01 Tuesday Sep 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, Botanical, Chihuly, garden, glass, memories, moments, nature, photos, remembering, widow
turned the page on my Chihuly calendar and saw this…
this picture was taken at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in 2016…
here is a photo that I took at the same place;-)…
wonderful memory…
28 Friday Aug 2020
Posted in food, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
baby fish, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, dinner, fish, friends, fudgicle, garden, memories, moments, nature, photos, pond, Technology, walk, widow
had an excellent visit with a good friend a few days ago…
she brought fresh veggies from her garden… we consulted on a project, talked about our lives, exercise, technology, and living on our own…
we ordered in some tasty Pho Hoang and had fudgicles for dessert…
after dinner, while we were sitting beside the pond, I spotted baby fish… this was very exciting…
after she left, I sat and spotted at least four, in three different sizes… looks like two about two inches long and at least one each of two smaller ones…
have not been able to get any photos as they move very quickly and look black in the water, lol… maybe they are nervous about some of those bigger ones..
a lovely time…
10 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beach, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, cooks, cottage, delicious, dinner, fed, food, friends, happy, memories, moments, treat, treats, vacation, widow
for five days I have been fed by others… what a wonderful treat… the majority of time I am fine with cooking, but some days I particularly miss my beloved, because he would often take a turn preparing our food…
the variety and complexity of meals was amazing… we had crepes, with freshly made blueberry sauce; spatchcock chicken with potato salad, pan stuffing and green beans; sausages and toast; hot dogs with onions; steak, baked potatoes and salad; bacon, eggs and toast; pork tenderloin, rice and roasted cauliflower; homemade enchiladas with guacamole and homemade sour cream; and the most tasty almond bars and Rice Krispie squares… plus many snacks…
my friends are both excellent cooks and they had nearly as much fun preparing the food as we had eating it…
my contribution was dishwashing, lol… and they use Dawn, which makes bubbles if you squeeze it;-), which I did, numerous times… I may have to switch to Dawn because the bubbles bring me such happiness…
I am glad to do dishes because it doesn’t involve any complicated activity and saves the cooks from cleanup after all their work to produce a meal;-)…
09 Sunday Aug 2020
Posted in life, moments, nature, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, friends, fun, kayak, learn new things, memories, moments, water, widow
had a great time learning to kayak this week…
for some reason I imagined that my legs would be uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the case at all…
I had a great instructor which made the whole process fairly smooth… of course the getting in and out was a process, but I had helpers;-)…
I really had fun and would like to do a bit more of it…
06 Thursday Aug 2020
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, bridge, English Garden, friends, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, pond, walk, widow
had a wonderful walk to and around a portion of Assiniboine Park…
it was a bit nerve wracking as I crossed the bridge, but no one else was crossing at the same time… I think if both people stay right at the edge there are six feet between them…
I made it to the English Garden only to discover that it doesn’t open until 9 am due to COVID-19…
instead I walked around the Riley Duck Pond, although there weren’t many ducks and geese around, lol…
did come across someone I know and we had a nice chat before going on our way…
nice to get that first trip done and hoping to do it again…
sadly I won’t be visiting the English Garden or Leo Mol Garden for a while, as I am walking very early so I don’t run into lots of individuals…
02 Sunday Aug 2020
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, dinner, entertain, family, flowers, garden, goldfish, grandson, memories, moments, pond, squirrels, treat, widow
a lovely Sunday…
spent most of the day in the garden, watching squirrels, chickadees, butterflies and goldfish…
watched a little red squirrel make hundreds of trips across the upper deck to collect sunflowers for its stash… saw the frog and a purple house finch, read and napped in the garden…
brought out some of the flowers I received yesterday to enjoy…
so happy to have this space to entertain and was pleased to have visitors from out of town… enjoyed steak and lobster for dinner and some quiet late night star gazing…
we were quite late in eating and I giggled a bit when I realized that I didn’t remember to take a picture of my supper…
01 Saturday Aug 2020
Tags
anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, fifty, flowers, George, Locals, memories, moments, remembering, special times, widow
fifty years ago today at 4:30 pm I married the love of my life…
I have been without him for the past nine… below is a photo of our last anniversary together… we had a wonderful dinner at Locals in Courtenay;-)…
those were quite the amazing and wonder-filled forty-two (less four months) years…
I wandered through various files and binders in search of our wedding invitation… it was kind of fun to look at all of these memories… came across a few anniversary cards in the process…
on our fortieth anniversary he brought me forty roses to the hospital… we were supposed to have flown to Courtenay for our vacation just a few days before…
they were amazing and the scent was delightful, although each night they had to be moved into the hall because the perfume overpowered the entire room and it was difficult to sleep, lol…
I have so blessed…
27 Monday Jul 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, camping, deck, family, garden, grandson, hot tub, memories, moments, monarchs, nature, space station, stuffing, time, widow, youngest
my youngest grandson and I spent a few days together… it was lovely as we don’t get to spend the amount of one-on-one time that I have with the other boys…
we did a few chores around the garden and spent a great amount of time with the monarch butterflies…
we planned meals, watched the fish, birds and squirrels, and talked about life… he was even happy to take a selfie with me;-)…
we made stuffing muffins (chicken stuffing put into muffin pans), one of his favourites, lol… we had chicken and mashed potatoes for our supper to go along with the muffins… we made twice stuffed potatoes for our second supper and he reminded me to put in green onions as he likes the flavour they add to food now…
we watched the space station fly over from the hot tub…
we slept out on the decks… he thought it was a very funny thing to do, but got right into it, bringing out his comforter, a blanket and pillows;-)… I slept in the gravity chair, which wasn’t as comfortable as the lounger I normally use…
he played games with his friends on his phone and watched tv shows when it was too hot (and maybe boring) for him outside…
how wonderful it was for me to have these special moments with this young man;-)…
17 Friday Jul 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Captain's Table, dinner, fish and chips, flowers, food, garden, grandson, lightening, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, purple, weather, widow
busy day…
my middle grandson was dropped off to mow the grass and do a few other pieces of work for me…
he mowed, whipper snipped, pulled weeds, moved furniture and the new umbrella, filled bird/squirrel feeders, and cleaned up patio stones…
it was a hot day for digging around the stones, but it looks so much better… still have more to do the next time he is here… he is a lovely young man and I enjoy the time we have together;-)…
the front yard and garden look tidy and fresh… I sat out for a while after he left but then came in as rain appeared to be on the way and arrived with thunder and lightning…
a most amazing woman brought Captain’s Table fish and chips over (one of my favourites) for supper and we ate inside… the downpour had finally stopped, but it was cool outside… eventually we were able to take a tour of the garden and visit on the deck…
I am so blessed with all the special people who are, and have been, in my life…
14 Tuesday Jul 2020
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, dahlias, flowers, garden, happily, happy, memories, moments, nature, plants, purple, retirement, The Dahlia Expert, time, widow
enjoying time in the garden…
the dahlias are doing well and happily they are opening at different times so there should be some blooming throughout the weeks, rather than all at once and then nothing…
when I planted them I put the plastic bag they came in into the pot and now I can’t read the name, lol…
so far a purple one has bloomed next to the house…
and then a delicate white with purple tones bloomed… 3 flowers last week and 3 are blooming right now…
I cut them and put them in a vase to enjoy in the house…
currently that plant has 4 more buds on it… looks like another white one is starting to open… looking forward to how beautiful it will look when it is completely open…
that leaves two still to develop buds… can’t wait to see what colour they turn out to be… when I ordered them I asked for purple and white varieties…
with my retirement, I am enjoying the ability to spend each day in the garden all summer long…
herbiggirlpants 