04 Friday Jul 2025
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
33°C, big girl pants, blessed, clouds, hot, moments, nature, pink, sky, Technology, weather, widow
it was a hot one…
right now, at 9:50 pm, the temperature is 28°C and feels like 33°C…
looked out the window to see these beautiful clouds;-)…
and just a few minutes later, they were gone…
so happy when I catch a lovely moment;-)…
30 Monday Jun 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
appointment, big girl pants, blessed, blood pressure, bp, doctor, moments, readings, Technology, widow
was back seeing my doctor today…
my blood pressure medicine was increased a month ago, so the doctor wanted to see how it was doing and didn’t want to wait three months till my next usual appointment…
the only side effect to the increase in the meds had been being exceptionally tired for a week or so…
I’d been taking bp readings since the change and the numbers had been good, so I wasn’t worried…
the numbers were also good in the office…
I mentioned a text I’d received at the end of May recommending a covid booster, but I hadn’t heard anything more…
but apparently, today was the last day to receive the phyzer booster… they still had some in the office, so I got it… the next one will be in the fall around the same time as the flu shot…
hoping not to have any side effects;-)…
27 Friday Jun 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, bird feeder, blessed, ferns, garden, memories, moments, nature, Technology, virginia creeper, widow, woodbine
it is always interesting when I see memories of the garden come up…
this one was from six years ago…
there were lots more ferns and the virginia creeper (which is also known as woodbine) hadn’t filled up the entire wall of the garage… I had a hanging basket and the same bird feeder…
this is a photo I took today of the same area…
you can see that the virginia creeper has filled in completely, but also that most of the ferns have been moved… although it is the same bird feeder, it now has a plastic bottom as the original metal one rusted through…
fun to see the changes over time…
18 Wednesday Jun 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
APC, Assiniboine Park Conservancy, big girl pants, blessed, learning, moments, nature, orientation, process, Technology, The Leaf, volunteer part 1, widow, zoo
for quite some time my family have been encouraging me to volunteer at The Leaf…
I considered it and eventually decided to apply… the application process begins in March and starts with an online form… I still find it difficult to talk about my qualities…
after a few weeks I was invited to register for an in-person meeting, which I did… I got a message two days before the actual meeting time saying they were expecting me that morning, about 40 minutes from when the email arrived… yikes… thankfully I called and was told the email was an error and my appointment was when I expected… took a few moments for my heart to settle down, lol…
I arrived for the meeting right on time and had a lovely half hour with a volunteer who shared information and also asked a few questions… it was interesting to learn about some of the opportunities that are available…
next was an email with four modules to review and then register for an in-person orientation…
the four online modules were informative and straightforward and once they were completed, I signed up for a three-hour orientation to take place somewhere at APC…
the first one was cancelled due to illness, so I ended up at one a few weeks later… we met in one of the zoo camp classrooms…
there were twenty of us in the class and we learned together in small and large groups… it was a great opportunity to meet with others who wanted to help out as volunteers…
after nine more hours of training, I will be an APC volunteer…
part 2 to come;-)…
15 Sunday Jun 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bibs, big girl pants, blessed, Charleswood Rotary Club, delicious, dinner, fixings, food, friends, fun, garden, housemate, lobster, moments, party, pond, relax, rest, Rotary, sunset, Technology, time, weather, widow
Friday was a delightful day… the sun shone and the temperature rose to 25°C…
throughout the day, I prepped for a dinner party… between organizing and setting the table on the deck, there were plenty of opportunities to sit, read, and relax…
preparing a space or food for special people is always enjoyable for me as I think about those who I am doing this work for and how important they are to me…
for this gathering, it was mainly about making the space comfortable and considering what dishes we would need as the food was being picked up from a Charleswood Rotary fundraiser…
they provided a whole lobster, baked potato, fresh bun, coleslaw, brownie, small bottle of wine, with a bib and a lobster fork;-)… each person received a shopping bag with all of the goodies in it… I added a few fixings for the potatoes, warm facecloths with lemon for our fingers, and garlic butter in warmers…
once the food was warmed up, we had a lesson in how to eat the whole crustacean… I was a bit slow, lol, so had to keep having information repeated…
the weather was perfect, well, except that the wind kept blowing out some of the butter warmers… lots of conversation and story telling kept us busy throughout the meal…
my housemate took the requisite group photo which he was happy to do (and not be in) before we spent time around the pond…
happily, the fish came out for a short visit before returning to their favourite spot under the bridge…
and before you knew it, everyone headed off into the sunset;-)…
08 Sunday Jun 2025
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, fountain, garden, grandson, moments, nature, peeling, planter, purple, sander, Technology, weather, widow
finally used my housemate’s electric sander to remove the majority of the peeling blue paint from what had been a fountain…
eventually it turned into a planter, but started peeling like crazy…
it has been sitting under the deck, where I could ignore it, for quite some time…
didn’t take too long once I got going to sand it down so it can be painted…
I do love purple, but the sun changes it to blue over time… still not quite sure what colour it is going to be… hmmm…
06 Friday Jun 2025
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, bleeding hearts, blessed, blooming, flowers, iris, moments, nature, Technology, walk, weather, widow, wild rose, yesterday
saw some lovely flowers on my walk yesterday…
such a treat to see so many;-)…
and when I arrived home, the wild rose was blooming…
04 Wednesday Jun 2025
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, brakes, car, family, garage, happy, Indi, moments, service station, Sturgeon Automotive, Technology, Uber, widow
my housemate took the car in this morning for new front brakes… we are trying out a garage that a friend recommended…
it took about four hours and then we got the call it was ready…
he had gone to work, so I ordered my first Uber to go and pick it up…
it came in about three minutes, was clean, and the driver was dressed professionally… seven minutes got me there…
the estimate and final bill for the new brakes matched and the car drives well… the brakes don’t feel any different…
happy to have found this new service station which is closer than Toyota;-)…
03 Tuesday Jun 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clean, garden, gunk, moments, nature, plants, ponds, pumps, Technology, weather, widow
did some work on the small pond pumps, which are used to move the water in the bathtub pond and add more oxygen in the main pond…
climbed into the pond and brought the pump onto the edge of the deck and cleaned out all the gunk that was in it and then put it back into the pond…
brought up the second pump and after climbing into the bathtub pond, got it set in the correct spot so it wouldn’t send the water out of the pond… then it was turned on and that pond was topped up…
now there won’t be any issues with mosquitoes and I’m going to add a few more plants to that one…
the garden is coming along nicely…
28 Wednesday May 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
arborist, big girl pants, blessed, cold, gardens, moments, nature, plants, Technology, The Leaf, tree, weather, widow
had a surprise visit to The Leaf last week…
I was supposed to meet my adventure buddy for a walk around the English and Leo Mol Gardens… it was cold and windy and I may not have had the warmest clothes on, lol…
I walked over and found a tree trunk down across the path between the walking bridge and the entrance to the Gardens…
reported it to one of the gardeners who was working close to the entrance and they were going to notify the arborist…
once we met up, we decided to walk around The Leaf instead;-)… got the tickets online as we drove over and headed in…
it looked as though the gardeners had done a big pruning job and made a bit of space around the Tropical Biome… views of the water had been trimmed up nicely…
I often take photos of the same things, lol…
fun time, as always;-)…
herbiggirlpants 