30 Friday Jul 2021
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
anthurium, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, gift, memories, moments, nature, plants, plastic, purple, widow
I’ve been so focussed on the garden I forgot to share the excitement in the dining room…
this anthurium, which I received as a birthday gift five years ago, flowered once last year after not blooming for four years…
on July 7th I spotted this new bloom;-)…
now it is open and beautiful… although it looks like plastic, lol… once open it lasts for ages…
nature truly is amazing…
29 Thursday Jul 2021
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cushions, dahlias, flowers, garden, moments, nature, odour, plants, purple, sanctuary, The Dahlia Expert, water, weather, widow
I was up at 6:30 am watching the Olympics;-)…
I had made my mind up to water the garden first thing because it has been getting hot so early in the day…
I think the temperature only reached 28 Celsius which feels cool after the hot days we’ve been dealing with…
it turned out to be a beautiful day, other than the odour of smoke in the air… luckily, you could smell the smoke, but the sky was clear…
after watering, I put out all the cushions and wandered around checking out flowers…
the planter with the milkweed and morning glories in it was looking spectacular as the morning glories have overtaken the container… not sure that the monarchs can find the milkweed anymore…
the dahlias are doing well and one of the buds on the Robann Regal plant has started to open…
excited to see it fully open…
I also realized that there are more buds starting on the Mick’s Peppermint… that plant is huge and didn’t look like it was going to have more than a few flowers… interesting that the second flower was about half the size of the first one, although it is hard to see that in my photo… and the colours are different on every flower;-)…
sat and enjoyed the view…
I love my garden sanctuary…
22 Thursday Jul 2021
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
activity, big girl pants, birds, blessed, close, garden, moments, nature, open, pictures, pond, purple, squirrels, water lily, weather, widow
hot and partly overcast today, but not nearly as smokey…
and lots of activity in the garden…
must have counted six squirrels at one time and took a few pictures of different ones eating… none of the gray squirrels wanted to have their photos taken, lol…
there was also a great deal of bird action… dozens of house sparrows, numerous finches and chickadees, as well as at least one nuthatch…
such a wonderful way to spend the day;-)…
the water lily bloom continues to open with the light and close as the evening arrives…
17 Saturday Jul 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bated, big girl pants, blessed, breath, butterflies, eggs, flowers, garden, memories, moments, monarchs, nature, plants, purple, weather, widow
I’ve been watching the monarchs fly around the garden for the last while…
I sit with bated breath, hoping they will find the rather puny milkweed supply… and occasionally they do find it…
I’ve moved the planter, with the milkweed, and a very fast growing morning glory in it, so I can watch from my favourite spot by the pond…
now there are a few eggs on it to watch;-)…
they have even found the butterfly bush…
I have had so many opportunities to remember how blessed I am as I sit and enjoy the nature around me…
17 Saturday Jul 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeders, blessed, closer, flowers, garden, Hilda the Gardener, hot, moments, nature, pond, purple, sparrows, squirrels, weather, widow
another great day in the garden…
it always looks particularly nice after Hilda the Gardener has been;-)… she spent a few hours in the morning weeding and trimming…
she also helped me move one of the bird feeders to a new spot closer to the pond where, just possibly, the squirrels won’t be able to get to it…
I am hoping that it isn’t so close that sunflower shells find their way into the water…
once she left, I watched sparrows having a garden party, testing out the feeders and enjoying drinks from the pond…
after a short nap, through the hottest part of the afternoon, I finished my book on the deck…
15 Thursday Jul 2021
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fun, grandson, happy, horse, memories, moments, motorcycle, purple, remembering, ride, widow
yesterday I went for a short motorcycle ride with my grandson…
he got his licence last summer, but just recently passed the test which meant he could have a rider behind him…
not too long ago he said he would give me a ride, after he practiced a bit more with friends…
today he dropped by and told me to put on jeans and a jacket so we could go for the ride…
I had a bit of trouble getting up behind him… the backseat is much higher that the one on the motorcycle I rode on when I was sixteen, lol…
the funny part is that the young man I was going out with at the time, and who had the motorcycle, lived down the very street I currently reside on…
took a few minutes to get up… felt a bit like getting onto a horse, and I was worried I would pull him over if I held onto him tightly…
eventually I made it and off we went… it was a short ride and it felt like he was speeding like crazy, but at most he was doing 55…
I am pretty sure my thighs are going to be aching because I was gripping the sides of the bike hard, lol…
maybe we will do it again… I think it was fun;-)…
13 Tuesday Jul 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
12 Monday Jul 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dahlias, flowers, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, plants, purple, tall, widow
my plan was to put morning glories all around the garden and that has worked out nicely…
there are some in the planters right when you walk into the garden, there are some in various pots, there are some in the garden by the pond, although they haven grown up the obelisk just yet, lol…
there are even some in a pot by the pond that I didn’t even plant…
there are also a few in the grass but so far I haven’t seen any flowers…
I am most hoping for more in the large pot on the deck with the tall obelisk in it… I thought they would grow up it and make a beautiful showy display…
but I planted a dahlia in that planter as well and currently it is hiding most of them;-(… although that is the first of the dahlias to have buds form;-)…
05 Monday Jul 2021
Posted in business, family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, fish, garden, hose, leak, leaking, moments, nature, neighbour, pond, purple, quiet, water, water bill, weather, widow
silly waterfall continues to leak so I am now turning it off at night…
it had been working perfectly until I fell in and messed it up…
the nights are much quieter…
between it and watering the grass every day my water bill is going to be a bit high, lol…
tonight as I was doing a final walk through, I heard running water and realized that water was pouring out of the neighbour’s hose… gave them a quick call and they were able to get it stopped…
02 Friday Jul 2021
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blooming, flowers, garden, moments, nature, plants, pond, purple, teasing, widow
the butterfly bushes are so close to opening, although it feels like they are teasing me…
when I come out in the morning, I think, today’s the day…
but no…
finally, they are starting to bloom, although still not completely open;-)…
they are a stunning deep purple…
