chemicals…

I was so happy to see that a portion of the allée is still there… for years I would walk around it to get my steps in and I thought it had been removed… the trees are just beautiful…

after we crossed it, we moved into the various gardens… they were all distinctly different…

the Indigenous People’s Garden is an enclosed circle of amazing artwork depicting spring to winter, with a fire pit in the centre and seating for numbers of people… I could envision sitting in this quiet space and meditating…

the Kitchen Garden was filled with fruit trees and the most amazing sunflower plants, as well as herbs, flowers and vegetables…

again, nice benches with morning glories growing behind them for sitting…

the Performance Garden is set up as an amphitheatre and reminded me of wonderful times when we camped and attended numerous events at such locations…

part of the Sensory Garden were these great steps up and down some hills… great fun, although going up was better than coming down, lol…

enjoyed all of the critters in the Gardens… I think the butterflies were my favourite…

it was windy and all the grasses were rippling… lovely…

although there are a few ways to enter the gardens, I was very enamoured with this one…

the Water section had the coolest spheres…

all in all, a great place for a contemplative walk or a walking tour with a friend…

looking forward to my next visit…

raccoons…

06 Wednesday Oct 2021

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big girl pants, dark, fish, garden, moments, nature, raccoons, weather, widow

at 1:24 this morning I looked out the window after hearing some bells ringing…

I have this cute little frog that holds these bells and when it rains they make lovely sounds…

it wasn’t raining which is what drew my attention…

I spotted two raccoons walking along the edge of the bathtub pond area…

too dark for pictures and I scared them off by banging on the window…

this likely explains the bent over bird feeder from the other day…

good news is that the fish appear to be safe…

reminisce…

05 Tuesday Oct 2021

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big girl pants, blessed, busy, celebrate, Feast Bistro, food, friends, garden, happy, moments, nature, reminisce, special people, sun, time, treat, weather, widow, wind, women

well, I must say I am tired… but what a delightful day it has been…

got up early and set about preparing for the day… moved 14 bags of mulch, a wheelbarrow and compost can, used the leaf blower to clean the garage floor, set up a table with a tablecloth in case it was too windy to sit outside, put out cushions and rearranged lawn furniture, prepped some fruit and whipped cream… cleaned leaves out of the pond, set out dishes, made coffee and sun tea, wrapped a gift and wrote two cards…

sat and read in the garden for half an hour and then welcomed four of the most wonderful women into the space…

visited, ate some delicious food from Feast Bistro, enjoyed the nature around us, laughed, shared stories and celebrated one another with some delicious options…

nearly lost one umbrella to the gusts of wind, but the weather was quite amazing for early October…

when they left, I finished tidying up and got ready for dinner with another wonderful woman…

when she arrived we had fish and chips (which I love), more stories and laughter… what a great visit…

it is dark now and I just finished a bowl of strawberry shortcake with whipped cream as I sit on the deck (quite comfortable in shorts and a sleeveless shirt) and reminisce about all the great parts of the day…

hope you had a good day as well…

access…

01 Friday Oct 2021

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access, big girl pants, blessed, door, drawers, electrical outlet, handyperson, nature, weatherstripping, widow

yesterday, a handyperson came over and was able to get access to an electrical outlet…

he had to cut a hole in the back of a dresser and make an opening so that we are able to plug things in…

I was very happy that this happened as we have a plan in the works for this area…

then he was able to re-level the front door and add weatherstripping which will keep out the cold and block access to any bugs who might want to enter the house…

for the last few days the ladybugs have been trying to get in through that little opening… hahaha, not anymore;-)…

bent…

30 Thursday Sep 2021

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bent, big girl pants, bird feeder, birds, blessed, garden, moments, nature, purple, widow

a few days ago I woke up to the bird feeder bent wayyyy over…

not sure what critter would have exerted enough strength to do that…

took quite a bit of energy to get it more or less back to the way it was…

the birds seem happy about it, lol…

afternoon…

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

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afternoon, big girl pants, blessed, fish, friends, garden, happy, moments, nature, pond, sun, time, together, visitors, weather, widow

what a delightful afternoon yesterday…

put out all the cushions and the umbrellas…

next I made coffee and had a few moments to read while I waited for my friends to arrive…

we decided not long ago to meet in the afternoon when it is warmer, as we continue to meet outdoors…

one had something else on, another connected by phone… the rest of us gathered in person…

it was a beautiful day and we sat close to the pond… both pumps were turned off to make it easier to hear one another, lol…

there were lots of visitors while we were meeting… a variety of sparrows, blue jays, squirrels, a cat and we even spotted a mouse racing through the grass… the fish swam around where we could see them as well…

strange to have such warm weather, but we certainly enjoyed it…

rebuilt…

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

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big girl pants, blessed, chair, effort, garden, grandson, moments, nature, rebuilt, rocking lounger, weather, widow

the umbrella for the fancy rocking lawn chair/lounger went in to be rebuilt as the fabric had disintegrated, lol…

the chair has been without the umbrella since spring…

I had been looking around for ages and was very happy that Murray Tent and Awning was able to do the job…

my grandson picked it up and brought it here yesterday so I was excited to put it up this morning…

it took a while to figure out how to get the ribs back into it, but eventually I sorted it out… lots of bending and stretching, lol…

it looks great… the colour goes well with the cushion and the other items in the garden…

I am very pleased;-)…

winnow…

26 Sunday Sep 2021

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big girl pants, blessed, datura, flowers, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, plants, purple, squish, widow, winnow

been collecting seeds for the last week or so…

the morning glories are very simple… I just put one hand under the little pod and squish it with the other… then I winnow the part holding it together by blowing over my hand… the excess blows away and the seeds remain and can be popped into a container…

the datura are a bit more complicated… the seed pods are covered in very sharp spikes which try to hurt me, lol…

I now have a container for each of the two types I have grown this year… the lovely white ones and the smaller, but cute, purple ones…