Tag Archives: home

burbling…

19 Friday May 2023

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early Tuesday morning I was sitting on the back deck, listening to the burbling of the pond, as a bunny came right up next to me… we chatted, well I chatted and the bunny twitched its nose for a few minutes, before it hopped away… pleased that it felt comfortable as I sat there reading quietly… well, maybe it didn’t notice me, lol…

reminded me of how truly blessed I am… and what a wonderful life I lead…that I can sit in the sunshine and shade in my garden and enjoy the nature around me – the birds, and squirrels, and bunnies, and bees – every day that I want…

and while I was there, to hear about the ducklings that hatched yesterday, and today crossed a busy street with their momma, (protected by two different people families) in Ottawa to find a swimming pool to start the next portion of their journey…

later in the day I stood up from a chair on the upper deck and spotted a goldfinch at the feeder… it flitted about nervously for a few moments and then, when it felt safe, called its partner to come and eat… they were happy for a while, until a squirrel came and chased them away…

if I hadn’t stood up at just that moment I would have missed them… a lovely treat…

made chicken soup from the leftovers of Sunday’s dinner and tested out a few new purchases which arrived at the door…

nice…

can…

28 Friday Apr 2023

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Wednesday is the day I water my plants… I have quite a few, lol…

I combine tap water with some banana skin water and wander around the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and den, with constant trips to the kitchen to refill the watering can…

I have had this watering can forever and have repaired the handle a few times as I enjoy the feel of this one…

seeing all of the blooms on the African violets and orchids, and the lovely purple anthurium blossom brings me so much happiness and makes me smile…

and currently, there are the seedlings that need attention as well…

it is quite a meditative experience and I enjoy the weekly time spent doing this…

gadget…

27 Thursday Apr 2023

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we got a new kitchen gadget recently…

its purpose is to make a circular fried egg…

it is going to take a while to figure out how best to use it, but these came out not too bad…

I tend not to order a one-use item, but maybe we can figure out something else to use it for, lol… any ideas;-)…

beige…

01 Saturday Apr 2023

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had a delightful day yesterday… got to cook for my grandsons…

made stuffing (one of their absolute favourites), prepped mashed potatoes, boiled a turnip (to use the water in the gravy), cut up cucumbers, cooked mushrooms, and opened a can of cranberry jelly…


such a treat to have them for a home-cooked meal, lol… and fun to make dinner for more than one or two people…

put the chicken into the oven and the final piece was to make the gravy and pull out the cranberry jelly (only two of us like that)…

as always, while I work away making the pieces of the meal, I am thinking about the people who will be eating the meal with me…

dinner turned out delicious, although it was a bit on the beige side, lol… sadly, only one of them was able to come as the other was home sick with a stomach bug;-(… I did send home a goodie bag for when he feels better…

repositioned…

24 Friday Feb 2023

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another few projects got taken care of…

the wooden bird picture that my middle grandson gave me about a year ago has finally made it onto the wall… we had to pick up wire to use as it is heavy and the usual fishing line wasn’t going to hold it up…

looks great and I am so proud of him as he did a good job of making it…

then we put a new sweep on the bottom of the back door so that cold air isn’t flowing down into the basement… bit of a process, but it was finally complete… better than it was, for sure…

a strip of carpet got cut and repositioned so that feet won’t be on concrete on the way to the bathroom, lol…

the final piece of work was cutting and installing a tile over the light in the bathroom…

a lot of work got done;-)… I am blessed…

braver…

19 Sunday Feb 2023

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spent a good portion of Thursday out and about shopping… I am getting much braver these days although I still wear a mask everywhere…

were in Home Depot and Rona, getting bits and pieces to fix a few things in the house… then we wandered up and down every aisle at Costco and picked up a few items…

our final stop was Safeway where I was able to obtain some flowering plants and a few bunches of flowers…

and everyone knows they make me happy, lol…

escargot…

04 Wednesday Jan 2023

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for years we celebrated New Year’s Eve with steak and lobster… this started with friends before we had kids;-)…

at some point it moved to New Year’s Day as the kids wanted to participate but were off celebrating on the night before…

this year I enjoyed the preparation as I worked on getting escargot stuffed mushrooms, baked potatoes, fried mushrooms and sautéed Brussels sprouts ready…

the kids arrived, got the barbecue going and then grilled the steaks and lobster tails…

dinner was delicious and we had a great time…

on Monday, as I emptied the dishwasher and put away all of the pieces we used, I revisited the fun and special moments…

and the tradition continues…

first-footing…

01 Sunday Jan 2023

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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 😂…

longtime…

20 Tuesday Dec 2022

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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…