was there I found my way to a bathroom, made it outside, and back to the room without getting lost… I am notorious for not being able to find my way around in unfamiliar places, lol…

those big girl pants…

walking the halls on the heart surgery ward, 2008…

packing…

11 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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big girl pants, George, laundry, packing, purple, shopping, stuff, suitcase, trip, widow

today I spent time preparing for our trip…

went through my closet and tried on the various bits and pieces of summer clothing…

chose black, white and gray as my colour scheme… with a few pops of purple;-)…

went to the mall and bought new sandals, runners and flip flops… 

came home and did loads of laundry so that everything was ready for packing… 

started with a small suitcase and then changed to a large one, lol… 

I know I have too much stuff, but I want a few options… last time I travelled I felt I didn’t have enough things to wear…

now the trick will be to have it weigh less than 50 pounds…

still have a few days to add things… which could be the problem, lol… 

George was particularly good at adding things at the end so we would always need another bag at the last minute… but he also had an amazing ability to fit everything into a tiny space… was fun to watch…

drops…

29 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by sulis303 in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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big girl pants, cataract, drops, eye, eye drops, George, glaucoma, sparkle, surgery, widow

been thinking about eye drops a lot…

in January or February of 2012, George had cataract surgery on his right eye… it made a huge improvement to his vision and he did very well during and after the surgery… 

the cataract came on very quickly and he kept thinking that he had something in his eye so we were very happy to discover that was the problem… saw a wonderful doctor, got on the list and into and out of the Misericordia in record time…

the one difficulty he struggled with was the eye drops which started out three times a day at the beginning and were still happening twice a day even when he went back to work…

he just couldn’t put them in by himself, lol… so it became my job to administer the drops…

I’ve been putting drops in my eyes every night for many years as I’ve been diagnosed with glaucoma… once you start taking them you have to continue forever…

recently I was doing some work in my computer photo library and came across a photo I had taken of his eye just a few days before his death… it was very close up and showed the sparkle that was always there…

here’s one that always makes me chuckle… 

roaster…

27 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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aluminum, big girl pants, George, gravy, nuts and bolts, pan, parents, roaster, treasured, turkey, WearEver, widow

cooked the turkey in my mom and dad’s WearEver roasting pan… 

it must be fifty years old because they had it when I was a kid… looked it up online and noticed that it was called vintage, lol… I can still see my dad lifting it out of the oven with whatever delectable food was inside it… 

that, along with their WearEver knife set, which hangs in the kitchen, and never get used, were treasured family possessions…

haven’t used the pan for a few years as the turkeys have been small and have fit nicely in my enamel roaster…

this turkey was a bit bigger so needed the larger container…

it does produce the most beautiful gravy… a lovely rich brown colour, even though there aren’t lots of bits stuck to the bottom of the pan… also makes the best nuts and bolts…

George had written our last name on the side for when we took it elsewhere doing catering… it was lovely to see his handwriting…

made me think of all the dinners we have cooked during our life together…

wonderful memories…

coconut…

08 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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Advent, almond, big girl pants, calendar, candied, ChocoMe, coconut, George, gold, widow

had a tasty treat after dinner tonight…

this was in my Advent calendar on day 4, which was also George’s birthday… it is 65% dark chocolate with coconut, candied violets and gold flakes by ChocoMe…

and it tastes delicious…

had it with some almonds to be sure I got a portion of protein with it…

pumpkin…

30 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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big girl pants, carving, George, halloween, iPhone, music, pictures, Poke Balls, pumpkin, walk, widow

this afternoon I was sitting in the living room listening to music I’ve recently downloaded to my phone…

took quite a while to get the music to play… checked my settings, my volume and everything else I could think of… after fussing with it for a while, tried turning the phone off and then back on… after that it worked fine…

made me laugh because that is usually the first thing I recommend to colleagues and friends when they explain about a computer glitch…

was listening to Willie Nelson as I waited for my kids to get here so we could carve pumpkins…

last year we did the carving at their house in their newly renovated kitchen… it has a huge island which was great for a number of people to stand and sit around while worked on their masterpieces…

