Tag Archives: hot tub

papers…

06 Monday May 2013

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had two important papers to deal with tonight…

first one was from Krevco… it was the water test for the hot tub… when you refill it you need to take the water in to be tested to be sure that everything is balanced… filled the tub on Saturday and it took until this morning to get to 103 degrees, which is my favourite temperature…

as soon as I got home from work I took a sample in and then came home and started adding the chemicals at twenty minute intervals…  looking forward to a hot tub tonight…

results for the hot tub...

results for the hot tub…

then I headed to Ness Physiotherapy, which is quite close to home, and I think was the place that George went to off and on… it was my first time having physio so I was a little tense… Tori advised that the problem areas were the iliopsoas and tensor fascia latae… she pushed and prodded, pulled, did some fancy thing with electrical current and gave me a page with some exercises to do to strengthen the sore bits…

finally got home and had a nap and some dinner… now off to do some exercises – one reminds me of aquasize and the other of yoga, lol… and then a hot tub… which apparently is a very good thing for the above-mentioned problems…

was missing George throughout the whole process, but did put on the big girl pants and got it all done… some days that is easier than others…

in the garden…

04 Saturday May 2013

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was reading a blog tonight and saw a beautiful magnolia flower which reminded me of some great shots I got of magnolias when visiting Courtenay, BC a few years back…  they were in Filberg Park and were spectacular…

Magnolia tree smelled beautiful...

Magnolia tree smelled beautiful…

Magnolia blossom...

Magnolia blossom…

spent a good portion of today dealing with the hot tub… had a lovely time in it first thing this morning watching Juncos and Sparrows… then I turned it off and let the water drain…  takes quite a while for that step… during which I took back an ottoman and had lunch out at a lovely little Vietnamese restaurant with my nephew and his girlfriend…

in the garden this morning...

in the garden this morning…

then home to clean and fill the tub… now it is heating up – slowly – and I am hoping that by tomorrow night I will be back in it… I took some pics of the process but my daughter stopped by and borrowed the camera, lol…

while sitting outside I got a bit of sun, but put on lotion and then stayed out of it… easy to forget how strong the sun can be early in the season… heard a variety of birdsong and also the wonderful sound of the Canada Geese flying overhead… someone new has arrived in the neighbourhood but I haven’t figured out the song just yet..

what a wonderful day… I truly am blessed…

shhhhhhh…

26 Friday Apr 2013

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yesterday morning I took this picture of the front yard…

yesterday morning... no snow in the front yard...

yesterday morning… no snow in the front yard…

there is no s – n – o – w….   shhhh… don’t want the weather gods to hear… there is still snow around, but it is melting away every day…

here’s a shot I took on the 21st… just after the ground was covered in a light dusting of snow…

slight dusting of snow on April 21st...

slight dusting of snow on April 21st…

the last few nights as I’ve been sitting in the hot tub I have heard the geese flying overhead… finally the water is flowing in most of the rivers and creeks… I think they must be happy that the weather has improved…

geese with only a little open water...

geese with only a little open water a couple of weeks ago…

today, a number of colleagues went out without jackets on because, for the first time this year, the temperature was in the double digits…

maybe tomorrow I will be able to sit on the deck in the sun…

 

spring???

20 Saturday Apr 2013

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went to Rona and got a new folding lounger for the deck outside the patio doors… been using a wooden rocker there but it just isn’t comfortable when I’m reading a book and want to put my feet up… this one will be great and I might even try sleeping in it tonight to see what that does for my back… the young woman at the Service desk knew who I was right away, which is becoming more unusual as staff change on a frequent basis… when I was in the store the other day, the person who was helping me in Hardware didn’t know who George was… felt kind of sad about that…

then we went for a pedicure… which was actually quite good for my back as I was sitting up for an hour, even if I was jerking my feet around as my toes were pampered… I have very sensitive feet, lol… Crystal and Cyndi get quite a kick out of the whole process…

purple toes...

purple toes…

just came in from a hot tub… while I was out there I could hear gaggles of geese flying over in the dark, although I couldn’t spot any of them… but certainly a sound that makes one think of Spring…

and, even more exciting… the solar light by the pond was flickering… which means that the snow is nearly gone by the pond, and the sun s getting strong enough to give it a charge…  sadly my dragonflies don’t seem to be lighting up…

dragonfly solar lights...

dragonfly solar lights…

maybe Spring is really on the way…

the garden…

01 Monday Apr 2013

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spent a lovely half hour in the hot tub this morning while the birds were singing in the sunshine… I love it when it is warm enough that the jets don’t run and I can enjoy the sounds…

then I did absolutely nothing for a good part of the day…  it was absolutely wonderful…

later I met with Byron, who is a landscaper and is going to redo the big pond in the garden… I am looking forward to seeing some designs in the next few weeks and hopefully the work will happen mid-June…

this is very exciting as last summer I thought I had a company to come and redo it but they never showed up…

the before shot...

the before shot…

George and I have designed and built (well mostly he did the work) our entire garden…  this particular pond is the focal point of the garden…  it has been there for at least fifteen years but for the last few the main portion has been leaking and we haven’t been able to fix it…

checking out the fish with the boys...

checking out the fish with the boys…

George always went on about how they were my ponds, but he spent a lot of time making sure the pumps were working, the plants were growing and that the fish were doing well… he enjoyed them just as much as me… he built a lovely deck that is sculpted to match the edge of the pond and this is my favourite spot to sit and relax and contemplate life…

looking forward to sitting back there soon… if the snow ever melts, lol…

fun-filled day…

16 Saturday Mar 2013

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went shopping downtown with Crystal and Tavin and I found all kinds of things to buy…  I got an long purple coat for a steal, some new slacks and a number of tops…  they will go nicely with my two new jackets from Thursday’s shopping spree…

we ran into a colleague while we were shopping and we were guessing that many others from work were out getting new duds as well, as we are getting our photos taken professionally on Wednesday, lol…

