10 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
amazing, big girl pants, blessed, bloom, flowers, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, open, time, treat, watched, weather, widow
the blue morning glories have taken off;-)…
yesterday I sat in the garden and watched three of them bloom over half an hour…
it is quite spectacular to almost see them opening as you watch…
01 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
55th, anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, garden, giggles, leaking, love, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, pond, remembering, squirrels, time, widow
today I’ve been giggling over a couple of things as I remember 42 years together, on what should have been our 55th wedding anniversary…
first thing I wandered the garden and took pictures of the morning glories…
some, where they were planted, and some that have just found a spot they like, lol…
I remember my beloved bringing me pictures of the ones blooming in the garden each day when he came to visit me in hospital around our fortieth anniversary…
he was just getting used to the camera on his phone, so it was a big deal for him to take the time to take pictures of flowers…
the second thing is the pond…
it has been leaking for ages, but only when the waterfall is running…
we had the leaking problem for a year or so before he died and it was driving him crazy, trying to figure out the problem…
finally, as I was reading on the back deck, two red squirrels were having a battle over one of the feeders… he and squirrels never got on, so it was funny to have them yelling at each other today…
16 Wednesday Jul 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, camera, eggs, fields, flowers, friend, fun, garden, happy, Miss Millie’s Flower Farm, moments, mug, nature, Nikon, picking, plants, time, weather, widow
this morning we drove to Miss Millie’s Flower Farm and had a lovely time in the fields…
my adventure buddy gathered flowers, and I gathered photographs with my Nikon… great fun for both of us…
of the 125 photos I took, I was very pleased with about 75…
the weather was perfect, overcast and cool, and there were few bugs… we had been there in August of 2022 and the mosquitoes had been voracious at that time…
the fields were not as far along due to the weather but it is a beautiful place to spend time in… so happy I remembered that taking pictures was more fun for me than gathering flowers;-)… and nice to get the camera out for a change;-)…
I also brought home some fresh eggs and a new tea mug (Sugar & Spice Pottery);-)…
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;-)…
28 Monday Apr 2025
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, connected, empty and fill, filter, garden, hot tub, moments, pump, Technology, time, water, weather, widow
it was time to change the water and filter in the hot tub…
once I brought out the pump and connected it to the hose, I started the process at 10:20 am… twelve minutes later the pump came out and I emptied the last little bit of water with a pail and cloth… that took another twenty minutes…
once the new filter was in, I brought out the hose from the basement, repaired a piece of it, and hooked it back up to the outside tap…
filling the tub took about an hour and a half and just after 1 pm, the electricity was back on and the heating up process began…
it took just over a day to heat to 103°C…
08 Tuesday Apr 2025
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, clouds, flying, geese, moments, nature, sky, Technology, time, weather, widow
the sky was beautiful this morning when I looked out the window first thing…
a few minutes later I got another view…
the clouds were very interesting…
a bit later I watched geese flying low overhead as they headed out for a meal;-)… they were moving quickly and my phone was in my pocket…
but it is also great to just watch them and not worry about capturing a photo;-)…
the sky is so wonderful…
13 Thursday Mar 2025
Posted in business, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butt, documents, email, help, moments, portal, taxes, Technology, time, widow
today’s project was to get all the tax documents gathered, scanned, and uploaded to the accountant portal…
seemed like a simple piece of work, but…
that business of changing my email address keeps biting me in the butt…
because it was changed, and currently, my new email isn’t available on the main computer, it involved a number of phone calls to get help…
eventually I was able to get into the portal, and after scanning all of the documents, upload everything…
I am always so pleased when everything is completed and on its way…
now to wait to hear back from them…
09 Sunday Mar 2025
Posted in life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
automatically, big girl pants, blessed, electronics, light, manually, moments, Technology, time, time change, weather, widow
sprang forward this morning, lol…
it is so much easier these days… most electronics in the house automatically change…
now the only items I have to change are the stove, microwave, coffee pot, and grandparent clock…
I didn’t mind the process even before then because it was simple to change a phone, or anything else, by moving it forward, unlike changing it backwards in the Fall…
05 Wednesday Mar 2025
Posted in family, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beloved, big girl pants, blessed, death, family, grumpy, love, March, moments, remembering, time, weather, whacked, widow
I’ve been a bit off, and grumpy, for the last little while, and it wasn’t until I was talking with my daughter that I realized the cause…
I hadn’t been paying much attention to the calendar as most of the time feels like Saturday or Sunday now that I am retired, lol…
it has been thirteen years to the day since my beloved passed…
feels a bit like it snuck up on me although in the past month I have had several dreams about finding him in the hospital with a disconnected breathing tube in his mouth… no one had told me he was dead…
seems strange that after all this time I can still be whacked with the grief…
the good news is that once I figure out what has been causing the discomfort, it usually passes and I am able to move forward in a more positive frame of mind…
I don’t forget him, but can get back to remembering all of the wonderful times we had together and make new memories of the wonderful life that I do have…
this photo of trees is one of the last I took with him… we had taken a drive through the park to see the hoarfrost…
so many wonderful memories;-)…
27 Monday Jan 2025
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
all-the-things, big girl pants, blessed, family, happy, making memories, moments, time, week, widow
began Saturday morning with my usual cup of tea in the living room…
the house was very quiet after all the activity over the week…
Monday, my group attended The Leaf and Gather Craft Kitchen & Bar to celebrate a birthday and view the Fleurs de Villes display, so that was a busy day…
it was nearly midnight when we picked up my daughter at the airport and we stayed up late (early!) catching up and eating Baked Expectations deadly chocolate mousse…
Tuesday we went for pedicures, stopped for lunch at a local coffee shop, picked up a few groceries and then returned home… I also learned the ins-and-outs of Uber… my housemate made us a delicious supper and lots of visiting happened…
Wednesday, we went to The Leaf and spent the entire day there doing all-the-things as she would say… in the evening she went to MTC with a friend while I took it easy, lol…
Thursday, after a quiet morning, she headed to The Forks for coffee with other family and later my middle grandson arrived for a visit and supper;-)…
Friday, we started our morning at Stella’s on Portage for breakfast and then spent four hours wandering through the WAG/Quamajuq… it was my first visit since the new addition and I was impressed with how great it turned out…
every day she brought out gifts for me🤗, what a treat…
it was a wonderful week and I enjoyed every single minute…
herbiggirlpants 