07 Friday Aug 2026
Posted in garden, life, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, garden, goldfish, koi, nature, overwintered, plants, tiny, water lily, widow
the water lily that had overwintered in the house had been nearly completely eaten by the fish, likely the three koi…
I divided the lily into two and put them in little pots and sank them to the bottom of the pond…
one has been pulled out of its pot and eaten…
the second one has finally begun to send up teeny tiny leaves…
pretty sure there won’t be any flowers this year…
11 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, contaminants, fish, fish tanks, goldfish, koi, moments, pond, project, pumps, water, weather, widow
finally got around to filling the fish tanks yesterday…
the process took over an hour, as each tank had to be filled and then the pump was cleaned, plugged in and turned on…
I was pleased as after each pump was cleaned, it started up without any issues…
now the pumps will run for three or four weeks before any fish come inside, to be sure that the water has no chlorine or other contaminants in it…
happy this piece of work is done and I don’t have to think about the fish coming inside until much later;-)… woohoo…
17 Thursday Jul 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
APC, big girl pants, blessed, koi, learning, moments, nature, pond, professionals, The Leaf, tropical biome, water, widow
had a lovely few minutes in the Tropical Biome watching one of the animal care professionals feeding the koi ;-)…
they check on the fish a few times each day to feed, as well as count, them and do a quick overview to make sure they are all doing well…
it is always great to spend a few minutes and learn something new at each opportunity;-)…
13 Sunday Apr 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, flora, flowers, koi, Mediterranean, moments, nature, plants, pond, solo, The Leaf, trees, tropical, weather, widow
had another solo visit to The Leaf on Friday as I’d read that the flowering trees in the current display area were nearly finished blooming due to the heat…
I was surprised at how many people were there as I expected everyone to be outside enjoying the 17° C gorgeous weather…
as I entered the Tropical Biome I had to stop and wait a minute for the fog to clear from my glasses, lol…
happy to see the tiny flowers on two of the three cacao trees…
everything looked lush amidst the cooling mist that seems to be keeping the flora happy… quite surprised at how much the plants have grown… just last week it was easy to see all the way to the waterfall and now it is blocked again…
fun to watch one of the zoo keepers feeding the koi as I don’t often get to see that;-)…
the Mediterranean Biome had many flowers and the Babs Asper Display area held lots of plants, flowers, small trees, topiaries, and a truck filled with tulips…
the Butterfly Garden was busy with butterflies flitting about happily as they enjoyed the sunlight… the misting machines were also busy adding to the humidity and it felt very warm, lol…
so lucky to have this amazing place to visit;-)…
22 Saturday Mar 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, biomes, blessed, butterflies, cacao trees, fish, flowers, koi, moments, nature, nursery, on my own, orchids, plants, The Leaf, weather, widow, zoo staff
had a lovely wander around The Leaf on Wednesday…
I went on my own for the first time and for anyone who knows me, that is pretty good…
the cacao trees are looking a bit sad, but most of the Tropical Biome looked good…
I spent quite some time watching the fish… they were very active swimming around the pond and a number of plants have been trimmed back so they are also much easier to see;-)…
the orchids in the Mediterranean Biome are still doing very well, with tons of blooms on them…
and the biggest surprise was the Butterfly Garden, which had more butterflies flying around than I’ve ever seen here…
zoo staff were letting a good number emerge from the nursery and there were many people admiring them as well… it is always fun to hear what the keepers have to say about the butterflies… they record each one as they release it…
then I took one last walk through the biomes as I waited for my ride…
20 Thursday Feb 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
banana, big girl pants, blessed, card, changes, flowers, garden, koi, moments, nature, orchids, plants, registration, The Leaf, thinning, tropical biome, widow
had a wonderful time at The Leaf on Tuesday…
first I spent time at the registration desk where they had to make me a new card as mine had stopped working… apparently the website has been misbehaving a bit, so hopefully the new card will solve that issue;-)…
then we went through the biomes… there were a number of baskets of orchids throughout the Tropical biome…
very humid, and it was obvious that there had been a serious trim and thinning of many of the plants…
