05 Friday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, Uncategorized
Tags
barefoot, big girl pants, blessed, feet, garden, home, memories, moments, remembering, slippers, widow
recently social media declared it was barefoot day…
once I heard that, I stepped out of my flip flops and haven’t put anything back on my feet since;-)…
for many years I didn’t wear anything on my feet as often as possible… inside or outside…
and then, even in the house I was wearing slippers… interesting how things change over time…
blessed to be home and have the option…
04 Thursday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, butterflies, dragonfly, frog, garden, hot tub, moments, monarch, nature, plug, pond, widow
had the most wonderful morning in the garden…
when I went out for a hot tub first thing I realized the pump had stopped in the pond…
before I went in, I pulled the plug and then spotted a dragonfly sitting on a rock in the pond…
took my breakfast outside and sat and watched it for quite some time… wondering if it had come up from the water and was drying its wings…
it was windy and I watched two butterflies flit past… an orange one, maybe a monarch although it wasn’t close enough to confirm… and a black one… it had some yellow along the outside of the wings…
went into the house for a cup of tea and when I came back, noticed the dragonfly in the pond and thought it might be dead, but then its wings fluttered… I found a stick and pulled it out and set it down in the sun… after about half an hour it flew away;-)…
a short while later I saw my buddy the frog jump in and swim across the pond… and finally the fish came out from under the bridge…
02 Tuesday Jun 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, ferns, flowers, garden, lily of the valley, moments, nature, photos, planting, poppies, reading, widow
a very quiet day…
slow to rise and made french toast with the last of the whole wheat bread…
watched a few morning shows and then headed out to the garden…
planted the last of the flowers still in the garage and spent time reading…
have not seen a single bird today, but I did get a few nice photos…
happy with this great shot of the ferns which are growing so quickly…
the poppies are getting closer and closer to opening and I check them out every morning…
I also cut some lily of the valley for the bedroom… they have finally opened and the scent is lovely…
01 Monday Jun 2020
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cleaner, garden, moments, planting, Polished Cleaning Services, shade, sunshine, thermos, widow
big day for me today… I had the cleaners in to deal with the dirt, lol… it has been three months since they’ve been so it really needed the cleaning… only one person came and I was the first job of the day…
what made it such a big deal was the fact that this was the first time someone had been in the house, other than me, since the middle of March… a few times my kids have come in the back door and gone into the basement, but then I have not gone down there for a few days…
I was up in enough time to be sure everything was tidy and I had everything I would need as my plan was to spend the time they were here outside… when I first woke up it was drizzling a bit and I was thinking about spending the time in the garage, lol… of course it would have been an opportunity to do some tidying/organizing in there…
happily the sun came out, I had my thermos of tea and set out all the cushions… I read, planted a few containers, took out dandelions and watched for birds…
in the end she was here for 3 hours… clearly the place needed work top to bottom… when there are two people it gets done in half the time…
when she left I was happy to get into the house for lunch and a bathroom break… then it was back outside for more reading… came in for a short nap and then more time in the outdoors…
although it was hot it was a beautiful day in the garden and I was able to follow the shade around the space…
31 Sunday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chinese food, dredged, family, fish, frog, garden, grandsons, leaves, lunch, moments, mowing, nature, pond, supper, treat, visit, water, widow
sitting by the pond after my visitors have left and enjoying the last bit of sunlight…
my water shoes are on the deck because I went into the pond once again and dredged up another pailful of leaves… the fish are still not coming out, but I did see the frog hop by earlier in the day…
all three of my grandsons came by just after noon… I made them grilled cheese sandwiches with the wonderful La Belle Baguette whole wheat sourdough that was delivered yesterday…
the oldest left, the middle one mowed the grass, front and back, while the youngest watered plants and pulled weeds…
some days it is hard to realize he is eleven and can reach and do more things…
after the work was done, relaxing happened and visiting took place…
this was the first time I’ve had people in the house and the system was they had access to the basement for cooling down and using the washroom and I had the main floor… worked perfectly…
we ordered Chinese food for supper and it arrived just before the daddy, who had been at work all day… afterwards my downspout got fixed, a stair board tightened and then off they went…
it was a treat to see them and I enjoyed every minute… I missed my nap, but plan on making it an early night;-)…
29 Friday May 2020
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Chihuly, chocolate, chocolate tasting, daughter, family, garden, happy, mail, masks, moments, purple, stickers, treats, widow
on Sunday as it was raining out a bit I came into the house and decided to do another of the puzzles from the Brain Games Sticker by Number In The Garden book that was one of the treats in the package that arrived from my daughter last Friday…
it included a number of items and was one (or two!) of my Advent All Year parcels:-)… she is trying to only go to the Post Office occasionally… besides the fun sticker book, there was a Chihuly postcard to colour, a Soma Coconut chocolate bar, a very cool magnetic bookmark, two face masks and a chocolate tasting!
