Regina – Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie

January 22nd – Day 21 of My 2026 Daily Activity Journal

January 22, 2026January 22, 2026 by annemariedemyen, posted in 2026, Health and Fitness

Since I began my Health and Fitness Journey four years ago, I have focussed on Body, Mind, and Soul – physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

Today, I am focussed on all three, not just for myself, but for those around me.

When I got up this morning it felt like -44 ° celcius (-47.6 ° fahrenheit) with the windchill. It wasn’t much better without it! 🥶

That is brutal for anyone who must venture out. We are fortunate that we have the option to stay in our home, snug and warm and comfortable in our retirement. But, I feel for those who have to deal with this weather – as would any normal human being with an ounce of empathy.

But empathy be damned. Our city planners, managers, mayor, councillors, and any and all overpaid city hierarchy who have a voice in such decisions – decided this was a good day to unleash the city graders on our residential streets.

This is our street. The photo does not do the situation justice. The grader operator (under order from those higher up on the chain of command no doubt) passed up and down our street – scraping off the solid pack of ice and snow (which was not causing any issue) and pushed it up against the sidewalks.

It is hard to tell, but this is not a lttle ridge of snow. It is higher and wider than it looks. It is a solid, impenetrable barrier of ice and snow. The city will not be back to clear it away. (This is not a one and done – this is an annual event in recent years.)

Our neighbours who do not have the luxury of offstreet parking, will return from work unable to park in front of their homes. They will park as close as they can, and risk exiting their vehicle in traffic – then struggle to climb over this city built obstacle – carrying tots from daycare, groceries, and whatever else they need, to go about their daily lives.

Delivery drivers will risk life and limb to climb over these icy ridges, as will seniors accessing their vehicles, as will people – especially those with mobility issues, struggling to access public transit.

For most people in our city, life at minus 44 degrees is more than an inconvenience. That our city would do anything as unconcienable, dangerous, and stupid to make things harder is beyond comprehehension.

It is not a matter of finances. Our city has no issue raising taxes, or spending outrageous sums on vanity projects, or paying obscene severance packages to incompetent city managers who should never have been hired in the first place. They have no problem buying electric buses – in Saskatchewan 🤦‍♀️, questionable artwork, and so much more.

It is beyond stupid and irresponsible. It is a danger to our physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing and that of our friends, neighbours, and family.

Daily Food Diary – Day 31 of 365

February 1, 2025June 30, 2025 by annemariedemyen, posted in 2025, Health and Fitness

Down one month – eleven to go! I have maintained and posted my Daily Food Diary for a solid month. So far, I haven’t really changed my diet, other than trying to drink more water and avoiding mindless snacking. I have experienced some benefits from the effort including losing a total of three pounds this month. 👍

In February, I am going to count calories. I did count calories in the past and I’m not a big fan of doing it to control calories. It works, but at what nutritional cost? In my mind, it is rather a drastic measure when used for weight loss. I’m not actually looking for weight loss. I am just working on maintaining a reasonable and healthy calorie count. In future months I am going to focus on specific nutritional targets.

Yesterday, Dan and I celebrated the end of January by taking a hike through a couple of Regina’s best parks – Wascana Lake and Waterfall Park. I love walking and when I can walk through nature with my favourite human and our Molly dog, that is my perfect date.

Obviously these photos were from my archives of summer pics. Climbing icy inclines and stumbling along snow packed trails, in frigid temps, while holding on to a hundred pound dog is not conducive to great photography. It is fun, a challenging workout, and it must be good for developing balance.

Food Diary – Day 31

(1) c coffee

(1) c Shreddies with 1/4 c milk

(24) oz water

(2) ginger cookies

(1) c tea

(1/2) sm bowl mixed nuts

(20) oz water

(1/2) lg chicken pot pie made with puff pastry crust

** Dan made the chicken pot pie for supper and it was amazing. It was filled with leftover roast chicken, onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, peas, potatoes, and gravy.

