18 Tuesday Feb 2025
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, flowers, gift, grape, happy, hyacinth, moments, nature, plants, tulips, widow
my housemate treated me to fresh flowers…
lovely white and pink tulips, and a pot with daffodils, tulips, primrose, grape hyacinth and regular hyacinth…
sock a wonderful treat;-)…
flowers really do make me happy…
08 Saturday Feb 2025
Posted in life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, books, cleaning, fish tanks, fixed, happy, moments, oopsie, plants, pumps, trickery, widow
had an oopsie yesterday as I was in the process of cleaning out two of the pumps…
the pothos that sits on the shelf above the tanks had gotten really full and long, so I decided to trim it, sigh…
apparently I should have measured, lol…
the reason the plant is there is to cover up the space between two of the tanks where the pump fits…
so, once the pumps were cleaned up, a little bit of trickery took place…
I found a vase and filled it with the cut off pieces of the plant trying to have as many as possible high inside the vase…
it was still obvious that there was a space, so I added three paperback books that I had already read and put the vase back….
can’t even tell now… and once all the cuttings take root, I will pot them up and add them to the indoor garden, whew;-)…
28 Tuesday Jan 2025
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, carpet, couch, den, family, grandson, health, moments, nature, orchids, order, plants, widow
by Monday morning the den was back to normal…
the mattress had gone upstairs on Saturday, and the tables and couch put back in their usual space… I also changed the orchids on the sofa table, putting the ones that are blooming onto the dining room table and the ones that aren’t into the den…
it wasn’t until Monday morning that the carpet and coffee table made it back into their spots… my housemate had to lift the couch so I could slide the carpet under the feet to hold it in place…
I’ve now added a tray on the side table to keep it from getting scratched and added some flowers…
nice to have things in order…
21 Tuesday Jan 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birthday, blessed, details, display, exhibition, Fleurs de Villes, flowers, friends, memories, moments, nature, plants, Technology, The Leaf, treat, widow
Monday was another delightful day at The Leaf…
our group went to view the Fleurs de Villes display after our birthday lunch at Gather…
as always, a walk through the Tropical Biome is rejuvenating…
we had such fun as each of us shared different points of interest as we wandered through the lush vegetation…
we visited the cacao trees, saw coffee beans, enjoyed new vistas of the fish, chatted about the banyan tree, spotted many heliconias, and got dripped on a few times, lol…
we moved on to the Mediterranean Biome for the Fleurs de Villes exhibition…
all of the mannequins (that represent the arts in the city) were very nicely done… we met two of the designers and spotted things we liked at every display… it was amazing to see the details that had been included…
after we’d been around once, most of us went around one more time, as we each made a decision on our favourite and filled out the ballot which we received as we entered the space…
the Fleurs de Villes exhibition is always stunning and such a delight to have had here two years in a row;-)…
one more visit to the exhibition in a few days…
16 Thursday Jan 2025
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, date squares, family, friends, garden, health, integral, moments, plants, time, visit, widow
had a most wonderful visit with a dear friend who I haven’t seen for ages…
one of those people where the conversation just continues as though you’d seen one another the day before…
lots of talk about plants and gardens and how integral they are for both of us…
health and family also were covered…
and I received a container of delicious date squares…
so blessed to have time with special people…
15 Wednesday Jan 2025
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blossoms, ending, flowers, losing, moments, nature, orchid, plants, starting, widow
as the last couple of orchids are losing their final few flowers, I am watching four plants which have begun new buds…
two are quite a way along…
one is a bit further behind…
and the final one has just barely begun…
most of them are in the den, which is interesting, as I would have expected the ones in the front rooms to do better…
looking forward to the new flowers;-)…
24 Tuesday Dec 2024
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, display, family, lights, moments, nature, plants, poinsettias, Technology, The Leaf, widow, wreaths
made it to the most recent display at The Leaf…
we went around 7 so it was fairly dark in the Tropical Biome… a great time to go as there weren’t many visitors…
there were a few lit up flamingo topiaries and throughout the space there were lit signs about various birds…
there was also a cute Christmas tree made from individual plants…
the display in the Mediterranean Biome had lots of trees, lights, and poinsettias…
I also spotted a few amaryllis… some just starting to open, others in full bloom…
the trees were filled with ornamental birds and some birdhouses…
only spotted one of the seven succulent wreaths…
my plan is to go again in the daytime to see how it looks in the light;-)…
always a treat…
22 Sunday Dec 2024
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, blessed, bridge, cacao, cacao pods, cacao trees, favourite, happy, koi, moments, nature, plants, The Leaf, tropical biome, two, widow
I have two favourite spots in the Tropical Biome…
I always stop and visit with the cacao trees to see how they are doing, particularly as my daughter loves to visit them when she’s in town, lol…
and then there are the koi… standing on the bridge watching them swim around is such a joyful time for me…
they move much slower at night as many of them as sleeping, but I got a nice picture of this one… it is usually difficult to get good photos because of the light reflecting in the water so I was pleased with this one…
we are truly blessed to have this wonderful spot to visit all year round;-)…
10 Tuesday Dec 2024
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, family, hopeful, housemate, Japanese Maple, moments, nature, plants, solar lights, Technology, weather, widow, wrapping
I came up with the idea of wrapping my Japanese Maple with some solar lights…
so, my housemate lifted the plant onto the living room table and then I spent an hour walking in circles with the string of lights…
had to stop occasionally when I got a bit dizzy, lol…
it came out nicely, although I had to wait a day so that the power in the solar panel had a chance to charge…
I am hopeful that I can leave the lights on, even in the summer when the Maple moves outside;-)…
13 Wednesday Nov 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dirt, fern, garden, lemon tree, mess-making, moments, nature, plants, pot, transplant, widow
Saturday’s project was to transplant the lemon tree and the fern…
had to run out to the garage to get gloves and into the basement for a pail and spoon, lol…
after a bit of digging and mess-making the two plants were in their new pots, trimmed, fertilized, and watered…
the fern was absolutely jammed into the pot and took quite a bit of work to get it thinned out, cut back and set into its new home…
it was much simpler to put the lemon tree into the larger pot and add some soil… it looks good;-)… I cannot remember when I started this, maybe this spring or last spring, lol…
hopefully they will both thrive…
herbiggirlpants 