pretty fine haul… we’d been expecting it since Tuesday and each day were disappointed when it didn’t arrive…
her app told her it had arrived and she texted and called me to check the mail as she didn’t want the chocolate to be out in the sun for too long, lol… she was on the phone as I brought it in and we had a lovely visit as I opened each piece of the package… right after we got off the phone, I did the first puzzle – a vase filled with lilacs, which we both love…
since then I’ve used the bookmark, eaten some of the chocolate bar but haven’t started on colouring the postcard… I haven’t been out yet so haven’t used the face masks, which one of her good friends made for me…
once she knew I had received the package she emailed me instructions on the chocolate tasting, which she had also sent to 3 friends in Winnipeg… I think we’ve also decided to do a Skype or Google Duo together for the chocolate tasting… should be fun…
not sure which picture I will do next:-)…
28 Thursday May 2020
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, garden, giggle, grass, kind, memories, moments, mowing, neighbours, widow
yesterday morning I received an email from my new neighbours… they moved in on the 15th and have been busy getting settled and welcoming friends since then… they have also added two puppies to their family… so far the puppies are very quiet… unfortunately directly behind them live two small, and very yappy, dogs who are constantly barking…
anyway, back to the email… they mentioned they would be working in their front yard and wondered if I would like them to mow my grass…
made me giggle a little bit, as the front yard looks like a meadow filled with yellow flowers… bad news is of course those flowers are dandelions, lol… as I’ve mentioned previously, my beloved was probably making faces from above…
of course I responded quickly with a very happy yes please… I was thinking they might want to get rid of all the dandelions so they wouldn’t have so many, although the other side of their yard has lots in it as well… or maybe they were just being kind…
I am consulting with my middle grandson to see if he can come over and mow for me every week, but we aren’t quite organized yet…
just after five I heard the sound of a mower and spotted one of them working away at the front of the house… once mowed, a whipper snipper was taken to the area as well… it didn’t have a cord, very nice…
looks great;-)…
27 Wednesday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, Costco, deliveries, flowers, garden, grandson, groceries, moments, nature, planting, plants, raining, Shelmerdine, shopping, widow
more deliveries yesterday…
Shelmerdine delivered plants and two new bird feeders… it was raining when the truck arrived and the driver offered to put everything in the garage, which was very nice…
not much later UPS arrived with the items I had purchased online from Costco about ten days before…
this one really made me laugh because the parcel came from Airdre, Alberta, rather than the store that is less than four kilometres from my house… don’t think I will be ordering from there again;-(…
today I called and spoke with someone at Costco to see if my grandson could shop using my card and it is possible, so I won’t have to get things sent all the way from Alberta… I will call and let them know the date he will arrive to shop each time, but that is much better than having things travel from two provinces away… the person I spoke with advised that they are currently testing Instacart…
26 Tuesday May 2020
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeder, birds, deliveries, laundry, moments, Saje Wellness, Shoppers Drugs, shopping, sleep, sleep aid, squirrels, Vaseline, widow
two deliveries on Monday… the big excitement for the day…
one from Saje Natural Wellness… it included more of the Sleep Well oil which I have been rolling on my feet at bedtime to help me sleep… and wool dryer balls for the laundry… I am excited to give these a try… up until now I’ve been using and reusing dryer sheets… the package is more than eight years old and still has a few in it, lol…
I also received a parcel from Shoppers Drugs with my medications for the next three months, as well as some vitamins and Vaseline (for the pole that holds the front bird feeder)… I am hoping that all the Vaseline that I slathered on the pole will keep the squirrels from climbing up and eating all the seeds…
since I put the Vaseline on the pole I’d seen the squirrel on the feeder but hadn’t seen how it got there… yesterday I stood and walked on the spot while watching to see if I could figure out if this was working…
finally I watched a squirrel try to climb up the pole and then slide down, lol… he seemed rather surprised;-)… after that, I went out and adjusted the feeder to make it a bit higher so that the bigger squirrels won’t be able to jump from the ground…
25 Monday May 2020
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, family, fish, garden, goldfish, grandsons, memories, moments, pond, pump, remembering, trepidation, waterfall, widow
with a bit of trepidation, a couple of days ago I put on my water shoes, climbed into the pond and removed a pail full of leaves and debris from around the sides and bottom…
I was worried about how slippery it might be and hoped I wouldn’t fall and bash my head on the rocks, lol… of course I didn’t, but I was also careful to move slowly and take breaks where I stood still, before moving on to the next area…
I cleaned around the pump and then added water to fill up the pond… it is still losing water, but at a much slower rate… now the problem seems to be the waterfall… it is not flowing as well as previously… possibly when I added the rock, the levelness might have changed, sigh…
the pond looks much better and I decided to try catching the fish in the tank and moving them outdoors… this isn’t a job I have ever done, as usually my beloved did it, with the help of the grandkids… since he’s been gone, my son-in-law has taken over this task, lol…
last night I caught one, and put it outside… took a while for it to find the hiding spot under the bridge, so I stayed and watched until it made it there… didn’t want a raccoon to come along and eat it…
today it took three tries to get the rest moved… when it came to the last, and largest, one, I got the big net from outside… when it was finally in the pail, it couldn’t swim straight because it is so big…
they are now all ensconced in the pond and I may not see them all summer if they decide to spend it all under the bridge…
had quite a mess to clean up in the house after the complicated catching process…
here are the last two joining their pals…
the pump stopped working so tomorrow I will have to pull it out and wash it down to clear out any bits and pieces… hopefully when it goes back in the waterfall will be stronger and fuller…
herbiggirlpants 