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

Regent Park

July 15, 2022July 15, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in July 2022

Our newly renovated neighbourhood park is almost complete and finally (mostly) opened to the public.

The entire area of land across the street from us and down to the railroad tracks (about four blocks away) was all greenspace when I moved in here twenty three years ago. The amenities included baseball diamonds, a couple of small playgrounds, a par three golf course, an indoor ice rink, and an outdoor pool. There was also an overflow channel, trees galore, and an abundance of wildlife – birds, rabbits, gophers, butterflies, and when the mosquitoes got bad enough there would be a shimmering field of huge dragonflies.

Over the years townhouses and a seniors residence were built, basketball courts were erected, and the wildlife was pretty much all driven away. (The mosquitoes stayed. 🙄)

Now the Par 3 has been bulldozed along with many trees. A new accessible playground, off-leash dog parks, and a toboggan hill have been added – along with much artwork and a winding path tieing it all together.

Personally, I preferred the natural state and wildlife but we live in a city. We are relatively fortunate to have access to the amount of greenspace we have in this area.

**Sign at park entrance. I** **didn’t read it when I was there, so I didn’t walk the outline of the buffalo.** **Just as well**, **since there seemed to be a basketball tournament going on at the time.**

**I love the path. It is perfect for walking Molly early in the morning. I hope it is kept cleared in the winter so we have a safe place to walk when the streets and sidewalks are icy and** ***treacherous***.

**B is for ‘boulder’. I don’t think there is a single bench in the park but** **people could sit on the** ***boulders.***

**I have no idea…** ***But I do think they have this area all seeded for grass as they were watering it this morning.***

**Hundreds of healthy trees were taken down but a few dead ones were left behind**.

**Baby buffalo (?) in front of the dog runs (which are not yet open and which do not seem to have water fountains although there are water lines running everywhere).**

**Accessible playground with splash pad and accessible washrooms. I don’t know if I saw any other trash cans but there were at least three right in this area.** 👍

**Washrooms, which were needed to service this playground, the basketball courts right next to it**, **and the park area.**

**A dead tree with spindles stuck in it.** **I hope they add some signs to explain the artwork in this park. I am sure there is an interesting story behind it and it would be really helpful for those of us who are pretty much art illiterate.**

There is a lot of open space and more to see in this park but walking Molly AND taking photos is a bit of a struggle. I will take more photos when I get the chance. There are some really amazing boulders and some nice plants that I look forward to sharing.

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

January 29th – Tim’s Kitchen

January 29, 2022January 29, 2022 by annemariedemyen, posted in Canadian Meal Options

I could not let this month’s ‘Canadian Meal Options’ theme come to an end without one night of Tim’s.

Every viable town in Saskatchewan has at least one Oriental restaurant. Regina, the capital city of this province, has several. We have two favourites. One is Peking House. When my sister Lorraine and her husband Jerry visit, we take a trip downtown to have an eat-in experience at Peking House. Their salt and pepper dry ribs and their various hot pots are amazing! If Dan and I are ordering in or picking up, our goto Oriental experience comes courtesy of Tim’s. Tim’s Kitchen is a small, take-out only shop, conveniently located a few short blocks away from our house. All of their food is great but their Wor Wonton Soup and deep fried wontons are exceptional!

Last night was a Tim’s night.

***Tim’s Work Wonton Soup & Fried Wonton***

***Dry garlic ribs, beef chop Suey (with shrimp from the Shanghai noodles which I do not eat), deep fried wontons, vegetable spring rolls with plum sauce, szechuan chicken, and Tim’s special rice.*** ***Pepsi in the wine glass – and yes Kat firmly planted under my table in case anything happened to (accidentally) fall her way***.

We have plenty left over for another meal. We can never narrow our options down to a one meal experience.

