09 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
been thinking a lot of mothers and daughters lately…
a number of women in my circles are in that difficult place where they are looking after their mothers…
some of them are ill, some just need extra support…
it reminds me of when I looked after my mom as she was dying… and what a gift that time was for me…
it also makes me think of my girls and how they are looking after me now…
seems like what goes around comes around, lol…
05 Sunday Nov 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
anxious, beloved, big girl pants, garden, hot tub, memories, moments, photos, sky, sleep, snow, stressed, sun, sunset, widow
have been feeling stressed for the last few days… wasn’t until Facebook reminded me this morning that it has been five years and eight months since my beloved left me that I put two and two together…
had the worst sleep – or lack thereof – last night… was anxious and couldn’t settle down…
now that I know what the stressor is likely I can settle down… that’s what usually happens anyway…
finally had a hot tub this morning… been having some issues with the temperature dropping so plan to have someone out to give it a look… but this morning it was at just the correct temp…
had to climb through the snow to get there, lol…
at one point during the day the sun came out and shone brightly in the garden and I got this pic…
sun and shadow are so beautiful…
later on the sunset was lovely…
hoping for a better night’s sleep…
28 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, brilliant, Ginger Peach, memories, miss, remembering, skating, Tea, teabags, teamate, widow
on Thursday I ran across to the CityPlace Farmers Market looking to refresh my stash of Teamate loose tea…
I really love their Ginger Peach and often make it in the evening using my wonderful Wall left handed tea mug… but sometimes it feels like too much effort… I usually make tea in a thermos, take the bag out after it has steeped and then have it for the next while… I don’t want to use loose tea in my thermos as it would be very difficult to get it clean afterwards…
a friend mentioned they had suggested to the tea person that they should put it into teabags… what a brilliant idea…
as it happens I have tea bags from David’s Tea, so I filled a few and then put them back into the empty Teamate package…
this morning I used one of those bags…
worked perfectly… and way less work…
made me think of my beloved… our all time favourite tea was Apricot Ginger from Twinings… we were so sad when it was discontinued and we never did find a good replacement… until now…
I’ve spent the day watching figure skating… drinking my tea and remembering how my beloved would watch tv in the basement, particularly when I was watching skating, so he wouldn’t have to watch it, lol…
sure do miss him…
15 Sunday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
been a busy day…
it started with views of the beautiful sky out the window… a bit later met the kids for family photos… what fun we had…
started out pretty chilly but by the end it was beautiful… sun was shining and it was lovely and warm…
got a few selfies with the kids…
as we were leaving, spotted the skeleton arriving, lol…
then it was on to dim sum… while we were eating my daughter mentioned that it was nearly four years to the day when we took pictures with Jamie Noordman Photography at a dog park… laughed about some of the antics from that day and how much better our shoot went today…
son-in-law and I went to Costco for a few things and then I headed home…
the sky at the end of the day was easily as spectacular as the morning…
10 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
today I applied for a new passport… had printed off the documents ahead of time and was in and out of their office in about six minutes…
this is what they do to expired passports…
I had been dropped off, and after I was done, I walked back to the office in the lovely fall sunshine…
as I walked along I was remembering when I got my first passport…
it was about six months after George died and I had decided to take all the kids on a vacation so had to go and get a passport… I had never had one before…
it was odd preparing the paperwork and going through the process required to find individuals to act as references, having a photo taken and then taking in the paperwork… the kind of thing we would have done together…
five years have passed since that day at the passport office… hard to believe that my beloved has been gone for five years, six months and twenty-seven days…
loved this view of the moon over the flag as I was waiting to cross the street…
09 Monday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
appreciate, big girl pants, colour, dinner, family, fish, memories, Mexico, pond, pumpkins, thanksgiving, time, vacation, weather, widow
what a lovely day… kids arrived and we decided to head out to get a few pumpkins… on our way we FaceTimed with the kids in Ottawa… good to see them and share Thanksgiving greetings…
we’ve been trying to get to Schwabe Pumpkins for a few weeks… it was chilly and rain came down a few times while we were there, but fun, and we really enjoyed the colours as we drove there and back…
