04 Wednesday Sep 2024
Posted in business, life, loss, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, floating, hot air balloon, memory, moments, remembering, time, weather, widow
ten years ago I was floating over Gatineau in a hot air balloon… along with dozens of other balloons;-)…
I’d been waiting over twenty years for this experience… for my fortieth my beloved bought us tickets to fly at home, but the company ran away with the money…
it was everything I imagined and a very special moment in my life… the memory continues to be bright;-)…
02 Friday Aug 2024
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, furniture, garden, grandson, grass, irrigation, memories, moments, nature, pressure, remembering, sorry, supper, treat, weather, widow
yesterday I woke up feeling a bit sorry for myself…
it would have been our 54th wedding anniversary, but instead it is the 12th year without my beloved…
I went out early and watered the grass as we’ve been working on adding some to bald spots in the garden… my beloved loved it when the grass looked good, lol…
I also ran the irrigation system at the same time… first time I’ve done that and it worked fairly well… the pressure for the grass watering portion was not as strong as usual, but it meant that I could get all the watering done at once…
I turned the PVR on so I wouldn’t miss any Olympics, lol…
then I reorganized the lawn furniture… took a bit of effort to get the lounger where I wanted, but I think it should work for the next while… all of the cushions came out…
while there was still shade, I filled up the four bird feeders and then I sat on the back deck to read and enjoy the garden before it got too hot…
later we went out for supper as a treat from the Ottawa kids;-)…
was feeling much better by the end of the day…
31 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in family, garden, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, construction, garden, gate, grandsons, memories, moments, nature, pergola, photographs, remembering, time, waterbed pond, widow
a friend sent me some photographs recently and in amongst them was this picture of my beloved in front of the just finished pergola/gate…
it had the cutest fastener on the gate… I can’t remember when we put all of the pergolas in, but at that time – many moons ago – we still had the waterbed pond beside it…
then I dug out this one from July, 2009 (a bit fuzzy), when he added a shelf for stuff to sit on while we were in the new hot tub… that was fifteen years ago🤪…
and this is how it looks today;-)…
I showed the original picture to my grandsons and it took them a minute to recognize it, lol…
it does need a trim so that the Virginia creeper isn’t overpowering it and the gate could have a prettier fastener…
time flies…
20 Saturday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, cottage, fun, garden, hawk, moments, nattering, nature, remembering, song, sounds, squirrels, widow
had a bit of a giggle as I was sitting on the deck eating breakfast and listening for bird songs…
when we were at the cottage we would hear a huge variety within just a few minutes…
of course that was also at migration time so I’m not sure how many you might hear now…
here, I can hear house sparrows, chickadees, the odd crow, squirrels yelling, and recycling/garbage trucks going up and down the lane, lol…
it has also been quieter lately because there is a Cooper’s Hawk hanging around, which makes for some very quiet times when all the birds and squirrels go into hiding…
you know it has left the area when all of a sudden large numbers of sparrows start getting drinks and gathering seed from the feeders, nattering the whole time…
18 Thursday Jul 2024
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, family, health, hernia, hysterectomy, memories, moments, remembering, surgeons, surgery, widow, without
it was twelve years ago today that I had surgery for a hernia and a hysterectomy… it took a while to get organized as two different surgeons were required to work together so that both issues could be taken care of at the same time…
it was particularly difficult because it was the first time I went through a serious health issue without my beloved there to support and look after me…
thinking back to that time, I realize how far I have come and how well I am doing now…
I still miss him every single day…
14 Sunday Jul 2024
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clematis, comparison, family, flowering, flowers, garden, growth, moments, nature, plants, purple, remembering, weather, widow
the clematis on the south side of the house has been outdoing itself this season… maybe it likes all the rain, lol…
I would say there are maybe a hundred buds or blossoms… and that is after two serious thunderstorms which knocked tons of petals off…
came across this photo from July, 2013…
at that point it was probably five or six years old… before this one we had probably planted five or six that all died…
nice to have the comparison as it is easy to forgot how much something has grown…
04 Thursday Apr 2024
Posted in business, family, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bright, decorate, family, living room, memories, moments, orange, pictures, purple, remembering, sarongs, table, Technology, trips, widow
time to update the living room table…
I decided on sarongs in each square and then books from various trips for me to enjoy during this birthday month…
ran the sarongs through the wash to get rid of any wrinkles and then filled in the squares… went with purple and orange… purple for me, and orange for my daughter, with whom I went on many of the trips, lol…
looks bright and fresh and I have lots of special moments to enjoy;-)…
27 Wednesday Mar 2024
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, blink, family, friends, journey, loss, memories, moments, nature, pivot, remembering, time, widow
this month commemorated the twelfth anniversary of my beloved’s passing…
it is always a reminder of how one’s life can change in the blink of an eye… mine certainly did at that time and again when I was diagnosed with cancer, and later diabetes…
the thing I have learned is that we can pivot and move forward, even if in a slightly different direction…
I have spent time remembering what a wonderful life we had together and how blessed I have been been and continue to be…
thinking of those who are at that pivot point in their journey…
23 Saturday Mar 2024
Posted in business, family, life, moments, nature, retirement, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
Ali’i Kula Lavender, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, happy, lavender, Maui, memories, moments, nature, pictures, plants, purple, remembering, vacation, widow
recently I saw something on Instagram which reminded me of our wonderful visit to Ali’i Kula Lavender on Maui…
it was a beautiful place, with nice lavender fields, but also amazing gardens filled with stunning flowers…
I found a few photos from that day…
this hand towel usually hangs in the bathroom as a lovely reminder of that wonderful day and trip…
so nice when something comes along and reminds you of special moments…
18 Monday Mar 2024
Posted in family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dad, family, garden, grandson, meatballs, melting, memories, moments, nature, oven, remembering, shovelling, snow, supper, weather, widow, youngest
had my youngest grandson over for dinner last night…
had to think for a while to decide on what to make as the oven is still not working, lol…
decided on spaghetti with meatballs and sauce… while I was making the meatballs, I was remembering doing that with my dad… he made great ones and they were very small… and they never fell apart, lol…
mine came out okay, but a few of them did seem to disintegrate… I used the broiler, which is still working, to warm up the garlic bread…
my grandson is on a moneymaking kick as there is a big school trip planned for next year, so he did some shovelling for me in the garden… the plan was to move the snow around that was in the mountain at the edge of the deck… he did a good job;-)…
hopefully this will help in the melting process…
herbiggirlpants 