29 Thursday Jun 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
wow…
the sky has been amazing to look at it…
this was as we were heading home after work…
this was a about an hour later…
all of a sudden the wind picked up and blew the trees around like crazy…
then it poured for a few minutes…
now it is overcast but not raining…
14 Wednesday Jun 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, pitcher, Pokémon, rain, soccer, sun, The Forks, treat, weather, widow, work
what a lovely evening…
weather was crazy all day… every time we looked outside it was either pouring or the sun was shining…
had arranged to go home with my daughter after work so I could attend the youngest grandson’s soccer game… he plays regularly on Wednesday evenings and I haven’t made it to a game yet…
the weather wasn’t looking promising but thought we’d give it a shot…
my oldest grandson picked me up after work and just as I came outside there was a huge downpour… by the time we picked up my daughter the sun was out again…
we dropped him off at rowing… he’s just taken up this sport and is really enjoying it…
then we went to their house for supper… my son-in-law had a delicious dinner all ready for us… butter chicken, rice, corn and salad…
I really feel blessed and treated when someone else makes the dinner…
by this point the soccer game has been cancelled, so we decided to go Pokémon hunting at the Forks…
we wandered around, inside and outside, and I was excited to find the cutest little pitcher… I’ve been looking for one for when I have my loose tea…
hard to tell but it is purple, lol… it is a little whale and it gurgles when you pour the liquid… so cute…
it rained as I was getting into my car to head home and shortly after I took this picture of the sky…
gorgeous, again…
29 Saturday Apr 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, home, hot tub, reminder, special, team, Technology, tub, widow, work
nine years ago today the hot tub arrived and sat in the garage…
took another few weeks before it made it to its home on a new deck beside the house…
actually got to sit in it on Mother’s Day that year…
it is a special reminder of the previous ten years of work… they were quite amazing…
started the job on a contract to get the space set up as the organization had moved from Toronto… there were boxes everywhere… the whole place needed to be set up… from there I worked up to the office administrator and consulted with the students regarding finances and bursaries… the team grew and was quite wonderful…
was always happy to welcome people to our space and enjoyed working with the governing body from across the country… remembering all the things I learned about conference calling and how over those years the systems improved… I have always loved working with technology and certainly had lots of opportunities to do that…
grew as a person during those years as well… we had 360 degree performance reviews which involved input from all of the people I interacted with… from my colleagues, to the students, to the council and committee members, to the suppliers and people who rented space in the building…
the staff team also met in pairs to encourage and challenge one another… sometimes it was very hard to hear where I needed to improve, but, in the end, very beneficial…
I really have been blessed in my work life…
was talking with someone a few days ago and mentioned how I didn’t go back to work until my girls were in high school and so I anticipate being on the job for a few more years as I had all that time at home when they were young… what a gift that was…
the hot tub reminds me of special times with special people…
11 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
been thinking of a number of people in my circles who are going through difficult times…
as I drove to work this morning I was behind a Cube car, which brought back lots of memories of a former colleague and friend…
so many friends are dealing with their own or their family members’ health problems… busyness has kept me from giving them the attention I would like to…
a number of folk I know are trying to figure out their working conditions…
and still others are contemplating their living situations…
so much to be thinking about…
27 Thursday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, colleagues, construction, flowers, healing, moon, walk, widow, work, yellow
as I headed out this morning I took this picture of the moon… looked much better in real life…
had to run to the grocery store before work because there was no tea at the office, lol…
but I spent a few minutes in the floral department… always fun… picked up some lovely yellow flowers for someone who is struggling with the flu… the florist mentioned that yellow is the colour of healing…
went for a walk with a couple of colleagues at lunchtime… sunny and warm… nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air…
at the end of the day as I was heading home I noticed these construction people way up high working away… it was chilly and a little windy…
I could not imagine doing that… ever…
reminds me of how lucky I am with my own job, lol…
14 Friday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
thank goodness it is the end of the day on Friday…
since April my work schedule has been Monday to Thursday …
as of today, for the next while, I am back to working every weekday except the first Friday of each month…
this has been a long and busy week even though it didn’t start until Tuesday… next week is small business week so there are many activities going on throughout the province and we are involved in many of them…
early mornings and late nights and this morning I started the day with an appointment at the dentist…
rather tired and hoping that the coming weeks will be a little less hectic…
had a long chat on the phone after I got home and then decided to make soft boiled eggs for supper… it was very tasty and just the comfort food I needed…
sunset Thursday evening…
03 Monday Oct 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, camera, cleaners, flowers, health, leaves, lunch, money, priviledged, walk, widow, work
been reminded a few times recently of how privileged I am…
today I was able to take an extra half hour and have lunch with a great friend… we try to get together every month or so and check out different downtown restaurants, mostly within walking distance of my office… today we went to the Velvet Glove…
had a good visit and a fine meal…
not only am I able to take a little extra time for lunch but get to spend time with friends…
did laugh at the end of the day when I realized how much of what I ate was green… even the soup had green pumpkin seeds in it, lol…
yesterday I walked to and around the English and Leo Mol Gardens with my camera… another privilege that many people don’t have…
the fact that I have the time, am fit and healthy and able to take on such an activity is great too…
still lots of flowers around… and the leaves are turning colour at an alarming rate… for some of my walk it felt like it was raining leaves…
the final reminder of my privilege was in the bathroom after I got home…
the toilet paper is folded all fancy because the cleaners were in today…
talk about privilege…
27 Tuesday Sep 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
autumn, begonia, big girl pants, blessed, colours, flowers, gardenia, purple, trees, widow, work
so excited this morning to take a few pictures of the gardenia blossoms…
there are eight or nine buds and I can hardly wait for them to open…
autumn is coming on strong… as I was driving home tonight I stopped on a side street and got a picture of the trees…
the colours are changing daily, maybe even hourly…
and even in the cooler weather there are plants blooming like crazy…
this planter is filled with neverending begonia blooms, and some lobelia…
took a few minutes to savour the beauty of the freshly purpled door… it is beautiful…
today marks four years since my return to work following my cancer/hernia surgery… I had been off for ten weeks…
I am so blessed… in so many ways…
24 Friday Jun 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
up early, took a walk to the Park, and had breakfast and a walk through the Gardens with a friend…
arrived home about the same time as my grandson… we worked in the garden for hours…
mowed, dug, planted, weeded… ended up with a lot of yard waste…
ran out for lunch with my daughter and son-in-law and then back to work… pulled out tons of string algae from the pond…
then we tackled one of the front flower beds… we cut down just about everything… I have to pick up something to deal with the grass and next week we will put down landscape cloth and mulch…
put some of the pots in it to get them out of the way for now…
after he left and I’d done a bit more weeding, I took a break and got to spend a few minutes enjoying how much better the space looks…
excellent day…
20 Wednesday Apr 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, box, chocolate, colleagues, home, New York, pictures, widow, work
nice to get back to work and see all my colleagues…
brought them a taste of chocolate from New York… they were in a cute little wooden box and no one wanted to open it…
eventually I broke the seal, removed the ribbon and took a few pictures…
finally some pieces were eaten, lol…
caught up with all the news and shared some travel stories…
nice to be home…
