popped…

02 Tuesday May 2023

Posted by sulis303 in garden, life, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

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big girl pants, blessed, garden, leaves, moments, nature, pond, popped, pump, reading, sunshine, tarp, water, weather, widow

had a great day in the garden on Sunday…

spent most of it on the deck, reading in the sunshine…

I also spent time working at the pond… we tried to take off the tarp a few days ago but it was too heavy as it still had a lot of water and a ton of soggy leaves in it… the plan was to wait for another person to help us…

I put the pump in the pond again… the other day when I tried this the hose popped off and gave me a pond-water shower;-(… this time I got rid of most of the water… then I put it into the tarp and got a fair bit of water out of it…

after that I was able to drag it out of the pond and bag the leaves… they filled half of a garbage can, lol…

then the tarp was spread out in the grass, hopefully drying, so it can be folded up and put away…

maybe in the next few days I will vacuum the bottom of the pond and fill it with water…

koi…

25 Saturday Mar 2023

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big girl pants, blessed, fish, friends, goldfish, koi, moments, moving, pond, request, tank, widow

recently a friend messaged me asking if I might take some of their fish… they were looking for homes for three goldfish and a koi as they are going to focus on guppies and tetras…

I thought about it and agreed to take the goldfish, but not the koi… they have different requirements and also grow very large…

they started to look for a place that would take the koi and eventually were able to find a home for it and the largest goldfish at a city college which has a number of ponds…

they brought the two remaining goldfish over on Friday…

they have now joined the fish in the large tank and seem quite happy…

I think they will enjoy the pond when they get to move out there;-)…

spotlight…

11 Saturday Feb 2023

Posted by sulis303 in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather

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big girl pants, blessed, camera, garden, light, moments, nature, pond, snow, solar light, spotlight, sunny, Technology, warm, weather, widow

excited to discover the spotlight on the upper deck is working again…

it had been covered with snow for many weeks and I was thinking it wasn’t going to work in the cold…

as I was walking down the stairs on Thursday night, I looked out and saw the light….

apparently the warm and sunny weather uncovered the solar panel on the top of it, lol…

makes me happy, although the camera isn’t out there now…

not like there are fish in the pond that need to be protected, lol…

gardeners…

25 Wednesday Jan 2023

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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…

blurry…

22 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by sulis303 in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather

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big girl pants, blessed, blurry, fish, garage cam, goldfish, in the garden, moments, nature, pond, raccoon, tail, Technology, weather, widow

I was surprised to see this on the garage cam yesterday morning…

it is a bit blurry, and at first I thought it was a cat, but then I recognized the tail…

thought these guys were gone for the winter, lol… although I don’t care if they come by when there aren’t any fish in the pond for them to eat;-)…

elevators…

20 Friday Jan 2023

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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…

Conservatory…

15 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by sulis303 in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

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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😊…