25 Monday Aug 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
around, bench, big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, growing, moments, morning glories, nature, plants, surprise, vine, weather, widow
the other day I posted about the morning glory that had grown through a space in the back of the bench on the deck…
I was hoping that the vine would have flowers on the front of the bench;-)…
today I looked carefully and discovered this, lol…
it went around the 2×4 and back out on the same side…
too funny;-)…
12 Wednesday Feb 2025
14 Thursday Nov 2024
Posted in family, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cacao trees, daughter, doorbell, family, koi, moments, nature, ring, surprise, Technology, The Leaf, time, treat, widow, Yasuragi
what a wonderful surprise I received this morning;-)…
as I was taking my poached eggs out of the water, I heard the doorbell ring… I was expecting a parcel so wasn’t surprised, but when I opened the door, my daughter was standing in front of me…
she had come to town to attend a concert with one of her friends and had planned to include a day with me;-)…
what a super treat…
we quickly booked a trip to The Leaf so she could see her beloved cacao trees… we had a great time there, checking out the trees, watching the koi, and realizing how much growth has taken place since we were last there together in June…
she was able to get a few nice shots of the koi which she shared with me.
we enjoyed time in the Yasuragi display and read up on all the bonsai, including new ones which hadn’t been there the last time I visited… the stories behind them are very interesting…
spent a few minutes with the butterflies…
it is sad that they are still in the netted enclosure and not flying freely around the space…
one last wander to see the cacao trees and koi, a bit of fun in the gift shop, and then we headed home…
some relaxing time together and then I dropped her off at the airport to head home…
I am blessed;-)…
06 Wednesday Nov 2024
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
almost-open, big girl pants, blessed, bloom, blossom, flowers, food, hibiscus, mandevilla, moments, nature, plants, surprise, treat, widow
in the process of moving the hibiscus and mandevilla, an almost-open bloom fell off…
the next morning I discovered that it was starting to open, even though it was laying in the dirt…
I grabbed it and put it in water and then spent the day watching as it opened and then began to close…
what a lovely treat…
I also found at least five buds on the plant… can hardly wait to see more flowers…
29 Thursday Aug 2024
Posted in moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, close, Cooper’s, garden, hawk, moments, nature, surprise, visit, widow
was on the deck reading last evening when a Cooper’s Hawk flew onto the ledge about six feet in front of me…
moved too fast for me to get a photo, but this is where it was…
it flew to the top of the garage, sat there for a few minutes, and then on to the neighbour’s yard…
hope the little birds are okay…
07 Wednesday Aug 2024
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, corms, dahlias, flowers, garden, happy, hues, Lilystone Gardens, moments, nature, pink, plants, purple, surprise, treat, weather, white, widow
I have been so excited…
for a number of years, I’ve been overwintering dahlia corms, but haven’t had tons of luck… sometimes I know what they are and other times they are a surprise when they get put away…
one white one has proven very prolific and it has produced at least a dozen blooms so far this year in three different pots…
these are about the size of my palm…
a delightful feathery one that I purchased last year at Lilystone Gardens has come back nicely and has a number of blooms and buds in one pot…
each bloom is bigger than my hand…
these have all been white so I was particularly excited to see one come up in a pot that looked like it was pinky/purple…
it is a bit smaller than the white pompom-looking ones, but stands out in all its pink and purple hues…
nature is so amazing…
07 Sunday Jul 2024
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
11 Tuesday Jun 2024
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeders, blessed, deer, discourage, food, hostas, lane, moments, nature, pictures, snacking, surprise, widow, wildlife, window
Sunday morning I saw a deer in the field across the creek… I pointed it out to my neighbours so a couple of them went over to watch it…
apparently it had been eating their hostas…
later in the day we had a visitor at the bird feeder…
I had wondered why the seeds in one feeder had gone down so quickly, lol… eventually I opened the door and it headed across to the lane and out of sight…
today I was looking out the window only to see it back again…
as it came to the feeder I knocked on the window but it didn’t care… finally I opened the door to encourage it to leave the birdseed alone… and off it went…
I’m happy to see wildlife but don’t want to encourage eating of sunflower seeds… I may have to bring the feeders in for a few days to discourage the snacking…
21 Tuesday Nov 2023
Posted in family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, F1, family, Formula One, fun, Las Vegas, moments, night, race, snack, surprise, weather, widow
I had a nap in the afternoon and went to bed a little early Saturday night so I could get up to watch the F1 race from Las Vegas… usually the races are much earlier in the day, but this was a night race…
set my alarm for midnight and got up without a problem…
found a snack and drink and curled up in bed to watch the race…
stayed awake the entire time and enjoyed the action…
then I may have slept in a bit, lol…
26 Tuesday Sep 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Coprinus comatus, fungi, grass, moments, mushrooms, nature, rain, shaggy, surprise, Technology, weather, widow
was surprised when we got home from voting to discover a row of mushrooms along the edge of the lawn…
they have a number of names – got this from Wikipedia:
Coprinus comatus, commonly known as the shaggy ink cap, lawyer’s wig, or shaggy mane, is a common fungus often seen growing on lawns, along gravel roads and waste areas.
when they are new, they are these adorable little white cylinders… maybe where they got the lawyers’ wig name…
then they turn into these rather not-so-pretty versions… the shaggy ink cap…
no plans to eat them, lol…
herbiggirlpants 