24 Wednesday May 2023
Posted in health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, blossoms, covered, flowers, garden, lilacs, moments, nature, scent, trees, walk, weather, widow
had a lovely walk on Tuesday;-)…
spotted lilacs everywhere I went, and enjoyed the scent…
and also saw a beautiful tree covered in white blossoms…
and finally spotted one of the mallard families;-)…
21 Sunday May 2023
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beefsteak, big girl pants, blessed, dahlias, flowers, garden, happy, iPhone, Jonathan’s Farm, Lily Stone Garden, moments, morning glories, plants, Technology, tomatoes, veggies, weather, widow
Saturday was another glorious day in the garden…
and I started planting… yay… I added compost and fresh soil to the veggie gardens and then planted seeds as well as a pepper, some squash, cucumber and the beefsteak tomatoes… the seedlings came from Jonathan’s Farm and were in great shape…
excited to see if anything grows up and over the arch…
brought out the dahlia tubers and got them into planters as well as the new dahlia that I got from Lily Stone Gardens… it has been growing very fast… and finally put in a number of the morning glory seedlings that have been growing in the house…
20 Saturday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bathtub, bathtub pond, big girl pants, blessed, cushions, garden, hammock chair, happy, moments, perfect, pump, screws, umbrella, weather, widow, working
Friday was a beautiful semi-warm and sunny day…
I spent some time reading on the upper deck and when it warmed up a bit I found the screws for the hammock, removed the umbrella, laid the whole thing down, and attached all four legs tightly… put everything back together and then added a couple of cushions to the hammock chair and it is now perfect;-)… I may have had a short nap in it while taking a break from reading…
I am very happy as the shape of this chair is much more comfortable than the previous one… I think it will get more use, but we shall see…
a little later, I used the fishnet in the bathtub pond to clean out all the dead water hyacinths from last year… then I brought out the wet-vac and sucked out the dead leaves and water… next I put together the pieces for the new pump and set it into the pond… after filling it up, turned on the pump and it worked… yay…
now it is burbling nicely…
feels like I got quite a bit done;-)…
19 Friday May 2023
Posted in food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunny, burbling, garden, goldfinch, happy, home, moments, nature, pond, quiet, Technology, water, weather, widow
early Tuesday morning I was sitting on the back deck, listening to the burbling of the pond, as a bunny came right up next to me… we chatted, well I chatted and the bunny twitched its nose for a few minutes, before it hopped away… pleased that it felt comfortable as I sat there reading quietly… well, maybe it didn’t notice me, lol…
reminded me of how truly blessed I am… and what a wonderful life I lead…that I can sit in the sunshine and shade in my garden and enjoy the nature around me – the birds, and squirrels, and bunnies, and bees – every day that I want…
and while I was there, to hear about the ducklings that hatched yesterday, and today crossed a busy street with their momma, (protected by two different people families) in Ottawa to find a swimming pool to start the next portion of their journey…
later in the day I stood up from a chair on the upper deck and spotted a goldfinch at the feeder… it flitted about nervously for a few moments and then, when it felt safe, called its partner to come and eat… they were happy for a while, until a squirrel came and chased them away…
if I hadn’t stood up at just that moment I would have missed them… a lovely treat…
made chicken soup from the leftovers of Sunday’s dinner and tested out a few new purchases which arrived at the door…
nice…
18 Thursday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bag, big girl pants, blessed, garden, hammock, happy, moments, newsletter, rain, shed, weather, widow
it was early Wednesday morning and I was working on a newsletter job I have when the doorbell rang…
so excited to discover it was the hammock chair I had ordered…
I went out to the shed and dug around for the hammock stand that I already have…
with a bit of a struggle I got it together, managed to add the umbrella, and then hooked on the chair…
my neighbour found a big plastic bag for me that I will use when it is going to rain… it doesn’t say it can’t get wet, but I think it will last longer if it doesn’t get rained on…
I did sit in it for a few minutes, but will feel better when the screws (which I found in the garage) are into the bottom legs, lol…