George had such fun choosing and carving the Halloween pumpkins… he was always the last one at the table, after everyone else had run out of energy and patience and left partially finished pieces…

he taught the girls how to scoop out the seeds and goop and then have the fun of drawing and cutting out a face… with the grandkids times had changed and the designs were much fancier… which also made them more difficult to complete… and often they all wanted the same pattern… but he would figure out how to get everyone on track and having fun…

then there was always the exciting part when candles were inserted and the lights went turned out and the magic would be revealed…

such fun memories;-)…

here’s what we did today…

they picked up costumes on their way over so we did get pictures… yay… they are the cutest onesie jammies… a frog and two foxes…

we used the pumpkins that the kids grew in their garden… the carving went well… everyone decided on simple looks… came out great…

pizza, wings, salad and Halloween cupcakes for supper and then we went to the Park and took a few laps around the Formal Gardens… 

full day…

addition…

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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addition, anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, fun, George, hot tub, kids, Mother's Day, widow

last night I was sitting in the hot tub remembering when my beloved and I would sit out and watch the stars…

for a few years we would rent a hot tub on our anniversary… I was always the one who did this as I liked hot tubs way more than George did, lol… one of my all time favourite pictures is of my oldest grandson in one of the rented tubs… adorable, isn’t it…


brought to mind the fact that we’ve had it for just over seven years… when I was dismissed from my previous employment I received a settlement and used some of that money to buy it…

I think we bought it in March but didn’t get it home and going until Mother’s Day that Spring, partly because we had to fill in a pond and build a deck for it to sit on… 

first time in our hot tub…

I have loved every minute… and often think about what it took to get it…

George grew to enjoy it over time and the kids have all had great fun in it, on their own, or with friends…

it has certainly been a wonderful addition to our garden…

snuggles…

25 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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Baby, bench, big girl pants, colours, errands, FaceTime, George, memories, PokeStops, snuggles, walk, widow

another fall day… overcast with rain off and on…

drove to the Formal Gardens at the Park and walked two loops… it was drizzling about half the time I was walking…

needed poke balls and this is a great place to find PokeStops and get in the walking, all at the same time… 

the actual garden always looks lovely and you can see how the wind was blowing…

the trees are starting to change colour and it was hard to decide which picture to put up…

last time I walked in this spot a friend shared that her family had a memorial bench for her husband there, as they would walk this circle and he often needed to stop and take a break… 

the bench says stop and rest awhile so I sat down for a few minutes and listened to the geese flying overhead… a special moment… reminded me of George and my special bench in the Leo Mol Garden and the memories that fill my heart when I sit there, even now…

still haven’t seen the trees turning red in the East so I’m always looking for bright colours here, lol…

when I got home after running a few errands I had the marvellous gift of spending an hour with this lovely baby and her mom… and my Ottawa daughter via FaceTime… we had a wonderful visit and lots of baby snuggles…

snuggled up on the bed, watched tv and read while my dinner was cooking…

crawler…

22 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by sulis303 in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized

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beloved, big girl pants, caterpillar, crawler, creepy, George, widow

been missing my beloved recently…

this morning a very big spider was on the kitchen counter… George would have come running when I screamed and dealt with it… he always saved me from bugs and spiders…

now, I don’t bother to scream… just went and got the fly swatter and tried to get it…

this is where it was… but it got away… still somewhere in my kitchen… ugh…

looks like there is only one caterpillar left on the parsley…

tomorrow I will search and see if I can find the chrysalis…

tonight a cricket came in as the patio screen door was opened… was able to catch and deal with it…

lots of creepy crawlers today…

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beloved big girl pants birds blessed chocolate Christmas cold dinner family fish flowers food friends fun garden George grandson grandsons happy health hibiscus hot tub light lunch memories moments morning glories nature orchid photos pictures plants pond purple rain remembering shopping sky snow sun sunshine supper Technology time treat trees walk water weather widow

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