08 Monday Jan 2024
Posted in life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buddies, coffee, cookies, friends, gather, holidays, moments, pistachios, time, widow
had a great time with my buddies…
we usually meet every week, but over the holidays we didn’t gather, so I was very happy to see them today;-)…
had a fun time preparing the coffee, setting out pistachios and digging out some cookies to share…
we always have a good time when we gather…
excellent start to the new year…
27 Wednesday Dec 2023
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, computer, difficulties, early, family, food, gifts, leftovers, moments, relaxed, Technology, time, widow
had a quiet and relaxed day on Christmas…
got up late for me, about eight;-)… made tea and watched a Christmas movie while I had my breakfast and waited for the Ottawa family to contact me…
after some technical difficulties, we had a lovely visit and opened presents;-)… technology really is an amazing thing…
after saying goodbye to them, I got the chicken into the oven and may have watched another Christmas movie, lol…
my grandson arrived home from one set of parents, we opened gifts, and had a lovely lunch…
then he was off to visit the other set of parents and I may have had a nap…
tv shows and leftovers took up the rest of the day…
25 Monday Dec 2023
Posted in business, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buddies, car trouble, friends, gifts, happy, moments, Olympia Diner, process, restaurant, time, treat, widow
on Wednesday I had a lovely lunch with my BS buddies… we went to the Olympia Diner and had delicious food, lots of laughs and shared great stories…
it was quite the process for us all to get there as car trouble caused a bit of excitement, but eventually we all made it…
the food is always tasty and the portions are large… I had spanakopita, with lemon potatoes and Caesar salad, and had leftovers for the next day…
parcels were exchanged (which will be opened on Christmas), and one gift was our lunch… a lovely treat…
we always try to get a holiday photo and our waitperson took a number of photos to be sure we had a good one…
these women are so important to me and such a gift;-)…
21 Thursday Dec 2023
Posted in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dinner, family, grandson, grandsons, happy, moments, time, treat, visit, widow, wishlist
one of the items on my Christmas wishlist was a visit from my grandsons, so I was excited on Sunday to prep for their visit…
had fun setting the table all fancy for our dinner…
I haven’t seen them since the summer so this was a great treat…
it was fun to watch them open their Christmas presents after dinner…
thanks to the oldest for making this happen;-)…
27 Monday Nov 2023
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, decorations, disco, enjoy, memories, moments, purple, reduce, reindeer, silver, slowly, snow people, snowflakes, time, tree, widow
the Christmas boxes came out from under the staircase last Sunday… the goal is to reduce the size of the collection as each box is gone through…
Monday, the snow people were moved into the den… they look very cute in there… none were disposed of…
Tuesday, a great number of glass balls were hung in the dining room window… this involved separating ones which had been hung together previously and then hanging them individually… took some time, but came out nicely I think…
Wednesday, more ornaments were put up with the pottery and some of the most beautiful ones were hung on the dining room chandelier…
Thursday was about reindeer and sleighs… and even some snowflakes…
Friday involved the tree… it is filled with purple, silver and glittery ornaments… quite different from my usual choices…
there are lots of little disco balls on it and the ceiling and walls were quite sparkly as the sun shines through the window;-)…
I have been enjoying the process of focussing on one item each day and taking my time completing the decorating…
I did decide to give away some blue and red ornaments and a few wreaths, lol…
way to go me;-)…
22 Wednesday Nov 2023
Posted in business, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, dining room, flowers, happy, moments, nature, newest, orchid, plants, time, widow
so happy to see new tiny buds on all of the orchids on the dining room table…
it was an exciting surprise to see the newest buds on the one plant that hadn’t had a new stalk…
looking forward to some blooms around Christmas…
19 Sunday Nov 2023
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, birthday, blessed, dad, family, father, memories, moments, remembering, special, Technology, time, widow
I don’t always remember, but first thing yesterday I realized it would have been my dad’s birthday…
my father was a special person and although he’s been gone a very long time, I still miss him…
a bit later in the day his picture came up in my Facebook memories…
this photo was taken not too long before his death…
11 Saturday Nov 2023
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cancer, family, memories, moments, mother, remembering, Remembrance Day, strong, time, widow, WREN, WWII
I’ve been thinking of my mom a lot in the last few days…
she spent the last months of her life at Princess Elizabeth Hospital, in the final stages of esophageal cancer…
I was blessed with the time to be able to spend those final days with her…
they were hard but so important…
she was a WREN during WWII, a survivor of mental illness, a caregiver for her husband, a poet, a proud Legion and Army and Navy member, and a participant in the organizing of the Women’s War Memorial by the Legislature…
she was strong, but it took me many years to really understand that;-)…
30 Monday Oct 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, breaking, cold, fish, garden, goldfish, grandson, ice, moments, nature, plants, pond, pumps, snow, time, water, weather, widow, winter
Saturday, late in the afternoon, after breaking the ice on the pond, we caught twenty-one of the goldfish…
the pond water was filled with leaves and was rather brown and murky…
it was quite the job as, at one point, my grandson went into it barefoot with his pants rolled up to cut down the water lilies and grasses (I think it was about -12°C in the air)…
but that really helped catch a bunch of them that had been hiding under the lily leaves… they were moving slower in the cold, but still snuck out of the net… also, some of the catching was in the dark, lol…
then they sat in pails in the house for hours before getting moved into the three tanks…
we were careful to be sure to keep size and numbers similar in the tanks so that there is sufficient space for all of them…
we thought we had them all, but on Sunday we discovered five more, woohoo…
now, the pumps have been removed from the pond, and it is apparently going into the winter with water in it, lol…
28 Saturday Oct 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, colours, home, look out, memorable, moments, nature, photos, sky, time, weather, widow, window
the sky today has been a beautiful canvas of colour and light…
woke up and saw this gorgeous view… had to run back and get my iPhone so I could take a few pictures…
this was just after eight am;-)…
and tonight around seven pm…
both memorable;-)… what a treat to spend a few moments enjoying the beauty…
herbiggirlpants 