16 Tuesday May 2023
Posted in business, family, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
beautiful, big girl pants, blessed, connections, cushions, deck, family, fence, fish, food, friends, garden, meals, Merlin App, moments, most, nature, neighbours, pond, sound, sparrows, Technology, time, weather, widow
Sunday, spent the entire day in the garden… it was warm and sunny…
set out all the chair cushions and even brought out the decorative ones…
then, most of the fish came outside… a few just wouldn’t be caught, lol… apparently a project for another day…
tea, reading, and bird watching took up a good part of the day… I am loving the sound portion of my Merlin App… it has come in especially helpful for me to identify the many sparrows that come and go…
White-Crowned, White-Throated, Harris’s, Song, and Chipping Sparrows have all been around for the last week or so…
checked out the fence with the little person and his daddy on one side, as I contemplate the style of the new fence that is in the works, and had tea and snacks with the ones on the other side… they enjoy sitting by the pond and the sound of the running water…
ate all my meals on the deck, breakfast and lunch on the back, and supper on the upper…
phone calls, emails, in-person visits, and text messages came throughout the day…
truly, I am blessed;-)…
15 Monday May 2023
Posted in business, family, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chimes, garden, grandson, happy, moments, nature, weather, widow, wind, wind chimes
we ran to the store recently and picked up a wind chime I’d been looking at for a while…
it is hanging close to a corner so it gets a bit of wind and sounds beautiful…
recently a neighbour commented on how nicely it pealed…
13 Saturday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chairs, cushions, Custom Repair & Stitchery, furniture, garden, green, moments, nature, Stitchery, Technology, upholstery, weather, widow
Wednesday morning we went to Custom Repair & Stitchery and ordered new cushions for the garden chairs… we looked through the fabric options and chose a green similar to what is currently in the garden… and there will be zippers so the covers can come off the foam to be washed…
I have been wanting them for ten years or so, ever since the last ones faded and lost their comfort level…
and so, since then, we have used two square cushions on each chair, which have been okay, but they have been getting a bit old as well…
I was also interested to see a newer version of Square than I’d seen before… I do love technology…
can’t wait for the new ones to arrive;-)…
12 Friday May 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, birds, blessed, garden, in the garden, listening, Merlin App, migration, moments, nature, sounds, sparrows, Technology, weather, white-throated, white-throated sparrows, widow
sitting on the deck I listened to a couple of the white-throated sparrows calling to one another from here and the neighbours’ trees… that was after Merlin confirmed which birds they were, lol…
a lovely treat…
and I got a few photos…
the last one was having a bath;-)…
08 Monday May 2023
Posted in business, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, delicious, food, friends, greenhouse, high tea, Lily Stone Cafe, Lily Stone Gardens, memories, moments, orchid, rain, Tea, time, weather, widow
had a great time with my BS buddies…
we gathered in two vehicles and drove to Rosenort for our 1 pm High Tea reservation at Lily Stone Cafe…
what a delight… we climbed up stairs, went down a narrow hall, and into a beautifully decorated room ready for our tea…
we just happened to get this space, but for a 20% gratuity you can book one of the private rooms for your group… no one wore gloves, but there were pearls, jewellery, and some fancy clothes, lol…
there were so many teas to choose from it took us a while to decide, and everyone enjoyed their picks…
then the tiered stands with a number of items for us to devour arrived, and devour them we did;-)…
they were able to deal with a food issue for one of us, and everything we ate looked lovely and was tasty… although it didn’t appear like a lot of food, we were all full once we’d cleaned the plates…
from there we drove a few kilometres to Lily Stone Gardens where we toured the Gift Shop and the one open greenhouse…
I found a beautiful white dahlia that is now sitting next to the tubers, which I hope will encourage them to get growing, lol…
the drive took just over forty-five minutes each way, and even in the rain and overcast, it was enjoyable… lots of conversation and laughter in both vehicles…
what a wonderful way to spend an afternoon;-)…
herbiggirlpants 