09 Thursday Oct 2025
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cherry tomatoes, cornucopia, gifted, moments, nature, thankful, treat, weather, widow
recently I was gifted a bagful of cherry tomatoes, so I dug out the cornucopia to put them in…
looks very thanksgiving-y…
which makes me think of so much that I am thankful for… health, home, family, friends, which are just a few…
09 Monday Oct 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blessing, garden, moments, nature, pond, sanctuary, space, sun, thankful, weather, widow
I wrote this blog a few weeks ago and today seems like the perfect day to post it… so much to be thankful for;-)…
I’d been sitting on the back deck thinking about what a gift this space is…
it is my own lake/cottage/cabin vacation space… recently, one of the people who come to mow for me, mentioned what a lovely yard it was and how they didn’t think they could stay in the house, lol…
I get teased because most days I put all the chair cushions out and even the decorative cushions, although there will only be me in the garden… but it looks so lovely when everything is set up…
throughout the day I move from area to area as I follow the shade… and, of course, the views are different in each space…
I am loving the hammock chair, which is a replacement for the hammock lounger that I’ve had for a number of years… this new one fits my body much better…
the flowers blooming also make me happy and I enjoy checking to see what has a new bud, or if there is a caterpillar on the parsley or milkweed… listening and watching the birds who stop by for a snack, drink or bath… watching the fish as they swim around in the pond…
and this year, the amazing number of water lily flowers that just keep on popping up and opening throughout the day…
I realize what a blessing this wonderful sanctuary is, and that I have the time to enjoy it;-)…
an all-summer-long vacation;-)…
10 Monday Oct 2022
Posted in family, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, friends, garden, happy, memories, moments, nature, plants, pond, projects, regular, remembering, summer, sun, Technology, thankful, time, widow
so much to be thankful for…
this year my daughter was here in March and my son-in-law in August…
I spent hours in the garden…
met my friends on a regular basis in the garden all summer… previously, we haven’t met very often during that time as everyone was busy…
saw, texted, and spoke on the phone with many friends… made a new one and enjoyed getting to know them…
worked on changes in the vegetable garden… grew peas, beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes…
was visited by monarchs and swallowtails and a beautiful little hummingbird…
enjoyed bouquets of flowers all summer, thanks to a birthday subscription from the kids…
had many projects completed, in the house and the garden…
life is very good…
12 Monday Oct 2020
Posted in family, food, health, life, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, delicious, dinner, duo, family, food, moments, Technology, thankful, widow
yesterday I prepared a lovely chicken dinner, one of my favourite meals… set up a time and had dinner via Google Duo with the kids in Ottawa…
it was delicious… mashed potatoes and cauliflower, turnip, green beans, stuffing, gravy, cranberry jelly and roast chicken… I had tried a few new ways to prepare and everything turned out well… for a change I added mushrooms to the gravy and really enjoyed it…
although it was as much effort as when the family comes over, it felt less stressful as I worked to produce this dinner… and I really enjoyed eating it, lol…
set the table with a leaf tablecloth, a few decorations, and the laptop, lol…
had a great meal together and then I tidied the dining room… after that a nap may have been involved, lol… put away the leftovers and enjoyed my dessert – a chocolate covered caramel from Hummingbird Chocolate…
this morning I started the chicken stock and enjoyed the aroma of soup throughout the day…
08 Monday Oct 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, dinner, family, pictures, prep, thankful, thanksgiving, widow
had fun setting the table over the last few days for Thanksgiving dinner…
spent some time printing pictures of things that I am thankful for… then had some fun making word art…
had a lovely afternoon and delicious dinner with family and a new friend…
everyone has gone, dishwasher is going, soup is on, and I am resting;-)…
07 Saturday Oct 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
today I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of some of the reasons to be thankful…
my health…
family and friends…
work and great colleagues…
a comfortable home and garden…
almost forty-two years of marriage…
I’ve also been appreciating my car and the garage that she gets to live in… George did the majority of the driving, partly because I was happy to be chauffeured, but mostly because he loved to drive…
one of our traditions was to take a drive out of the city to enjoy the colours of the foliage… sad that has fallen by the wayside… still not prepared to drive on the highway, lol…
once I was on my own I had to put on those big girl pants and drive myself places… going in and out was huge, as there is a little jog between the driveway and the garage… every time I went in or out was stressful…
now it is a piece of cake…
had some fun today and made an apple pie for our Thanksgiving dinner, which is a rare occurrence… George was the pie maker and I’m thinking he would be proud of me… looks good, fingers crossed that it tastes good too…
07 Friday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, ChefsPlate, flowers, Starbuck's, thankful, thanksgiving, Toruk, widow
more lovely blossoms in the living room this morning…
headed out, met my daughter at Starbucks and then we went and found fresh turkeys for our dinners… they are coming here on Sunday and they are having a dinner for my son-in-law’s family on Monday at their house…
made zucchini-cheese soup, pretty tasty…
later we went to see Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK… it was wonderful…
this one had a narrator which helped everyone understand the story… the last one we saw was a bit confusing, lol…
came home and made the second meal from my #ChefsPlate box…
delicious…but I am certainly using more pots and bowls…
missing my beloved a lot over the last few days… guess it is the whole thanksgiving thing…
I am so thankful for the years we had together…
10 Saturday Oct 2015
Posted in health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized
spent time in the garden today…
first thing was emptying the hot tub…
takes quite a while to drain…
then, while it filled, I emptied pots and baskets… also cut back, and cleaned off the dahlia tubers as I prepped the garden for winter, sigh…
brought in the last of the flowers and blooms from the dahlias… hope they continue to bloom like the canna has…
put out a few Thanksgiving decorations, set the table for Monday’s dinner, and watched some tv…
made stuffing… tomorrow I will prepare the vegetables, which makes it much more relaxing on Monday…
I looked out the window at one point and the light looked odd so I ran downstairs and checked the front and back windows…
the sky was spectacular…
out the back…
through the front… just a few minutes later this is what I saw…
have been blessed to have caught so many gorgeous views of the sky in the last while…
so much to be thankful for…
09 Friday Oct 2015
Tags
Assiniboine Park, big girl pants, datura, garden, greenhouses, leaves, thankful, voted
spent a fair bit of time outdoors today…
had some folks over to pick up an old treadmill from the basement, and mow and whippersnip the grass… they did a great job…
when they were done, I walked over to the community club and voted before taking a walk to, and around, the Gardens at the Park…
leaves were everywhere as I walked and the paths in the Park were covered as well…
the gardeners have been busy in both the Gardens… they were moving some of the large daturas to the greenhouses…
most of the beds have been emptied and tidied up for the winter…
spent time sitting and admiring some of the colourful leaves…
this one landed right on my leg…
made me face the fact that I need to spend some time tidying up in my garden, lol…
been thinking a lot about all the things that I am thankful for and certainly one of them is this beautiful park…
19 Wednesday Feb 2014
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
this morning, when I arrived at work, I took a picture of the street beside the office…
I wanted to show it to my driving buddy who is currently in a warm climate…
for the majority of the winter we have been driving on snow-covered, rutted, icy roads that have made every trip to and from the office stressful…
on the way downtown I had been enjoying the beautiful sky, filled with very lovely clouds… and the roads which had no snow, ice, or ruts… it was quite a treat…
I continue to look for something every day to be thankful for… often the sky will be the day’s first item… other times it might be the sun shining on the snow, often glittering with diamonds…
finding something special to be thankful for is a great way to start the day…
herbiggirlpants 