toffeereflection

Peaceful encounter

This photo of Samantha and Toffee’s first and only encounter was taken just over a year ago, a month before Toffee died. Six weeks before Samantha died. For those who knew Toffee, this greeting was a shock. Any dog that was bigger than Toffee was viewed as a threat, and in his desire protect me,Continue reading “Peaceful encounter”

Random visits

This afternoon I enjoyed a semi-spontaneous visit on my patio when two choir kids and their mom stopped by to bring me a gift. They were hot and tired from a day of shopping and errands so I invited them to stay for a drink of cold juice. We had a lovely visit, talking aboutContinue reading “Random visits”

Spellbound

What is it about the sound of a creek and a waterfall that is so soothing and spellbinding? This photo was taken a year ago when I went for a walk with a close friend. We walked along the shoreline of Okanagan Lake, and headed into Rotary Marsh Park, watching the birds and wild animals.Continue reading “Spellbound”

Family secret

This is a secret family recipe, translated literally as “completed sticky rice”. It’s complete because it contains both the sticky rice and the custard which are normally prepared separately. My daughter and I prepared it for her friends. She left some of the edges (the best part) for me. This dessert has always been aContinue reading “Family secret”

Hope

I have been looking after this Christmas cactus for two months now. It is a rescue plant, from my daughter’s home. She was working out of town, and left the plants in the care of her fiancé. I brought it home, not really expecting it to survive, much less thrive. But last week I noticedContinue reading “Hope”

Daisies

I had to update my phone recently. It fell out of my hands one too many times, and the cracked screen didn’t allow me to read my messages easily. The new phone takes better photos. These are daisies…perhaps African daisies, but my free iPlant app is correct only about 20% of the time so itContinue reading “Daisies”

Zooming in

I chose this photo for my desktop photo on my computer. It’s one that I took back in 2018. It was chosen for the beauty of the scenery–fence with character (i.e. old and rotting), yellow wildflowers, gently waves, driftwood littering the beach, large climb-able rocks, and fluffy clouds against the blue sky. My monitor isContinue reading “Zooming in”

Shamrocks

Of all the photos that I took last week at the gardens with bright, beautiful flowers, this is the one that caught my eye the most. The shamrocks were located in one of the shaded areas of the gardens, where they formed a blanket of green around rocks, a creek, a pond and many otherContinue reading “Shamrocks”

Life dreams

“Every flower in this bouquet is edible”. “We picked them ourselves”. We had just finished our first in-person choir concert since December 2019. These two siblngs joined us only a few months ago, so it was their first concert ever. They were so excited to sing for their parents and all the other families, andContinue reading “Life dreams”

Smelling the roses

I have been blessed with a couple of action-packed days with a visit from a daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. Yesterday we walked around the Legislature, smelling the roses. Literally smelling as many roses as we could! Watching an innocent child discover things that we just seem to take for granted was a reminder for meContinue reading “Smelling the roses”