a week or so ago, I cleaned all of the various bits and pieces off the front of the fridge…
put the container with the 24 magnets on it ready for Advent… my daughter sent them to me years ago… they covered two muffin tins and each held a tiny treat as they were opened daily during Advent…
then I put them away carefully🤪… and I didn’t find them until last year, lol… I am happy to use them this year, especially as I still knew where they were…
I think I might start with the 24th and then count back until Christmas;-)…
when I dug them up a while back, I put them in different containers so I would remember which was which…
I think I got them right, lol…
I’ve read a lot of blogs and watched many videos on how to overwinter the tubers… of course the information is all slightly different…
last year only one of the ones I saved was usable, so we will see what happens with this year’s batch…
each type is in a paper bag and the bags are all in a bin that will go into a cool dark place in the basement…
I’ve left a bit of soil around them and not separated any… and I should check on them a few times to be sure they aren’t getting mouldy… maybe I will be able to find the eyes better in the spring…
many in my family have served… both my parents, my father-in-law, uncles and my son-in-law… as I watched the service on Parliament Hill, as I have done for many years, I was remembering the sacrifices made by Canadians to make my life safe…
last year I put my poppy on the door as I didn’t leave the house at all…
this year I’ve worn it a few times when I’ve been outside…
I have been working on the fish condo for weeks now… spent a good portion of a day cleaning the fish tank… lots of scrubbing and emptying…
I researched a second tank and we went out and got the tank and two pumps so that they were on the ends as opposed to the back of the tanks…
after numerous measurements, we set the new tank up on the counter along the North wall of the dining room… then the bottom was filled with rocks and water and the new pump set up… this tank will be for the baby fish as the other tank won’t be able to hold all of the fish…
I worked with my grandson and we were able to move the big tank to the spot beside the small tank… it looks good there and it almost appears like one single very long tank…
after putting river rocks in it, I ran the hose from the outside tap through the house and was able to fill it up in nine minutes… it probably took me that long to fill the small one as I used a pail and walked back and forth to the kitchen sink for that one, lol…
had a bit of an issue with the pump as there wasn’t quite enough room in the large tank for it on the edge, but we were able to remove a piece of plastic and now it fits perfectly…
once the water was in and circulating for a few days we began catching the fish… we have been at it for quite a while… we started on October 22nd and today I think we caught the last one… I had to break ice for the last few collections, lol…
it was quite a process because since about the middle of October the water has been brown as leaves have fallen into it so it has made spotting fish difficult…
we also brought in some of the water lilies, which hopefully will survive until next spring when they can go back into the pond…
the tanks look great and I am pleased with all of our work…
I’ve been thinking about generosity quite a bit lately…
recently a friend treated me to dinner and another one to lunch… such a gift;-)…
when I think of generosity, I think of generosity of spirit, kindness, and sharing the wealth as much as possible…
I think of my dad, who taught me to be kind and treat people nicely… he would have given anyone the shirt off his back…
I remember whenever he or my mom were sick and in hospital, it would be my job to fetch nuts and chocolates from Morden’s to share with the staff… that was something we did to thank individuals and groups for their help…
many years ago a colleague suggested that I did nice things for others to get attention and compliments… they were not able to understand that this generosity habit was part of who I am…
thanking those around me just seems to be ingrained in me…
for many years I would treat colleagues to flowers, chocolate and/or nuts, or something else I made, to celebrate special events… often my anniversaries or birthday… it was always great to see their enjoyment of whatever the treat happened to be…
it also brings much happiness and always reminds me of my dad…
nowadays, I am working toward sharing with others in as many ways as I can…
cooked a very large turkey for our Thanksgiving supper… worked out well, as it meant there were lots of leftovers to have… the kids even brought containers to put them into, lol…
I roasted the turkey in my parents’ WearEver roaster which hasn’t been used for many years as we haven’t had a large bird…
it brought back many wonderful memories of meals with my family…
after dinner I started soup in the roaster because there were so many bones, lol…
finished it up with vegetables, barley, and more turkey… got the soup into containers and they are in the fridge ready for the kids to pick up… they enjoy homemade soup;-)…
since then I’ve had many meals from that dinner, including turkey and dumplings with my mom’s dumpling recipe;-)…
herbiggirlpants 