27 Thursday Feb 2025
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, garden, moments, nature, pattern, solar power, Spring, strength, sunshine, Technology, weather, widow
to continue with the strength of the sun, I got this photo of one of the solar-powered lights…
it is one of four that I received from the Ottawa kids… I had put three away, but left this one out…
rather excited to see the lovely pattern of light on the deck;-)…
spring is really coming…
21 Sunday Apr 2024
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, casting, family, moments, pattern, presents, solar lights, Technology, widow
On Friday morning I turned the switch on one of the new solar lights that are currently hanging in the dining room…
later in the day it was lit for just a few minutes which was amazing as there hadn’t really been much sunshine…
when I looked into the living/dining area after dark, it was on again…
and casting a beautiful pattern on the floor…
on Saturday, I hung up two in the dining room and switched all on… then I put one outside by the backdoor…
lovely patterns everywhere…
03 Friday Nov 2023
Posted in life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, memories, moments, moose, neighbour, pattern, remembering, sanding, scroll saw, tidying, widow, wood
when we were cleaning out the basement back room in the spring, I came across some wood that my beloved had drawn moose on, but hadn’t cut out…
I took them over to my neighbour who has been working with a scroll saw for the last few years…
he brought them back a few days ago…
he did a great job but left the final sanding because he thought my grandsons might like to finish grandpa’s project;-)…
04 Thursday Apr 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
04 Monday Dec 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, birthday, daughters, dinner, FaceTime, family, memories, pattern, Skype, Technology, traditions, widow
today marks six birthdays without my beloved…
it always felt that he lost out because often his birthday and Christmas would be lumped together… particularly for the many years that we really lived hand-to-mouth…
for all of our family birthdays, the birthday person got to choose what we would have for dinner… for the last number of years we have had burgers, French fries, milkshakes and apple pie in his memory… he especially liked the burgers just down the street…
the first few years we Skyped with the out of town kids… one year we had a phone and an iPad so we could get both of them in the room with us…
last year everyone was busy so I had a quiet day remembering so many fun times we had over the years…
our plan was for the city kids to come over tonight but the momma is sick so they stayed home… wasn’t planning to connect with the out-of-towners but was able to FaceTime with my daughter while she had her supper…
I was going to stop and pick up groceries and then a burger, but it was miserable outside so in the end I drove straight home and then ordered a thali platter…
time with my BS buddies and now to bed… life has settled into a pattern and I wear the big girl pants more and more easily…
not sure if that is a good thing or not…
27 Friday Jan 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
we often spend our lunch hour discussing various topics…
recently we’ve been talking about the enneagram…
wonderful to have a variety of opinions and points of view…
we are diverse, with ones, twos, sixes and sevens in the group… a great opportunity to see how each personality works at their best, and sometimes, not so best, lol…
these amazing women are always learning… I am so proud to be able to spend time with them and learn from and with them…
this shot I took of some hoarfrost on the garage window reminded me of how unique we all are, even as we are similar… and what a beautiful pattern we make together…
06 Thursday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
beauty…
I love flowers and during the winter months I try to keep some around me because they keep me happy…
been enjoying some lovely blooms on the plants that came in from the garden…
the hyacinth is still flowering although its leaves are falling off… this is often the pattern when they come in from outside…
the gardenias are starting to open and perfume the air… it might just be happier inside the house…
this morning as I was leaving the house I got this picture of the begonias in the planter…
cool to see how some plants just keep on blooming while leaves are falling off everything else around them…
last few bits of summer… such a treat…
23 Wednesday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, geese, glittering, light, pattern, pictures, sun, widow
over the weekend I took a few interesting pictures…
this one is of the glittering snow on the roof of the garage…
a lovely pattern showed up as well…
when we were coming out of the store on Sunday I could hear the geese and when I looked up I saw them… it was so bright that I couldn’t see them, but snapped a few pictures…
not bad when I couldn’t actually see…
and finally I got this shot of the sun behind haze…
pulled over to take the shot… it was a strange sky…
the light was bright for all of these, lol…
29 Friday Jan 2016
Posted in family, health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, Brussels sprouts, fancy, fillet, Michael Symon, orchid, pattern, recipe, salmon, The Chew
my usual pattern after work is to watch The Chew before making dinner… on Monday, when I watched the PVRed program, Michael Symon made a dish with salmon, Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, coconut milk and cilantro…
as it happened, I had a piece of salmon in the fridge that I’d taken out for my supper, and all the other items as well… I didn’t have sweet potato, but had a leftover baked potato so I substituted that…
had a few leftover roasted peppers and mushrooms from our family supper the night before, so warmed them up as well…
it was delicious…
used half of the coconut milk and put the rest into the fridge…
this morning I took out another salmon fillet and decided to make the recipe again… I really liked it…
tonight I used Brussels sprouts and mushrooms instead of potatoes… delicious again…
simply cooked foods are my norm… cook the fish in a pan or bake it in the oven and then have some veggies to go along with it… don’t usually fancy my food up, lol…
I have really enjoyed this so may try to perk up a few other staples…
here’s the link to the recipe…
had fun taking pictures of the ever blooming orchid… this is a great close up… I have had this for months and the flowers are still lovely… some days I wonder if it is silk, lol…
life is good…
14 Monday Sep 2015
Posted in health, life, nature, technology
as I work to lose the additional pounds that the doctor wants and to stay healthy and active I have been following a pattern…
get up in the morning… make and eat breakfast… take care of bathroom necessities… pack my lunch and take out whatever is needed for dinner…
then I spend fifteen to twenty minutes on the treadmill… it is set up in front of the tv in the basement… I watch a particular morning show while walking which makes the time fly…
the rest of the day I make sure to take extra trips to the printer, check in with colleagues in person instead of emailing, and get up and step away from my desk on a regular basis…
usually walk part way home… maybe just one block, but occasionally quite a bit further… sometimes I spend fifteen minutes of my lunch hour and walk on the treadmill at the gym in our building…
happily my Fitbit will vibrate and let me know I have reached my goal for the day…
usually on the weekend I will walk to and around the Park at least once…
sometimes in the evening I will spend a bit of time on the treadmill to ensure I have completed my steps and reached my activity goal…
the pattern has become ingrained and that makes me happy…
walking really is my favourite form of exercise…
herbiggirlpants 