15 Saturday Jun 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
been watching track and field on tv and thinking of my dad…
in his youth he was a runner and involved in many sports…
all that changed when he returned after the war… his lungs had been permanently affected from the time he spent in foxholes in the cold and rain…
watching sports on tv and attending the occasional event at the arena were fun times we spent together…
he never complained… he had a hard life, but always made the best of every situation…
a great example of how to live one’s life…
16 Saturday Mar 2019
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
worked around the house today… never set foot outside…
did a number of loads of laundry, made zucchini basil soup, sorted through the tax file to be sure everything was there, paid bills online and watched skiing and skating on tv…
when I looked out the back, spotted the bunny… haven’t seen her for a few weeks…
when I looked out the front, got a lovely shot of the sun behind clouds…
snow is melting, even without much sunshine… woo hoo…
23 Saturday Jun 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
been a week filled with soccer…
first game for me this year was last Sunday… celebrated Father’s Day in Charleswood with the middle grandson…
then we went to a game on his 13th birthday on Thursday… he only has one left so I don’t expect to see him play again this year…
this afternoon I went to two games for the youngest… over the games he scored three goals…
between the games they did some speed and accuracy drills, had their team photo taken and ate pizza…
it was a beautiful day to be outside… the sun shone and a gentle wind blew most of the time we were there…
happily made it out twice for each of them, lol…
think that’s it for soccer this year…
05 Saturday May 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
bed, big girl pants, chair, couch, meals, napping, reading, relaxing, sports, spots, three, widow
spent my day basically in three spots…
on a lounge chair, beside the hot tub, reading…
on the couch in the living room with flowers on the table, reading as well…
on the bed, reading, napping, and watching some PVRed shows, track and field and skateboarding…
in between I did manage to make three meals… a fruit smoothie; egg salad on toast with fresh veggies; steak with mushrooms and sweet potato baked fries…
also chatted with my daughters and a couple of my grandsons…
a rather wonderful relaxing day, lol…
10 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
accolades, athletics, big girl pants, dad, enamoured, love of sport, Olympics, sports, widow
someone recently asked why I am so enamoured with the Olympics…
I’ve been thinking about that a bit…
at the time I said I loved to watch all sports… then I noted that I am not as fond of the big team sports… hockey doesn’t really excite me… and curling isn’t my favourite…
I really enjoy watching more individual sports… like all types of skiing and skating… short track skating is very exciting and the new snowboarding categories are fun…
my dad was a great sports fan… he had been quite an athlete in his day but developed a chronic illness during his years in the service so he couldn’t participate in anything as he got older…
he instilled a love of sport in me and I remember attending many events with him… he particularly liked athletics and we would watch running and jumping and pole vaulting… he also liked speed skating…
so maybe when I watch the Olympics I am feeling his presence;-)…
he always cheered on everyone, whether they were a favourite or not… his feeling was that if you did well, you deserved accolades… and even if you didn’t have your optimum performance but tried your best, credit was due…
that is something that has stayed with me to this day… a good performance deserves applause…
been up since around four because that’s when the action starts… such fun…
09 Friday Feb 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
. soup, big girl pants, delicious, excited, moon, Olympics, Pinterest, scoffed, sports, Thai Shrimp, widow
yesterday I packed up a container of Easy Thai Shrimp Soup as it was my day to provide soup for Souper Thursday…
I had saved the recipe to my Pinterest page ages ago, but made it for the first time the night before… with a few changes as I went along…
as I left the house in the morning, I had to put down my bag and take a picture of the beautiful moon in the sky…
the soup was a hit… everyone loved it…
I brought home the last little bit and scoffed it down for my dinner as I watched the start of some of the Olympics, even before the opening ceremonies…
so excited for these next two weeks of sports…
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…
21 Saturday Jan 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
Aschenti Cacao, baking, big girl pants, ChocoSol, Decadence Chocolates, friends, gifts, hot tub, Hummingbird Chocolate, moments, sports, treat, widow
what a wonderful treat today…
watched skating, skiing, snowboarding and a few of my favourite PVRed shows…
then two wonderful women stopped by and we enjoyed some tasty treats…
some of my Christmas baking gifts, chocolate from Hummingbird, ChocoSol, Decadence and Aschenti, and the ever popular raw almonds…
always amazes me what can be found in the cupboard at the last minute, lol…
and we had a lovely hot tub in the plus two degrees Celsius weather…
such fun to share these moments with such special people…
18 Friday Nov 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
athlete, big girl pants, dad, did you have fun, grandson, lesson, sports, veteran, volleyball, widow
spent a good portion of the day thinking about my dad… he was born on November 18… took this photo of a page in Then to Now: The History of La Salle, Manitoba…
like so many veterans, Dad never talked about the war… this article is the most I ever learned about his time in the service…
in his youth he was quite an athlete, and although he struggled with lung issues from the time he returned to Canada, he always loved sports…
I remember going to many events at the arena to watch with him… he encouraged everyone… didn’t matter if they were our team or the other… if someone did something good, he clapped and cheered… and I still do that… what a wonderful life lesson…
a few nights ago I was invited to my grandson’s volleyball game… for the first set he was on the sidelines cheering on his teammates…
later he did a great job serving…
this shot came out kind of cool because he moved so fast, lol…
my dad would have loved watching his great grandchildren play any sport…
it is from him that the most important question I always have for the boys is did you have fun?
27 Saturday Feb 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, lazy, lentils, orchid, plants, red curry paste, skating, sports
lazy day…
spent the day watching sports… some great figure skating and speed skating on… also watched a few cooking shows…
only actual chore I managed was to water my plants… noticed that my amazing orchid, which I bought mid-October, has finally started to drop some of its flowers…
it has bloomed for over four months…
decided to make the red lentil curry for supper… and to double the recipe as the can of tomatoes was twice what I needed… was putting everything together after I cooked all the lentils, only to discover that I had green curry paste not red… oops… so I made it with what I had…
not quite the same but still tasty… a bit more spicy than the red version, lol…
enjoyed it with brown basmati rice, cilantro and brussel sprouts on the side…
