I’ve been thinking a lot about how blessed and fortunate I am… and I’ve been taking time to focus on gratitude…
yesterday I spent a few minutes enjoying this sunrise from the bedroom window…
it was so pretty and the fact that I had the time to enjoy it is such a gift…
today I spent a good portion of the day sitting in the living room, beside the Christmas tree, reading a book by one of my favourite authors, and watching the various birds come and go from the feeders… even though it was foggy outside it was a lovely way to spend time…
I took this photo this evening…
most presents are wrapped, nearly all cards are written, and advent treats have been opened for the day…
last night a friend called and suggested I check out the moon…
it was a sliver in the sky with a very bright Venus above it…
I dug out the tripod, which was deep in a closet, and headed to the front step… even though it was cold, I took a few minutes and got some good photos…
recently I went outside and shovelled off the back deck…
a ton of snow had drifted there when we had that big snow a while back…
quite a bit of it had melted, but there was still a thick covering over most of the deck…
as I shovelled I came across a number of peanuts in the shell which had been left by the squirrels… I hope they won’t be too disappointed when they go looking for them, lol…
last night I went out for a hot tub… I hadn’t had one for quite a while…
although cold, it was still, quiet, the sky was clear, a few stars were visible and for the first time ever, I watched the moon rise behind the cedar trees at the back of the garden… not sure if it was the time or the place the moon was in the sky…
the light moved from area to area so all I ever saw was a tiny spot through the branches… it was amazing…
and then I had the greatest sleep…
I had forgotten how relaxing my time in the tub is;-)…
the garden looked so beautiful after the snow on Friday…
of course it always looks beautiful as long as you don’t have to go out into it, lol…
I had taken out the garbage bin on Thursday, even though the pickup day had moved because of Remembrance Day… I didn’t want to struggle with the snow that was coming…
good thing I did that… a lot of snow came down… the pickup ended up being on Saturday, but I didn’t have my grandson bring it in while he was here shovelling…
this morning I went out and shovelled my way to the back gate so I could bring the bin back in…
shovelling was easier and I left the garbage bin just under the cedars so it won’t get too much snow on it… I followed the path that the bunnies had made so that there should be less drifting… except I ended up with my head in the branches…
yesterday, for the first time in nearly two years, we went to PTE to watch a live play…
we were both masked and had to show our proof of immunization… there were less than half the seats filled as they followed all Covid protocols… the program was digital and the set was see-through;-)…
it was great to be able to watch a show live…
once we left, we went on another adventure to find a pasta shop my friend had recently read about… it was snowing again and the trees were beautiful…
we were the only people inside and it was such fun to look at things and make choices about what to purchase… I got some fresh spaghetti, sorrentino (ravioli) in mushroom sauce, falafel, empanadas and pita…
this morning my grandson came over to put on the snow tires…
to get the car into the garage he first had to shovel the driveway…
I had made a narrow path from the house to the garage door so that I could take down the table and move things so he could do the work inside the garage…
tires got changed although he ended up only putting Indi in halfway for the front and back wheels… I had to take a photo with both the pretty summer rims and sad winter tires on at the same time, lol…
there was a lot of snow and it was wet and heavy, but he got it done, including the sidewalk and paths… I was pleased that he came in a few times to rest and visit a bit…
just as he finished, it started to snow again…
and off he went with proper winter tires on, which made me happy…
well, today I put running shoes on instead of my sandals…
always a sad day for me as I would be happy to wear sandals all year long, but once it gets cold and I am going to be walking for a while, the shoes come out…
I walked in a different area today and came across maple leaves all over the sidewalk… they are very cute;-)…
in our neighbourhood we don’t see them so it was a treat…
I have been working on the fish condo for weeks now… spent a good portion of a day cleaning the fish tank… lots of scrubbing and emptying…
I researched a second tank and we went out and got the tank and two pumps so that they were on the ends as opposed to the back of the tanks…
after numerous measurements, we set the new tank up on the counter along the North wall of the dining room… then the bottom was filled with rocks and water and the new pump set up… this tank will be for the baby fish as the other tank won’t be able to hold all of the fish…
I worked with my grandson and we were able to move the big tank to the spot beside the small tank… it looks good there and it almost appears like one single very long tank…
after putting river rocks in it, I ran the hose from the outside tap through the house and was able to fill it up in nine minutes… it probably took me that long to fill the small one as I used a pail and walked back and forth to the kitchen sink for that one, lol…
had a bit of an issue with the pump as there wasn’t quite enough room in the large tank for it on the edge, but we were able to remove a piece of plastic and now it fits perfectly…
once the water was in and circulating for a few days we began catching the fish… we have been at it for quite a while… we started on October 22nd and today I think we caught the last one… I had to break ice for the last few collections, lol…
it was quite a process because since about the middle of October the water has been brown as leaves have fallen into it so it has made spotting fish difficult…
we also brought in some of the water lilies, which hopefully will survive until next spring when they can go back into the pond…
the tanks look great and I am pleased with all of our work…
