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Tag Archives: hot tub

The Garden…

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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10 week recovery, big girl pants, goldfinches, healing place, hot tub, miss him, poppies, sanctuary, snow covered garden, so much snow, visitors

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

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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blessing, conversations, enjoy every minute, family stories, hot tub, Kingfisher Spa, normalcy, quadruple bypass, special, surgery

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

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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cold weather, hot tub, precious moments, reflect, sitting in the dark, stars move across the sky

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…

Highlights…

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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claustrophobic, fishing, hot tub, jet skiing, most fun, pictures, PowerPoint, pretty fish, snorkeling, swimming, together, underground caves, woke up early

although I don’t go back to work until Wednesday, this morning I woke up at 6, which is pretty good, as yesterday it was 5 am…

yesterday when I got up, I went out and had a lovely hot tub…  we had missed the hot tub a lot because where we were the temperature of the hot tubs was 92 degrees, which is not hot…

I also spent some time with the 3000 pictures we took… the kids came by and we went out to stock the empty cupboards and find something to make for our supper…

Tavin and I, with help from Kyler, worked on a PowerPoint for his class and Crystal and I finished transferring pictures so that we each have all of them…  after they left I watched a bit of TV and went to bed…

don’t think I’ll go out for a hot tub this morning as it is currently -42 with the wind chill…

following everyone else...

following everyone through the caves…

Kyler was asking what was the most fun for me on the trip… I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit since the question and still can’t put my finger on just one thing… I did a few things that I wasn’t sure I would be able to… swimming in the underground caves, walking on the bottom of the ocean – both of which make me think I am not as claustrophobic as I previously thought…

walking on the bottom of the ocean...

walking on the bottom of the ocean…

while we were walking on the bottom, I was thinking of George and wondering if he would have done this… it would have been fun to do it together…

watching the kids on the rope walk...

watching the kids on the rope walk…

I also love spending time with my family in the outdoors, and particularly in and around water – snorkeling, swimming, playing in the pool, jet skiing, fishing…  what a fun time we had…

catching pretty little fish with gorgeous blue stripes...

catching pretty little fish with gorgeous blue stripes…

what a special seven days we had together…  everyone made wonderful memories… my kids truly are amazing beings…

Healthy…

13 Thursday Dec 2012

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aquasize, blessed, contemplative, healthy, hot tub, peaceful, water

it was a good day… first thing I gathered up the garbage and put it by the back door, emptied and refilled the dishwasher… work was mainly quiet, but I accomplished what I wanted… after work I took out garbage and recycling, after shoveling so I could get to the back lane…  I do love the look of snow, but it isn’t always great to have to deal with it…

then I went to Aquasize… been going for over two years with my friend Pat… we usually go on Tuesday nights but that didn’t work this week, so we decided on Thursday, with dinner out afterwards…

there were only 3 of us in the class – a drop-in that usually has from 12 to 20 people in it… weather wasn’t so great – lots of that beautiful, fluffy snow, so I guess people just didn’t want to go out…

as I was doing all the requested actions, it came to me that I am healthy and today I was able to do everything asked of me, and didn’t need to take any breaks during the class… sometimes I just paddle around because it is too much for me to participate…

I thought about all the months before my surgery that I couldn’t do much because my abdomen was so extended from the hernia it made some of the movements impossible and there was always the worry that I might twist or strain and cause a more serious problem…

then, for eight weeks following my surgery, I couldn’t go into the water and had to be sure not to lift anything over 5 pounds and not do any twisting… I was very happy when I got the approval to get back into the water and was able to lift things again…

it was September 15 that I finally made it back into the water at the lake with Pat (she took this pic)… we like to do water-type things together…

heading into the rather cool water...

heading into the rather cool water…

I can remember how excited I was… even though it was quite chilly, I was going into that water…  it was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute of it…

most nights I go out to the hot tub in the garden for a while…  it is so peaceful in the dark and a very contemplative time…  as long as it isn’t snowing or raining or blowing big time, I don’t really care what the temperature is…

I love my hot tub and I will sit there thinking about the day, the kids, George and mostly, how lucky I am and what a blessed life I have…

I am healthy and am going out for a tub now…

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