the cacao trees had been cutback and all the pods have been removed…
the koi were very active… while we were there one of the zoo keepers came along and fed them… clearly the fish were waiting for them, lol…
the dwarf banana is just starting with a new set of banana fingers…
my housemate pointed out the difference between the dwarf and regular bananas… the dwarf has the banana fingers coming out of the flower, whereas the full-size banana has a flower at the end and the fingers below…
there are always subtle changes in the Tropical biome each time I visit;-)…
25 Saturday Jan 2025
Tags
artists, big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, coat check, designers, displays, family, FDV, Fleurs de Villes, flowers, gardeners, gather, koi, lunch, moments, nature, orchids, The Leaf, violin, widow
on Wednesday, my daughter and I spent six hours at The Leaf…
upon arrival we were surprised and delighted to discover a coat check for members… my coat was free and we paid $2 for my guest…
we were a bit early and shared a Rice Krispies square and hot chocolate while we waited for our entry time to the Biomes…
we had a great time in the Tropical Biome where we came across the head gardener and had an excellent conversation about the cacao trees and chocolate…
we visited the Mediterranean Biome to see the Fleurs de Villes displays and met and talked with at least four of the designers…
lunch at Gather was a delicious tomato bisque and grilled cheese focaccia for me, and duck poutine for my daughter…
for dessert she had the honey cake and I enjoyed the squash creme brûlée, which was delicious, lol…
back to visit both biomes where we learned about orchids from a regular gardener talk in the Tropical Biome, talked with two of the zoo staff who shared lots of information about the butterflies and the 52 koi in the pond…
we also got to hear a few violin pieces by Gwen Hoebig, who was one of the models for the FDV displays… my daughter took this photo…
it was hard to pick a favourite, but this time I chose the hoop dancer…
22 Sunday Dec 2024
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, bridge, cacao, cacao pods, cacao trees, favourite, happy, koi, moments, nature, plants, The Leaf, tropical biome, two, widow
I have two favourite spots in the Tropical Biome…
I always stop and visit with the cacao trees to see how they are doing, particularly as my daughter loves to visit them when she’s in town, lol…
and then there are the koi… standing on the bridge watching them swim around is such a joyful time for me…
they move much slower at night as many of them as sleeping, but I got a nice picture of this one… it is usually difficult to get good photos because of the light reflecting in the water so I was pleased with this one…
we are truly blessed to have this wonderful spot to visit all year round;-)…
14 Thursday Nov 2024
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cacao trees, daughter, doorbell, family, koi, moments, nature, ring, surprise, Technology, The Leaf, time, treat, widow, Yasuragi
what a wonderful surprise I received this morning;-)…
as I was taking my poached eggs out of the water, I heard the doorbell ring… I was expecting a parcel so wasn’t surprised, but when I opened the door, my daughter was standing in front of me…
she had come to town to attend a concert with one of her friends and had planned to include a day with me;-)…
what a super treat…
we quickly booked a trip to The Leaf so she could see her beloved cacao trees… we had a great time there, checking out the trees, watching the koi, and realizing how much growth has taken place since we were last there together in June…
she was able to get a few nice shots of the koi which she shared with me.
we enjoyed time in the Yasuragi display and read up on all the bonsai, including new ones which hadn’t been there the last time I visited… the stories behind them are very interesting…
spent a few minutes with the butterflies…
it is sad that they are still in the netted enclosure and not flying freely around the space…
one last wander to see the cacao trees and koi, a bit of fun in the gift shop, and then we headed home…
some relaxing time together and then I dropped her off at the airport to head home…
I am blessed;-)…
09 Friday Aug 2024
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
anticipate, big girl pants, blessed, experiment, fish, friend, garden, goldfish, grow, koi, moments, nature, neighbour, pond, widow
a few weeks ago a friend brought me some koi that a neighbour had given her for me… they are a fair bit smaller than the goldfish, but I anticipate they will grow quickly…
I’ve never had (or wanted) koi, so it will be interesting to see how it goes… this photo shows one of them (mainly black and white) amongst the much larger goldfish…
my fish are fairly tough… they don’t get any special treatment so we will see how the koi manage in that environment;-)…
an experiment…
herbiggirlpants 