16 Thursday Feb 2023
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
albino, avocado plant, big girl pants, blessed, moments, nature, pink, plants, research, Technology, widow
I was checking my pink avocado plant and was reminded of when it was first planted…
since then it has grown quite a bit and is still pink, although there are little bits of green on some leaves…
not sure if it has some type of issue or not… more research might suggest it is an albino plant and that it may not live for too long…
will continue to watch and see how it does…
10 Friday Feb 2023
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bonsai, French fries, friend, friends, garden, greenhouse, McDonalds, moments, nature, photo, plants, Shelmerdine, shopping, snack, succulents, widow
had a tasty snack on our way to Shelmerdine… haven’t had fresh McDonald’s French fries in I don’t know how long… had a couple of nuggets to go with them, but it was the fries that made my day;-)…
had fun wandering amongst the plants… it was surprising how many varieties of succulents were available…
here’s a photo my friend sent of the two that she picked up and transplanted;-)…
got a few photos of some of their bonsais to share with my grandson…
lovely to spend a bit of time enjoying the greenhouse and I even left without purchasing anything…
when I was searching the internet for a link to their website, I came across this great information on plant care;-)…
fries and gardens… doesn’t get much better than that…
06 Monday Feb 2023
Posted in health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, decorating, grouped, happy, hearts, memories, moments, plants, shelf, widow
hearts are turning up all over the place…
hanging in the front window, and looking so nice when the sun shines through them…
on a shelf, grouped together…
next to a plant to enjoy in the bathroom…
even on a shelf in the kitchen…
they make me smile…
29 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, flowers, garden, moments, Morpho, nature, plants, search, Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden, sunshine, Technology, widow
lots of butterflies in the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden… also many people…
the sun was shining so they were flitting about the whole space…
the blue Morpho butterfly is very sneaky and would not let me catch a single photo of it with the gorgeous blue when the wings are open…
next time I will take a video and then a still from that, lol…
the butterflies arrive as chrysalis from Costa Rica on a regular basis and are released into the space once they emerge…
so, each time you are in the Garden, there will likely be different varieties…
it is such fun to search for them in amongst the foliage…
27 Friday Jan 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
amaryllis, begonia, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, living wall, Mediterranean biome, moments, nature, plants, spiral, Technology, The Leaf, Tyndall stone, walk, widow
enjoyed the Mediterranean biome… as soon as I enter I am reminded of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights… I think it is all the Tyndall stone, the spiral walkway, and the industrial looking steel…
the living wall is huge and amazing…
and the spiral begonia was so pretty…
the amaryllis are stunning…
it is lovely to have such a beautiful space to visit during the winter months…
25 Wednesday Jan 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, fans, flowers, garden, gardeners, happy, humid, moments, nature, photos, plants, pond, Technology, The Leaf, trees, tropical biome, visit, waterfall, widow
Tuesday was my third trip to The Leaf…
they are making improvements all the time… it looks like they may soon have machines so you can purchase your ticket without standing in line…
we had a lovely time walking through the biomes… it was quite warm and humid in the tropical biome and there weren’t too many people when we arrived around ten am… by the time we left, just before noon, the place was starting to fill up…
the gardeners were working in the space cleaning up fallen leaves and checking the temperatures around the various areas… had a lovely chat with one of them…
I seemed to focus on orange flowers this time;-)… and I was happy to see the coffee beans even though I don’t drink coffee, lol…
love the banyan tree and got shots of a few others… can’t wait to watch them as they grow… and I found a couple of banana trees…
the waterfall is adding a lot of humidity to the space…
got a nice shot of the other direction from just under the waterfall…
and a view from the catwalk…
looking forward to more visits and to watching the areas change and grow…
20 Friday Jan 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Assiniboine Park Conservancy, big girl pants, biomes, blessed, cacao, elevators, fish, flowers, garden, koi, moments, nature, photos, plants, pond, splash, Technology, The Leaf, time, water, waterfall, widow
spent an hour and a half wandering through The Leaf in the daytime…
we took ample time to search out the plants as we wandered through the tropical biome… and we found the cacao tree;-)…
the waterfall continues to over perform…
I am betting that there are people working very hard to figure out how to end up with less splash, lol…
I spent at lot of time on the bridge, watching the beautiful koi swimming around the pond… a lovely treat;-)…
there were a lot of people there, but it didn’t feel too crowded… we wore masks but the majority of others didn’t… since I was last in the space there have been large fans added, so there did appear to be a lot of noise, but once through the doors into the Mediterranean biome, it was quiet…
the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden was a much busier place with numerous butterflies flitting about… it is always fun to search for the ones that have landed and are blending in with the foliage… as visitors move through this area they are quiet and will sit and patiently watch the action…
there are two elevators to take you up to the canopy and the Butterfly Garden and only one was working… seems to slow the flow down a bit…
there was ample space for jackets in the coat room, many volunteers to answer questions and direct the flow of people, and lots of open space…
08 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, difficult, flowers, growing, happy, moments, nature, orchid, orchids, plants, setting buds, widow
great excitement as I have discovered three orchids that are setting buds;-)…
this makes me very happy as January and February can be difficult months – usually cold and dull…
the one orchid which is blooming is sitting on the middle of the living room table and doing very well…
06 Friday Jan 2023
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bloom, cutting back, growing, hibiscus, moments, nature, plants, scraggly, tidy, tree, trimmed, widow
spent some time trimming the hibiscus now that most of the buds have opened…
here it was before the haircut, kind of scraggly…
and after, being careful not to cut off any of the remaining buds;-)…
I think it looks much tidier and it is much easier to walk past it, lol… and then it had another bloom;-)…
here it is five years ago… so tiny…
and since then it has lost one whole stem…
15 Thursday Dec 2022
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, biome, blessed, Conservatory, flowers, garden, grandson, koi, moments, nature, photos, plants, poinsettias, pond, Technology, The Leaf, treat, tropical, waterfall, widow
last night we went to The Leaf at Assiniboine Park…
I’ve been waiting ages for it to be finished… the Conservatory closed in April 2018, which feels like a long time ago… this was our view as we stepped into the space… possibly the waterfall is splashing a bit more than expected as there are a few areas that are wet, lol…
it didn’t disappoint;-)… the tropical biome is lovely and I expect it will look even more beautiful as times goes on…
the technology always interests me and they have done a great job of hiding the fire extinguishers but making them easily available…
the space is big and bold with the tall waterfall and large pond…
we spent a lot of time watching the koi… they were beautiful colours and huge… I was struggling with a bit of fish-envy…
I am looking forward to visiting next in the daytime…
the Mediterranean biome was reminiscent of the CMHR building with lots of stone… and it was possible to touch most of the plants;-)…
the display area was cute with many poinsettias, seasonal decorations and places for group photos…
the poinsettias were a sweet reminder of the old Conservatory at Christmas time…
the view looking down from the catwalk was wonderful although I felt a bit nervous with the height, so my grandson took all the pictures, lol…
the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden at the top of the building was nice…
it was late and dim so we only spotted a couple of butterflies that were resting… I definitely need to visit it in the daytime as well…
it wasn’t too full of visitors, and there were a number of staff (likely many were volunteers) to get you in and around the site…
there was a place to leave your coat (unattended) before entering the biomes, which was great as the space is warm;-)… there is ample parking and you can purchase tickets online or as you enter… you need your membership card, with ID, just like at the zoo…
a wonderful treat and I can hardly wait to visit again😊…
herbiggirlpants 