when we got home the boys caught the fish, cleaned and got the aquarium going, and moved the fish into their condo…
the youngest two reorganized the sea shells as we talked about the fun we had in Mexico in March…
dinner was delicious and cleanup was quick with all the help… leftovers for here and there were packed up and they headed home…
I certainly appreciated having their company for the day… now to bed…
08 Sunday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, family, food, George, happy, holy, memories, Park, preparations, tasks, thanksgiving, walk, widow
yesterday I spent time setting the table for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner with my Winnipeg kids…
doing these small tasks while thinking of so many previous Thanksgivings brought to mind how George and I would work as a team to get the house and dinner ready for friends and family…
his job was to grocery shop and get the house organized… that could be tidying or cleaning or reorganizing the hall closet, depending on what he felt was most important… and often, to make a pie…
my job was to prep and cook the meal…
now I get to shop, tidy and everything else… the good news is that someone comes in now and again to clean so I don’t have to do that piece…
I have worked out a system where I do bits and pieces of the prep work over a few days before the special day so that I don’t feel exhausted…
yesterday I even made an apple pie…
today I started my day with a walk to and around the Park…
it was cool and windy… spent quite a bit of time with the geese… still trying to get some good shots of them taking off and landing…
once home I made stuffing, cranberry sauce, peeled and cooked turnip, prepped potatoes, green beans and cauliflower… also cooked the ham and started pea soup…
sounds like a lot, but fit in naps and tv too;-)… there is something holy about preparing space and food for others…
lots of memories as I moved through the day, but this time they are happy, not sad… a step forward…
24 Sunday Sep 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, family, flowers, garden, grandsons, hibiscus, memories, purple, quiet, rainy, shopping, supper, weather, widow
mostly a quiet day, except when I went out to grocery shop and run a few errands…
it rained on and off the whole day…
was chilly too… the late blooming hibiscus doesn’t seem to be minding the colder weather…
had been planning to pick up some flowers but instead picked up this water bottle which jumped right off the shelf into my cart:-)… and it was on sale, so I really had no choice, lol…
my grandsons came for dinner and we had a good time… dad was working and mom was home sick… they helped get supper ready and with clean up…
a minute ago the oldest was being born… now the three of them come and visit on their own… time flies crazy fast;-)…
23 Saturday Sep 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, family, flowers, Friday, garden, grandson, hair, happy, memories, Park, purple, special, tournament, volleyball, widow
purple was top of mind all day yesterday…
spotted a number of purple things during my walk in the Gardens… as well as my little buddy, who had a lovely purple top and socks, lol…
after lunch with my friend and her sweetie I headed out to get my hair purpled… I noticed there is a lot of purple in my hairdresser’s studio as I took a last shot of the before, lol…
it hasn’t had any purple in it since before I went away, and a number of people have pointed it out, so I am very happy to have it done…
then it was off to watch some volleyball… apparently last year at the same time I was at the same tournament… the school has lots of purple in the halls, which is fun…
the boys played well and my grandson did a particularly great job with his serves… he is graduating this year, so likely we won’t be attending this tournament again… and I finally figured out how to get there, lol…
happy to be able to participate in special times, whether with friends or family…
20 Wednesday Sep 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, fish, flowers, George, memories, missing, orchid, pictures, pond, widow
still thinking of my beloved…
took this shot of the fish in the pond this morning…
the pond looks different now, but he loved working in all of them… through winter he would make sure the fish were cozy in their condo in the house, and it was always exciting when it was time to move out to the pond… often he would have little helpers to assist with the transfer…
over the last while one of my colleagues has been sharing updates on her orchids… this morning she brought the small one to my desk to show me the newest blossom…
George often brought orchids into the office … one of his colleagues who worked in the seasonal area would let him know when a new batch of orchids had arrived and say you better get some for your wife…
and he would, and bring them to the office as well… this is one of those he brought in and my colleague has looked after it beautifully… think this is the third time since he died that it has bloomed… another larger one is nearly ready to bloom under her amazing orchid fingers…
usually I only use my own photos, but tonight another colleague sent me two of the above shots that show the bloom…
what wonderful memories… I have been truly blessed…
herbiggirlpants 