29 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, cat, garden, moments, nature, pond, Raven, squirrels, tell, water, waterfall, widow
Raven the cat stopped by for a visit to supervise as we were working on the pond waterfall……
the only problem is that the squirrels yell for most of the time, lol…
happily, the waterfall is running again…
11 Thursday Sep 2025
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, contaminants, fish, fish tanks, goldfish, koi, moments, pond, project, pumps, water, weather, widow
finally got around to filling the fish tanks yesterday…
the process took over an hour, as each tank had to be filled and then the pump was cleaned, plugged in and turned on…
I was pleased as after each pump was cleaned, it started up without any issues…
now the pumps will run for three or four weeks before any fish come inside, to be sure that the water has no chlorine or other contaminants in it…
happy this piece of work is done and I don’t have to think about the fish coming inside until much later;-)… woohoo…
09 Tuesday Sep 2025
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, buds, falling, fish, food, friend, friends, garden, happy, hibiscus, leaves, lunch, moments, nature, pond, soaking, wasps, water, weather, widow
another delightful day in the garden, especially after the last number of cool and overcast days…
spotted a hibiscus blossom, so that was a treat…
next, I went into the pond to clean out the pump… the leaves have been falling like crazy and there were a ton in the water… once the pump has been cleaned out, the waterfall always flows beautifully…
all the cushions went out and a dear friend arrived with lunch… we ate inside as the wasps are very busy in the garden…
we moved outside and had a lovely time by the pond catching up on life…
after she left, I read in the garden for the remainder of the day;-)…
soaking up every minute possible in this sanctuary…
08 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
barely, big girl pants, blessed, buds, friends, garden, moments, pond, summer, time, water, water lily, weather, widow
lovely afternoon in the garden…
spotted a new bud coming up on the water lily, even though the first flower barely opened due to the cold weather, sigh…
and then spent a great time with my buddies as we enjoyed the beautiful summer day;-)…
28 Thursday Aug 2025
Posted in business, garden, health, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, garden, moments, nature, plants, terrace, The Leaf, walk, water, water feature, widow
this warm sunny morning, as I was walking up to the Leaf, I took a quick walk through the new water terrace which is located just outside the front area, between the Leaf and the Gardens at the Leaf…
I am looking forward to a longer visit next time I am there…
there are no fish, but the frogs have already made it their home;-)…
and look at the size of these pumpkins in the Kitchen Garden;-)…
27 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cleaning, garden, gunk, moments, nature, pond, pump, refreshing, water, waterfall, weather, widow
yesterday I climbed into the pond and cleaned the pump…
it always makes a huge difference to the flow of the waterfall when all the gunk is pulled out;-)…
I can hear the change in the power of the water as I am cleaning…
then I sat for a few minutes with my legs in the water… it was refreshing…
13 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
attempts, big girl pants, blessed, blocks, friends, garden, grandson, leaking, meltdown, moments, new liner, pond, rocks, Technology, time, water, waterfall, widow
the work on the pond waterfall area started in early June… when the first two fixes didn’t work we moved on to more serious attempts…
the water in the upper pond was removed, and all the gunk was vacuumed out…
a group of three attempted to lift out the waterfall rock… unfortunately, it broke in the process… one of us might have had a meltdown;-(…
next the remaining blocks were removed and a new liner was installed… then the blocks were put back in… a bit of a puzzle to remember where each one went, lol… possibly they should have been numbered;-)…
the next step involved filling cracks with foam and gluing down some of the rocks…
with help from a friend the main piece of the waterfall rock was carefully lowered back into its spot…
it took three of us, but the three pieces of the waterfall rock were joined together with special rock cement and we waited a week for it to cure…
then the flat rock portion was glued down and left to cure…
next the hose was put down inside the liner and the waterfall spillway was placed back into the waterfall rock… there were a lot of crossed fingers at that point…
finally, on Sunday night, August 10th the waterfall was turned on…
it was too late for a good picture, so this one was taken the next morning…
there is no leaking 🤪…
a great job by my housemate and various friends throughout the process as issues arose and heat and rain caused stoppages…
what a treat to hear the water running and not have to worry about adding water all the time;-)…
17 Thursday Jul 2025
Posted in business, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
APC, big girl pants, blessed, koi, learning, moments, nature, pond, professionals, The Leaf, tropical biome, water, widow
had a lovely few minutes in the Tropical Biome watching one of the animal care professionals feeding the koi ;-)…
they check on the fish a few times each day to feed, as well as count, them and do a quick overview to make sure they are all doing well…
it is always great to spend a few minutes and learn something new at each opportunity;-)…
05 Saturday Jul 2025
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, English Garden, frogs, garden, Leo Mol Garden, lily pond, moments, nature, pond, volunteer, walk, water, water lilies, weather, widow, yellow warblers
spent a morning in the English Gardens…
before I started my shift, I took photos of the water lilies and frogs in the Leo Mol lily pond…
as a volunteer, I walked around welcoming visitors, taking photos for them, and visiting with some of the guests…
I also saw many birds, particularly yellow warblers, that were flitting through the garden…
as I was leaving, it was great fun to watch a staff person catching frogs from the water lily pond and then moving them to the bigger, natural pond…
there was concern that the shallow water in the lily pond could be a detriment to their health on these hot days…
glad I got my photos when I did;-)…
12 Thursday Jun 2025
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, clover, flowerbed, garden, grass, happy, Hilda the Gardener, lily of the valley, moments, nature, plants, poppies, tidy, water, weather, widow
Hilda the Gardener spent a few hours on Wednesday afternoon tidying up the garden…
now that the poppies are finished blooming, she removed the ones that were in the walkway and cut back the ones in the flowerbed…
the other plants in that bed are visible and will likely spread out a bit more…
she also removed the lily of the valley from a section of the side garden…
the columbine are taking over but it looks fabulous… and the peas are moving up the arch at an astounding speed…
everything is doing well, including the clover and grass that we put down a few weeks ago…
I will be very happy when I don’t have to water it every day, lol…
herbiggirlpants 