22 Sunday Jan 2023
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
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;-)…
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…
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😊…
20 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeder, birds, blessed, camera, garden, mandevilla, moments, nature, pond, Technology, tripod, view, weather, widow, wireless
now that the pond is empty and covered with the tarp, the camera isn’t really needed, so it came into the house…
happily, the bottom of it fit perfectly on the camera tripod…
set it up by the window where the bird feeder is attached…
this is particularly good now as the mandevilla blocks the view through the window…
looking forward to getting some great views of the guests at the feeder;-)…
13 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cold, Fall, fish, garden, goldfish, leaves, moments, nature, plants, pond, tarp, weather, wetvac, widow
spent a good portion of Tuesday afternoon in the pond…
I removed the last of the water, by hand scooping, and then using the wet vac…
caught the last three small fish but only found two of the babies…
after that, I vacuumed up most of the leaves I could reach, and then covered the pond with a large tarp…
happy that it will catch the rest of the falling leaves and should make cleaning the pond in the spring much easier…
sadly, it doesn’t look exactly pretty, lol…
10 Monday Oct 2022
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, friends, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, plants, pond, projects, regular, remembering, summer, sun, Technology, thankful, time, widow
so much to be thankful for…
this year my daughter was here in March and my son-in-law in August…
I spent hours in the garden…
met my friends on a regular basis in the garden all summer… previously, we haven’t met very often during that time as everyone was busy…
saw, texted, and spoke on the phone with many friends… made a new one and enjoyed getting to know them…
worked on changes in the vegetable garden… grew peas, beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes…
was visited by monarchs and swallowtails and a beautiful little hummingbird…
enjoyed bouquets of flowers all summer, thanks to a birthday subscription from the kids…
had many projects completed, in the house and the garden…
life is very good…
04 Tuesday Oct 2022
Posted in family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fish, garden, goldfish, grandson, moments, nature, pond, sneaky, water, weather, widow
my grandson came over to help with some garden jobs… he cut down baby elm trees, emptied rain barrels, and then spent a lot of time trying and catching the sneaky fish in the pond…
after a few minutes, we decided to pump out a good portion of the water, hoping it would make the catching easier, lol…
it did, a bit… the fish still found all the nooks and crannies amongst the rocks…
eventually he caught most of them and we are down to about six left… so far we haven’t been able to catch any of the babies…
later in the afternoon I sat on the bridge with my feet in the pond, not moving at all… after about fifteen minutes I gave up… not a single fish went by… the minute I stepped out they swam right past, lol…
28 Wednesday Sep 2022
Posted in garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, moments, nature, orchids, overwinter, plants, pond, tank, weather, widow, winerack
spent time in the living and dining rooms reorganizing the plants…
took the orchids out of the new fish tank, trimmed, and found other places for them to go…
gave up the winerack and now have a spot for the fuchsia from outside to come to…
found a pump that might work in the tank, which is going to be used to house pond plants…
I’ve tried to overwinter water hyacinth before without success, but am going to try once again… also hoping that the two floating baskets will make it as well;-)… some of the water lilies will go into the tanks with the fish, but may put one in this tank if there is room…
20 Tuesday Sep 2022
Posted in business, family, food, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breakfast, chores, dismantled, family, garden, goldfish, grandson, moments, nature, pond, widow
Monday some jobs got done…
I met the kids at the “A” for breakfast and then we worked in the garden…
Virginia creeper was pulled from behind the hot tub and some tiny holes were filled in the foundation close to the door…
the hammock was dismantled and pieces put into the shed…
then we started catching fish to bring into the condo… we got nine so far, including all the biggest ones, and will do more every now and again…
they caught them and I put them into the tanks…
happy to get some of the fall chores done…
13 Tuesday Sep 2022
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bud, flowers, garden, moments, nature, plants, pond, treat, water lily, weather, widow
so excited last Wednesday to discover a water lily bud… I had pretty much given up hope of seeing one this year…
throughout the day I took photos as it worked towards opening…
it was at its peak on Saturday…
today it is getting ready to slide under the water… as the next bud begins to open…
what a wonderful treat as we move into cooler weather…
talk about blessed…
herbiggirlpants 