Tavin and Crystal both brought me things to try on and both of them have very good taste…

we stopped for lunch and then headed to St. James where we found a few other items…

when the kids left, Tavin stayed with me for a sleepover…  we are getting picked up at 10:30 tomorrow morning to go to The Gates for brunch to celebrate Crystal’s birthday (on Monday)…

we’ve watched TV, a movie, scarfed down popcorn, and have just come in for a lovely hot tub… the stars were bright and we could hear the hockey sticks hitting the pucks over at the community club…  Tavin particularly liked how we could see the stars and lights from the planes…

now we have picked a picture of him with Grandpa in the hot tub and he is just about ready for bed, as am I…

April 2011 fun in the hot tub...

April 2011 fun in the hot tub…

we talk about Grandpa a lot, and were both wishing Grandpa would have been with us in Mexico and what fun he would have had…

Tweeting…

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

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tonight I walked part way home after getting a much needed haircut…as I walked along the sidewalks in the warm sunshine, I could hear birds chirping and tweeting to one another…  it was lovely to realize how close spring is…

as I was sitting in the hot tub a few minutes ago I was looking at the bird feeder… there were no birds as it was already dark, but there is lots of proof that they have been here… the ground is covered with shells from sunflower seeds…

it reminded me of the amazing sight this summer of the five goldfinch males at the feeder at the same time…

the fifth one was around back...

the fifth one was around back…

and also of some of the cool birds we saw in Mexico…

beautiful black and blue Yucatan Jay...

beautiful black and blue Yucatan Jay…

beautiful blue parrot looking right at me...

beautiful blue parrot looking right at me…

I wonder what feathered friends I will spot at the feeders in the coming weeks…

The Garden…

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

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it was a long day today… I woke up with a headache and felt out of sorts all day long…

have just come in from a restorative hot tub and as I was getting into the tub I realized that the headache is finally gone, thank goodness…

as I was sitting there looking out at the snow covered garden I thought back to the 10 weeks I spent there this summer as I was recovering from my surgery… it gave me time to think about all that had happened since George’s death…

the garden is a sanctuary where birds, animals and people come to rest and recuperate from life’s events…  this year we had our largest crop of spring poppies ever… Crystal thought her dad had something to do with it, lol…

poppies

poppies

I had been hoping to have the pond redone, but that didn’t end up happening…  the weather was quite lovely for most of my recovery time and as soon as I was able I was out on the deck and once I could manage the steps I moved to my favourite spot at the back of the garden beside the biggest pond…  we were visited by a leopard frog again this year, although we hadn’t seen any over the last few years…

of course there were lots of birds… actually an amazing array…  we had purple finches, goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees and a variety of sparrows… one day I looked out and found at least 5 male goldfinches at the feeder…

goldfinch at the feeder...

goldfinch at the feeder…

the garden has always been a healing place for me and I found that spending time there helped with the grieving process, not just for me, but for many of those who visited me over those many weeks…

right now, I can’t even see the pond from the hot tub because there is so much snow…  we haven’t had this much in many years…  after work tonight I went out and shoveled to the hot tub so that I would be able to walk out in my slippers later on…

had those big girl pants on and was thinking of all the times George would be sure to shovel the area to and around the hot tub so that I would have an easy walk to get there in the evening…

I sure do miss him…

good conversations…

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

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had three interesting conversations today…

the first one was with someone about a friend needing a quadruple bypass… it reminded me of George’s triple bypass in December of 2008…

it was a crazy time, following a couple of test results which led up to the bypass… the waiting was the worst, wondering if his already damaged heart would start to beat again once they were done with the surgery…

walking the halls of St. Boniface...

walking the halls of St. Boniface…

he came through with flying colours… in fact the doctor said his recovery was textbook perfect… within a few days he was home taking longer and longer walks and feeling so much better now that the blood was flowing freely through his heart… the worst part for him was the scar on his leg where they took the veins to use on his heart… for the longest time it caused him discomfort… he had a great time with his boy friends who would meet for walks and Tim’s coffee, well, tea for him…

those days reminded us to enjoy every minute that we had because time was a gift…

a wonderful day at the Kingfisher just outside of Courtenay, BC...

a wonderful day at the Kingfisher just outside of Courtenay, BC…

the second conversation was with a woman whose husband died last April… we were comparing feelings and the struggles we’ve been going through… both of us missing our husbands and wondering when things will settle down to some type of normalcy…  some women have told me they are just surfacing at the five year point…

the third conversation was with a young friend while we enjoyed a hot tub… we were sharing family stories and it made me realize, once again, how much we are all alike even though we often think we are special, lol…

a lovely day, to have three such excellent opportunities to remember what a blessing time with loved ones is…

 

It’s cold out there…

01 Friday Feb 2013

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hot tubweather has been very cold…  so cold that I’ve hardly been out to the hot tub…  I miss going out and watching the stars move through the sky as I reflect on my day, week, month, year, life…

there is something special about sitting in the dark and contemplating life… when you are with another person you often share the deepest parts of yourself in the dark… seems like there is safety in the cocoon of night…

a lovely moonlit night at the Park...

a lovely moonlit night at the Park…

so many special times have happened in the car on trips when the kids would share something precious with us…

I miss that connection these days but also spend some time conversing with George in my head…  I was just saying to a friend that I miss that comraderie of sharing most…

well, as long as I don’t start talking out loud to myself when I’m in the hot tub…