11 Tuesday Jul 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
took a drive outside the city for lunch today…
landed at the Summit Cafe in Stony Mountain…
cute little place with a penny covered floor…
we were the first to arrive and they had set up a table for 12… gave us a bit of extra time with the menu…
I chose the Spicy Shrimp Grilled Cheese…
oh my, it was delicious… had half of it and brought the remainder home for dinner tomorrow…
got a great shot of the group…
wonderful day with some really special people…
11 Sunday Jun 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, dad, driving, effort, emphysema, family, George, office supplies, special, sports, treat, widow
been thinking of my dad a lot lately…
he died nearly thirty years ago… he lived with emphysema from the time I was a teenager…
he did as much as he could, but spent the weekends recovering from the week and trying to build up the energy to make it through the next week…
when I turned sixteen, he and I bought a new car together and I began driving him to and from work every day… which also meant that I got to drive to school each day;-)…
he loved sports and we often attended athletic events at the arena and watched whatever sport might be on tv…
he was the person who taught me to appreciate each person or team’s efforts and applaud everyone’s performance, whether they were the one you were rooting for or not…
to this day I do the same…
he started me on my love of office supplies… when I was young I would occasionally spend a weekend morning with him at work and organize his desk, lol…
he spent a good portion of his working life helping people figure out what type of work they would be best at, and he was very good at it…
when my beloved and I were first married, he would go grocery shopping with me and add a roast or some other treat to my bag… at first I felt bad that he did this, until I realized it was something he could still do for us… by that time he couldn’t manage physical things like home repairs any longer… buying us a treat was his way of supporting us…
he was a very special man… my girls were not yet teenagers when he died, much like my grandsons who were so young when my beloved left us… maybe this is why I try to keep memories of George alive so that the boys remember him…
a very rare professionally taken picture of mom and dad…
08 Thursday Jun 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
bag, big girl pants, flowers, friends, garden, gusto, irises, moments, patio, special, sun, widow
wonderful evening…
supper out with my dear friends… we went to Pizzeria Gusto and had a lovely dinner…
shared lobster risotto and roasted brussel sprouts… and ended with half of a chocolate tart… delicious…
we enjoy one another’s company and always have things to share…
dinner out was to celebrate one of our birthdays… we have a birthday bag that goes from person to person…
we have used this bag for many years and it has been repaired a few times… but the fun when we pull it out for the next person’s birthday is just wonderful…
the birthday woman wanted to eat on a patio and we thought we’d picked a great spot, but then discovered it didn’t have an actual patio where you could eat, lol…
took numerous emails and texts to work out our plan, but we did…
it was warm but not hot on the patio and, as always when we gather, time flew by and we had lots of fun…
dropped off at home and spotted these irises blooming…
nearly missed them… it was serendipitous that I stepped out onto the deck and walked just far enough to see them…
a final special moment to end a very special evening…
29 Saturday Apr 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, home, hot tub, reminder, special, team, Technology, tub, widow, work
nine years ago today the hot tub arrived and sat in the garage…
took another few weeks before it made it to its home on a new deck beside the house…
actually got to sit in it on Mother’s Day that year…
it is a special reminder of the previous ten years of work… they were quite amazing…
started the job on a contract to get the space set up as the organization had moved from Toronto… there were boxes everywhere… the whole place needed to be set up… from there I worked up to the office administrator and consulted with the students regarding finances and bursaries… the team grew and was quite wonderful…
was always happy to welcome people to our space and enjoyed working with the governing body from across the country… remembering all the things I learned about conference calling and how over those years the systems improved… I have always loved working with technology and certainly had lots of opportunities to do that…
grew as a person during those years as well… we had 360 degree performance reviews which involved input from all of the people I interacted with… from my colleagues, to the students, to the council and committee members, to the suppliers and people who rented space in the building…
the staff team also met in pairs to encourage and challenge one another… sometimes it was very hard to hear where I needed to improve, but, in the end, very beneficial…
I really have been blessed in my work life…
was talking with someone a few days ago and mentioned how I didn’t go back to work until my girls were in high school and so I anticipate being on the job for a few more years as I had all that time at home when they were young… what a gift that was…
