02 Saturday Nov 2024
Posted in life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, memories, moments, poppy, rail, remembering, scrubbing, weather, widow
yesterday I went into the garden and pulled out the metal poppy… luckily the ground wasn’t too frozen…
brought it into the house, gave it a good scrubbing and then took it out to the front step…
I found two small bungee cords to attach it to the rail… it looks pretty good…
and today I pulled out my poppy with the cool centrepiece and put it on my coat…
we must not forget…
16 Wednesday Oct 2024
Posted in business, life, loss, retirement, Uncategorized
walked past the empty lot which used to hold a church where I spent many hours in what feels like a previous lifetime…
thought about all the times I had parked the car alongside it and the satisfaction and struggles that had ensued in it…
and the amazing results… the wonderful friends who have been with me through so many life events…
life is certainly a journey and involved big girl pants, even then…
06 Sunday Oct 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, cottage, garden, happy, memories, Merlin, moments, nature, Technology, thirteen, widow
sat in the sun on the deck listening to the visiting birds as they stop by on their way south…
it was lovely to hear all their little voices…
Merlin told me it heard thirteen birds in fifteen minutes…
and a yellow rumped warbler…
not long after, I had spotted ten of them, coming and going to the feeder or snacking on goodies on the ground…
reminded me of all the birds we heard and saw at the cottage in June…
01 Tuesday Oct 2024
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, changes, family, fireplace, friends, grandson, maneuver, memories, moments, remembering, widow
the fireplace is gone…
in 2019 the chimney came down…
currently my grandson is redoing his space and part of the plan was to remove the fireplace to make a bit more room, as it was a corner unit…
it was quite the job, as they had to saw through the pipe where it went through the wall…
then they recruited some additional muscle and rigged up ropes to help with the weight of the unit… quite a process…
it was touch and go as they maneuvered the stairs and just made it through the doorway…
from the door to the garage was a piece of cake, lol…
now it is waiting for a new home… hopefully someone out there will be able to make use of it;-)…
I don’t remember it being so difficult to bring into the house, but that was years ago when my beloved brought it in😊…
11 Sunday Aug 2024
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chihuly, hat, memories, moments, Olympics, shopping, Technology, widow, worn
I’ve been wearing this Chihuly hat since we visited Atlanta in 2016 and love it…
it has turned that very sad gray/black colour and looks completely worn out…
haven’t been able to figure out how to save it, sigh…
got this new hat a few days ago… it was part of the 2024 Canadian Olympics clothing line and I hope it lasts as long and as well as the Chihuly…
10 Saturday Aug 2024
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, growing, memories, memory, moments, nature, orange, plants, red, ripe, Technology, tomatoes, weather, widow
this memory came up in my feed on Thursday… it was from a year ago and clearly the tomatoes were ripe and nearly ready to eat…
this one is from the garden this Thursday…
obviously these ones are quite a ways behind, lol…
02 Friday Aug 2024
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, furniture, garden, grandson, grass, irrigation, memories, moments, nature, pressure, remembering, sorry, supper, treat, weather, widow
yesterday I woke up feeling a bit sorry for myself…
it would have been our 54th wedding anniversary, but instead it is the 12th year without my beloved…
I went out early and watered the grass as we’ve been working on adding some to bald spots in the garden… my beloved loved it when the grass looked good, lol…
I also ran the irrigation system at the same time… first time I’ve done that and it worked fairly well… the pressure for the grass watering portion was not as strong as usual, but it meant that I could get all the watering done at once…
I turned the PVR on so I wouldn’t miss any Olympics, lol…
then I reorganized the lawn furniture… took a bit of effort to get the lounger where I wanted, but I think it should work for the next while… all of the cushions came out…
while there was still shade, I filled up the four bird feeders and then I sat on the back deck to read and enjoy the garden before it got too hot…
later we went out for supper as a treat from the Ottawa kids;-)…
was feeling much better by the end of the day…
31 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, construction, garden, gate, grandsons, memories, moments, nature, pergola, photographs, remembering, time, waterbed pond, widow
a friend sent me some photographs recently and in amongst them was this picture of my beloved in front of the just finished pergola/gate…
it had the cutest fastener on the gate… I can’t remember when we put all of the pergolas in, but at that time – many moons ago – we still had the waterbed pond beside it…
then I dug out this one from July, 2009 (a bit fuzzy), when he added a shelf for stuff to sit on while we were in the new hot tub… that was fifteen years ago🤪…
and this is how it looks today;-)…
I showed the original picture to my grandsons and it took them a minute to recognize it, lol…
it does need a trim so that the Virginia creeper isn’t overpowering it and the gate could have a prettier fastener…
time flies…
18 Thursday Jul 2024
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, health, hernia, hysterectomy, memories, moments, remembering, surgeons, surgery, widow, without
it was twelve years ago today that I had surgery for a hernia and a hysterectomy… it took a while to get organized as two different surgeons were required to work together so that both issues could be taken care of at the same time…
it was particularly difficult because it was the first time I went through a serious health issue without my beloved there to support and look after me…
thinking back to that time, I realize how far I have come and how well I am doing now…
I still miss him every single day…
03 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
art, beach, big girl pants, blessed, cottage, door, family, friends, friendship, happy, memories, moments, painting, teens, time, widow
while we were at the cottage a dear friend of my daughter came to spend the day…
they had fun visiting, walking the beach, going in the water and playing with paint…
it was lovely to see them enjoy their time together…
I was reminded of the many times they spent together, and with their friends, when they were much younger, lol…
watching them painting brought back their project when they were in their teens… three of them spent a few days painting the bedroom door of my daughter’s room…
since then the door has moved every time she has…
currently it lives in her hallway…
it is so good to see these young people maintaining longtime friendships…
herbiggirlpants 