That is it for today. I have a busy day planned with some kitchen deep cleaning and an ambitious supper plan. 😉

Take care and have a great day! 💞

Day 14 – Trees

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021 by annemariedemyen, posted in Uncategorized

It is day fourteen of my June ‘Accentuate the Positive’ challenge. What could possibly be more positive than the mighty and majestic tree? Fun fact… All of the trees in these photos are in Regina, Saskatchewan – a city that was founded on a treeless grassland.

This tree in our yard was planted by Dan’s Mom weeks before she passed away. When I met Dan it was maybe two feet tall.

North of Regina – I love this teensie tiny forest 😂

I never really understood how anyone could hug a tree. They generally seem rather hard, lumpy and scratchy for that kind of intimacy. I can however appreciate their unique beauty, the strength they draw from the earth, and the awe inspiring sight of their branches reaching up to the skies.

That is it for day fourteen! Only sixteen more days to go!

Thank you for dropping by. I hope to see you tomorrow!

For the Love of Trees

June 17, 2020June 17, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature

There are at least a dozen moments a day when I realize I am so absolutely happy to be retired. My favorite moment is when I walk out the door – any day, any time to enjoy my walk around our neighbourhood with Kat.

My favourite thing about our neighbourhood is the proliferation of trees. Trees do so much to dress up a neighbourhood and make it appear strong and healthy. I never get tired of the trees.

Trees shading the basketball courts and the pool.

A little path between one of the ball diamonds and a row of trees. I can actually walk through there without knocking myself out on a tree branch.

Dan prefers this path – it is a bit roomier.

The city cut down dozens of trees in our little golf course last summer. I have no idea why these two were saved but they do stand out.

I have no idea how many trees we have in Regina – definitely thousands (several thousands). When settlers first came here there were zero trees – just flat land with a creek (Wascana Creek) sitting beside a pile of bones. (Which is why Regina was originally named ‘Pile of Bones’). I am not sure why the settlers thought this would be a good place to settle, much less be the capital city of Saskatchewan, but I am grateful that they were industrious enough to start planting the trees we enjoy today.

Getting Out and Getting Fit

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature

Since the snow melted a few weeks ago, Kat and I have resumed our daily walks around the neighbourhood. It was tough going for a while as neither Kat nor I were in great shape going in. After a few weeks at it we are starting to struggle less and enjoy it more.

Off the beaten path there are the cutest little purple butterflies in the weeds. This little guy tried to hide by folding up his colorful wings. I am pretty sure it didn’t work. Kat snuck her nose into the pic and the butterfly vanished.

A mother duck and her ducklings in the storm channel. Fortunately, Kat can’t get close enough to cause them any grief.

She did manage to startle a redwing blackbird.

We made it past the arena, past the pool, past the basketball courts and around the golf course.

Hopefully after a few more walks around this neighbourhood, we will both have the stamina to make it across Elphinstone to walk the paths that run through Princess Park. That is a nice area.

When Dan is on holidays we might even convince him to join us on a few hikes around Wascana Lake, the Wascana Trails outside of Regina and Evraz Park.

Have a great day – here is hoping everyone has the opportunity to get out to enjoy some nature and exercise this summer🌞

Out and About

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in life

Dan and I worked in the yard on Saturday. (Dan did most of the work but I am pretty sure that as his spouse I am entitled to half the credit.) Anyway, we decided to take a drive yesterday as a reward for all of ‘our’ effort.

Regina Pocket Park. The twisted green metal with the red stripe is a memorial to the Regina tornado of 1912. Fyi the ‘park’ does not look appreciably better in the summer.

Multi-million dollar bus terminal that our government built right before they closed down STC – our provincial bus line. The building is supposed to be turned into a new city police station at some point.

Side view of the Saskatchewan legislative building

At this point, Dan headed out of the city.

We drove past a church in the middle of nowhere.

Driving past the RCMP barracks as we headed back into the city.

We made it home to have a slice of the most amazing salted caramel cake. Dan went shopping on Saturday morning and he drove ten blocks out of his way to go to the Co-op to get it for me. It was so worth it!