garden – Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie

July 16th Update

July 16, 2024February 9, 2025 by annemariedemyen, posted in 2024, Health and Fitness

Summer has finally settled in Saskatchewan! None too soon for me and all of the rest of my news for this week is positive as well.

Our garden is showing signs of growth. I took a few photos last Sunday and tried to repeat them this past Sunday as well.

Molly is thriving despite the heat that she is unaccustomed to. Dan has been taking her to the park before it gets too warm out. Her friends have been going earlier than usual as well, so it’s all good. Yesterday, we took her for her annual vet checkup. She passed every test with flying colors. Her weight is a perfect ninety three pounds and her teeth are clean and white. (Yay Greenies!)

As for me, all is going well! I have not missed a single Monday thru Saturday morning aerobics since the beginning of July. Even more impressive, I have not missed a single Monday, Wednesday, or Friday afternoon strength training session. I have also been clearing my lungs with my Aerobika (morning and night) and have been using my neti pot at least a couple of times a week. And… I have been getting a decent amount of sunshine and fresh air each day.

All of this consistent effort has kept me healthy despite the fact that I spent an evening at our new urgent care centre last week (supporting Maddy who had a severe bout of the flu and a brutal ear infection). The next night I was doing likewise at the Pasqua hospital with Jennifer. Fortunately, they are both pretty much recovered with only minor lingering effects. And YAY for me, I did not catch anything from them or from anyone else at either health center.

There’s not much else to report on. I have a Spirometry test with my respiratory therapist on the twenty-fifth of this month and I am celebrating my sixty-ninth birthday on the twenty-sixth. My goal is to keep nailing my workouts, keep healthy, and crush both my spirometry and my birthday. 😁

Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

Week 27 💪

August 22, 2022August 22, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in August 2022, Health and Fitness

Twenty seven weeks in and I am still working it, getting fit and staying healthy. Things were getting a bit ‘routine’ for a bit, but with some encouragement, support, and solid advice from my Volly workout friends I am back on track. I have gone from my Zumba routines back to my freestyle dancing after my morning walk and I am doing some meditating and a bit of work with light weights and it is going good. Between that and the beet juice, sauerkraut, and cold showers, I am feeling pretty good these days.

Molly and I had a pretty good walk this morning. (Molly was good but I did accidentally swallow a bug) We are averaging about 2.5 k (1.5 miles) which isn’t where I would like to be, but it is what Molly can handle right now. In a few weeks, our temps will be cooler, the mosquitoes will hopefully be gone, and Molly will be a little more mature. And 2.5k is a LOT further than I would be going if I had never taken that first step on this journey back in February. I think about that quite a bit lately. I am so grateful to my old flabby, tired, sickly self that made the effort to get up and get moving. 💗

I have a few photos that I took, to share today…

***I loved the sky when Molly and I set out this morning. It was so steel grey and silver! My photo doesn’t do it justice.***

***I picked a bowl of little salad tomatoes when we got home. They taste so amazing!***

***There are some Hungarian hot peppers ready to pick.***

***We still have a few petunias that have survived Molly and Dan cleaned the pond (again) this weekend. 💞***

***My special red petunias are not as dark as they were in the spring but they still look nice with those little white flowers.***

***Official annual tree shot. It is getting harder to get a somewhat full shot of it. 😯***

That is it for today. Take care and have a great day!

June 23rd

June 23, 2022June 23, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in Uncategorized

This year is just flying by! Hopefully the days and weeks will slow down a bit now and we can enjoy summer for a while.

There’s not much happening so far today, but I have a few photos to share.

**Lapdog** **😛 –** ***I can’t imagine what it will be like*** ***when she doubles in size*** ***and sits on us.***

**Peppers and tomatoes are coming along but need a shot of lightning** ⚡**and some rain!**

**I love these Petunias and I am amazed that I started them from seed. This is a Petunia year!**

**Molly – just digging a hole**. **Another hole!**

**I love chives in bloom! So pretty. 💞**

That is it for today. It isn’t going to be a warm one here, so I had better get on with a bit of yardwork before it gets too uncomfortable. Take care a have a great day. 🌞💞

Signs of Summer

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in June 2022

It has been a long time coming, but we are finally seeing signs of Summer in Saskatchewan.

These are a few of the photos I took yesterday while wandering around. If I had a theme for our yard this year, I am not seeing it yet. The bits and pieces of colour seem pretty random.

***Wild*** ***Flowers surrounding the bird bath.***

***A Petunia blooming in the welcome basket.***

***Marigolds to keep mosquitos away. We’ll see?***

***Petunias from Unique Garden Centre.***

***A Primrose for our granddaughter ‘Primrose’***

***A perennial we have had for years. I have no idea what it is but I move it every*** ***few years and it blooms wherever it goes.***

**A Petunia overlooking the pond. I am totally impressed with all of the petunias I started** **from seed** **this** ***year.*** 😉

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 🤗💞

Day Off!

