28 Thursday Jan 2021
Posted in family, health, life, moments, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, hyacinth, moments, nature, purple, smelling, treat, white, widow
so excited to have received hyacinth plants… my grandson picked them up for me at Safeway…
one is in a pot with three in it… they will be white when they open…
a smaller pot contains a single purple one…
looking forward to seeing and smelling the blooms…
26 Tuesday Jan 2021
Tags
bean to bar, big girl pants, blessed, CanadianChocoholic, chocolate, family, flowers, friends, moments, orchid, pouch, purple, Tea, treat, widow
yesterday we had an online chocolate tasting in the afternoon… it was the gift I gave my four buddies for Christmas…
before it started I spent time preparing my space for the call… moved most of my orchids into the pass through and put fabric behind it so the light wouldn’t cause a problem… looked great;-)…
everyone received a package in the mail with a beautiful handmade pouch holding four chocolate bars… three were the same for everyone, and one was different for each of us…
besides information on how to taste, choose and buy chocolate, forms to use to describe tasting information on each bar, there were little treats included as well… a chocolate flavoured tea, hot chocolate, a cocoa bean and cocoa nibs…
we had a lovely time, learned a huge amount about cacao, its origins and how it is made into the chocolate that we enjoy… we were able to ask questions throughout and shared what we thought of each bar…
thanks to Cyndi (@CanadianChocoholic) for the wonderful experience…
one of us couldn’t get their camera to work, but was able to see us, even if we couldn’t see them… there was a lot of laughter and delicious chocolate eating, uh, tasting, happening…
what a great treat… as much a gift for me as my buddies…
21 Thursday Jan 2021
Posted in business, health, life, moments, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, events, fun, gift, gratitude, happy, memories, moments, pashmina, pin, purple, remembering, widow
this morning my contemplating card was about gratitude…
a short time later I was putting on this lovely pashmina which hangs on the back of one of the chairs in the living room… it was a gift from a dear friend and is pink and purple…
I added a magnetic pin that I received at one of the SHEday events to hold it closed…
reminded me of how grateful I am to have many great and caring friends, and that I have participated in some amazing activities…
another thing I am grateful for is that when we remember something particular, usually we focus on the fun/good parts, not necessarily the things that weren’t as much fun, lol…
14 Thursday Jan 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, facing, flowers, garden, moments, nature, orchid, photos, purple, Shadow, sunshine, weather, widow
yesterday the quote I reviewed was about facing the light and thus putting the shadow behind…
made me think of the juxtaposition of light and shadow which had me wandering around my plants and taking photos being sure that my shadow didn’t affect the pictures…
it was was relaxing and I appreciated the time…
12 Tuesday Jan 2021
Posted in family, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
artwork, big girl pants, blessed, cards, contemplating, moments, purple, reflect, widow
this morning I started a new activity…
for each of the next 24 days I am going to read and think on one of the cards that I received last year for Advent…
I really enjoyed the process then and am looking forward to this time of reflection each day…
I am going to start each day with a time of looking at the artwork and contemplating the quote on the back…
today I was thinking about how much sunshine can affect my mood and feeling of well-being… when the sun is shining everything seems more upbeat and positive…
where I live, we used to have a lot more sunny days… they are particularly helpful during the cold winter months, as even the cold seems more bearable in sunlight and blue skies…
I was reading some data which showed we averaged 51% sunny days between 1981 and 2010… for the past few years we have noticed that there is less sunshine that’s there used to be…
this morning, as I look out the window, the sky is blue… gonna be a good day😊…
08 Friday Jan 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dining, flowers, garden, moments, music, orchid, photos, plants, pleasant, purple, trimmed, widow
spent a lovely hour in the dining room garden recently…
trimmed up, and cut back, the mandevilla and fuchsia… they have both lost most of their leaves but are still alive…
I am hopeful that they will both perk up… the mandevilla looks lovely now…
listened to music and felt such happiness… before you know it, spring will be here…
today I took some photos of the garden, including the blooming orchid…
31 Thursday Dec 2020
Posted in garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, camera, daughter, flowers, garden, home, Instagram, joy, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, orchid, photos, plants, pond, purple, remembering, walk, widow
last evening I spent time on Instagram… people tend to put up their nine most liked photos of the year, but I decided to put up my nine favourite ones…
I was thinking they would be flowers, with maybe a bird or piece of chocolate included…
once I finished, there were seven with flowers, one bird and a monarch butterfly…
looking through the pictures reminded me of some wonderful times over this past year…
my orchids, which provide such joy for me all year long…
planting, growing and enjoying morning glories, datura and dahlias…
time spent, with and without cameras, viewing the birds in the garden…
a rose along the sidewalk on one of the walks I took this year, with my daughter in my ear;-)…
the amazing time I spent over the summer with eggs, caterpillars and butterflies… and the day my grandson and I watched the butterflies appear…
time with hearts and flower bouquets…
the water lily flowers that erupted in the pond… had the most blooms ever this summer… and I hope to overwinter them in the aquarium…
lovely reminders of a crazy, but wonderfully special year…
28 Monday Dec 2020
Posted in business, food, health, life, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, broken, food, pepper mill, purple, salt, seasoning, widow
so happy that my salt mill has been replaced… it stopped working a few weeks ago and I took it apart to see if I could fix it… wasn’t possible…
a bit difficult because I only have coarse salt so seasoning was troublesome…
eventually, I emptied the pepper mill and filled it with salt… for a few days it produced salt and pepper together, lol…
of course, then I couldn’t use pepper…
finally my grandson was able to pick up a replacement for me…
so happy to have salt and pepper available now;-)…
27 Sunday Dec 2020
Posted in food, health, life, loss, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, camera, Christmas, friends, gift, moments, nature, orchids, pictures, purple, quiet, relaxed, supper, treat, widow
had a quiet day yesterday… spent time taking photos of ornaments on the tree and the orchids…
a friend dropped off the fixings for turkey dinner which I warmed up at supper time… it was a lovely treat and made for a relaxed and enjoyable meal… ended the day with hot lemonade in my new mug and gifted shortbread…
just another reminder of how blessed I truly am…
15 Tuesday Dec 2020
Tags
chocolate, Christmas, fridge, gifts, her big girl pants, mail, memories, parcel, permission, presents, purple, ribbons, widow, wrap
a parcel arrived from the kids in Ottawa… once I received text permission to open it, I discovered 3 boxes, a package that said it needed to go into the fridge, and a small chocolate bar, lol…
I had fun wrapping them and put purple ribbons on them before adding them to the growing pile under the tree… they are the first gifts for me…
it was funny to wrap my own parcels, but was a reminder of the few times I might have purchased my own gift, wrapped and put it under the tree… although usually those items would go to my beloved and he would wrap them up, lol…
fun memories… nice that now I can mostly look back on them without tears…