the hot tub reminds me of special times with special people…
18 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
just yesterday I was heading to the office after an appointment and was enjoying the absolutely beautiful sky… it was a gorgeous blue and had some lovely clouds which were pink from the morning sunlight…
of course I didn’t get a picture but enjoyed every moment as I drove toward downtown…
did get this shot of my scarf as I was sitting in the waiting room…
love this dragonfly…
later in the day as I was driving home another beautiful sky was visible… for many nights recently I have been going home in the dark so it was quite a moment to see a second lovely sky… and again I enjoyed it even without photos, lol…
I do miss riding with my buddies which gave me ample opportunities to take pictures…
also enjoyed the sweet view of my bedroom as I got ready for bed…
those special moments make the day;-)…
12 Monday Dec 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
was picked up at the office and got this shot of the moon which is going to be full tomorrow…
had a delicious supper at my daughter’s and then we headed to my grandson’s band concert… sat between the two little boys and had lots of fun, sharing chocolate and almonds…
the concert was great and certainly brings home the season…
what a gift to be able to attend special events like this…
16 Sunday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, cars, colour, grandson, heart, hugs, moments, sky, special, sunrise, Ultimate, walk, widow
first thing I saw this morning was this stunning sky…
the colour in this picture is accurate… amazing… brought joy to my heart…
drove to the Formal Gardens at Assiniboine Park to walk and collect poke balls… one side of the garden was filled with parked cars…
there were tons of kids playing everywhere, but it took a while to figure out that an Ultimate tournament was going on… the other side of the Gardens didn’t have any cars, lol…
decided to walk the loop in the opposite direction than I usually do because so many cars were coming into the area…
it was chilly, but not too bad as long as I kept moving… and I had dressed warmly…
as I was taking pictures of the berries on this tree it occurred to me that a dear young friend and her daughters might be somewhere in the Park playing… they were and we found one another and had a visit while the girls played a game… got this shot of geese flying overhead during the game…
she said the sweetest thing when she introduced me to someone… she called me her mom of the heart…
it was a great treat to spend time with her and we stood for an hour or so and I didn’t feel too cold until I left and got back into the car when I realized how cold I was…
after a few errands it took me quite a while and a few extra blankets to get warm again…
the kids came for dinner and the final surprise was my youngest grandson helping me download and play a new game and giving me a big hug as they were leaving…
day filled with special moments…
02 Sunday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
this afternoon I made some tiny meatballs…
felt like I was channeling my dad… he made the best meatballs ever… and the tiniest, lol…
haven’t made meatballs since forever… of course now that I’m not supposed to eat pasta I haven’t bothered even with meat sauce…
remembered the times we made spaghetti from scratch with my parents, Aunty Minnie and her mom, Mrs. Jenetta… tasted amazing and we had such fun…
to make the meatballs tiny, I used a melon baller that the wonderful Jacqui Eade had me purchase for a great dinner party that she cooked for my friends and I…
great to remember these special moments…
maybe I’ll make spaghetti for supper tomorrow…
27 Tuesday Sep 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
angels, big girl pants, gone before, in our midst, special, tree, walk, widow
on a walk the other day I came across this little angel propped up against a tree in a place where few people would see her…
made me think of the angels among us… whether people who have gone before, or those in our midst who do those special things for us… and maybe we don’t even know they’ve done something…
30 Monday May 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dahlia, friendship, Galapagos, gifts, patio, purple, special, widow
had a lovely evening…
dinner with a most special woman to celebrate our friendship…
we sat on couches on a patio in the sunshine and traded gifts with one another…
she treated me to a beautiful purple bird feeder and a solar dragonfly for the garden…
for her I’d found a compact umbrella and wrapped it with a pretty scarf… she is one of the best wrappers I have ever come across, so I was feeling a bit of pressure to do a good job, lol… she thought it looked great, yay…
had a virgin Caesar that had three olives in it… practically a meal…
followed that with a delicious pizza… tasty…
once I arrived home I found that two of the dahlias are breaking through the soil in one of the pots… very exciting…
ended the evening with three more special women… we shared stories of recent activities and had a picture presentation of one’s recent trip to the Galapagos Islands…
what a treat the evening has been…
I continue to be blessed with so many special people in my life…