June 4, 2022June 4, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in June 2022

It is hard to book a day off when one is so comfortably retired, but I think I earned one today. I drove Dan and his friend across the city this morning to catch a bus tour to Dan’s company golf tournament at a small town golf course a couple of hours out of the city. Now Molly and I are free until they get back some time this evening.

It is hard to believe that three and a half months ago, I was feeling so feeble and miserable that I was spending the bulk of my time sitting in my rocking chair, wrapped in a blanket – with a shawl across my shoulders. LOL! 😂 Then, I started wondering how I was ever going to be fit enough to deal with all of the spring work that would come with the change of seasons!

Now here I am! Our garden is in, I paid one last trip to a greenhouse yesterday to get a few more flowers and herbs, the flower beds are planted, and the patios and patio furniture are cleaned off and ready to enjoy. I even mowed the lawn one time. Dan dealt with it this week (as he usually does). Molly has been taught to fetch, been kept reasonably well groomed, and most days are accident free – even when I go out for a bit and leave her locked in the house for a couple of hours.

I am so glad I decided to take action back in February to get myself in shape. 💃

A few photos that I took in the couple of days.

**I love the colour of these Petunias that I picked up at Unique Garden Centre yesterday.**

**And the pretty little Pansies I got there as well!**

**Dan planted this strawberry plant in the hanging basket he fixed up** ***for it.***

**Molly guarding some of the tomato plants that I started in early March.**

**A few of the peppers I also started in March.**

**Genie (and her friend Alex) dropped in yesterday to say goodbye before she heads off on her summer** ***adventure today***. **Molly made sure she got her share of the attention.**

So that is about it! We still have a fair amount of work to deal with – maintaining the garden, painting the porch, raking the lawn and dealing with the dandelions, painting planters, and setting up the pool (if we decide to put it up this year). Whatever we decide to do, I know I won’t struggle to do my part. I am good to go and getting fitter every day! 💪😊

Take care and have a great day! 💞

July 8th – Garden Magic

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in Magical Moments - July 2021

It is so magical to watch our garden grow and change every day! I could spend all day outside puttering about. I hope you enjoy the photos, I snapped this morning. I have to stockpile them for when winter inevitably returns!

**Better Boy Tomatoes (*Grown from a slice of fresh tomato***!)

**Miniature Magic (*Just magically grew there!)***

That is my magic to share for today! Dan is on ‘days off’ so I am off to enjoy his company. 💞

I hope you are having a productive and magical day!

July 7th – Morning Magic

July 7, 2021July 7, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in Magical Moments - July 2021

There was something rediculously magical about being outside at 5:30 this morning. The sun was shining, there was not a breath of wind, the only sound was the birds chirping in the trees. Kat was very deliberately wandering around the yard, sniffing and searching – ensuring that all was right with her little backyard world.

Apparently, we are good to go for another magical day!

Keep safe! Wishing you peace, love, and magic to fill your day. 💞

Day 25 – Photographic Genes

June 25, 2021June 25, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in Uncategorized

It is the 25th day of my June ‘Accentuate the Positive’ challenge. My positive for today is photography because “A picture is worth a thousand words” and I have always run a little short on words. 🤭

I have said that I did not get anything genetic wise from my Mother. I did not get her looks, her temperament, her domestic talents, her singing ability, or her construction skills. (I once taped my cell phone to a crate at work trying to operate a tape gun. 🤦). Recently however, I have discovered an appreciation for my Mother’s love of photography. In her later years, she even started taking pictures of her pictures. (When I take a picture of a picture for my blog, I can hear her saying “Who’s laughing now?”). Actually, most of the pictures that I take picture of were her pictures.

I will never be organized enough to have the dedicated photo albums that my Mother had, but I do have a few new photos to share today. I hope a bit of my Mother’s photographic skill come through.

**I don’t know if Dan and I have a running disagreement on where Tinkerbell should be this year, or if she is flitting around on her own, but I am pretty sure she keeps moving.**

**Kat before and** **after her grooming.** 💞

**Yea, I put on makeup and jewelry to take Kat to the groomers. Not too wierd. 🤣🤣🤣**

**Grandpa’s Bleeding Heart going through yet another round of blooming.** 💝

Twenty-five days down and only five to go!

Wishing all a good day and a nice weekend! I hope to see you tomorrow. 👋👋👋

Taking Over

May 30, 2021May 30, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature

With our recent rains and a couple of days of sunshine, our plant life seems to be taking over.

Our little cat is still holding his ground but Grandpa’s Bleeding Heart has obscured the bike riding frog.

Wild flowers trying to take over the birdbath. Yertle the Turtle is looking a bit nervous.

The chives are done sharing their pot with our metal mushrooms.

A couple of weeks and the rocks will be struggling to peak out through the ground cedar.

Even our houseplants are starting to go after our elephants. 😯

Take care and enjoy your Sunday! 🌤️

Survival

May 27, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in life

The Saskatchewan floods and frigid weather have passed. Most of our plants have survived so far. We will see how many make it through the hurricane strength winds today!