In case you missed it, here is Part One.
Have yourself a comfortable weekend!
Rock on,
The WB
The Sunday Schnauzer – How Is This Even Comfortable Part Two?
The Sunday Schnauzer – Dog Days of Summer
Note: The Widow Badass Blog is going on a bit of a blogging break, starting next week. I’ll be back mid-September. Looking forward to resuming my regular posting schedule then!
After a busy morning of walkies, barking at those who dare to walk down our street and chasing ballies, comes a lazy afternoon. Especially during these dog days of summer
We hope you find a comfy spot to relax this weekend.
Rock on,
The WB
The Sunday Schnauzer – The Weakest Link
Who is the weakest link in our family? It varies from person to person and day to day, but based on recent evidence I think I know who the current titleholder is. Here are some photos, from a recent outing to the local gelato place.
If you guessed that the current weakest link is Mr. I Don’t Know If I Can Get Used To A Small Dog; I’ve Only Ever Had Big Dogs, you would be 100% correct 😉.
We hope there are cool treats in your weekend plans.
Rock on,
The WB
What’s On Your Plate* Blog Challenge – Summer Drinkies Mocktail Edition
* This should really be renamed What’s In Your Glass 😉
I don’t know about you, but as I am getting older I am finding that drinking alcohol is sometimes more trouble than it’s worth. It disrupts my sleep at night – even one glass of wine after supper! Which means the only alternative is day drinking finding substitutes that provide the same refreshment without the befuddlement buzz and the dreaded 2 am wakey-wakey.
I did find (thanks to my non-drinking family) some superior non-alcoholic alternatives for purchase (more on that later in this post) and I also made homemade Ribena – of a sort – from my own garden! I found a recipe here.
Thanks for reading this far! Hopefully I didn’t make you too thirsty, although it is important to keep hydrated – especially in hot weather 👍.
As always, please join my co-host Donna and myself by sharing what’s on your plate (or in your glass) in the Comments or in the Link Party.
Rock on,
The WB
The Sunday Schnauzer – Apres Bath
Somebody rolled in fresh horse droppings. Somebody needed a bath. Somebody is me. (I’m a dog; it’s what I do.) Daddy to the rescue!
Rock on,
The Bowser 🐾
Big Birthday Celebration: A Tale Of Two Teas
Last weekend I hit a major milestone birthday – well, according to our government that is! I turned 65, which is the traditional “age of retirement” still, here in Canada.
Woohoo! I can look forward to my Old Age Security cheque every month now, starting in August. It’s not near enough for a person to actually live on, but it will be something for those of us who no longer garner a paycheque. When I retired from my career officially at age 60, I opted to take my Canada Pension Plan (a benefit available to all Canadians who have paid into the plan during their working lives) early because of a few good reasons – the main one being that my early CPP plus my existing survivor benefit (for being a widow of a working Canadian) meant I was pretty close to my maximum payout already, so why not?! And I have not regretted for one minute my decision to retire early!
My daughter had made plans to treat me to High Tea at the Empress, in Victoria, on my actual birthdate so I had a girly splurge at the local mall the day before – purchasing a new silk top, a new lipstick at the MAC counter, and some new jewellery. Happy birthday to ME, LOL!
Because the hotel knew it was my birthday, I was given some very special gifts including a sachet of their Empress blend tea (to take home), a delicious glass of bubbly, AND a pot of very premium tea – all on the house! The tea (regularly $18 a pot, on top of the cost of the High Tea itself) was absolutely wonderful – beautifully fragrant and a delight on the tongue – so of course I headed to the Fairmont Store right afterwards to source some to take home. Imagine my shock when I found out it was $99 for 2 ounces of Madame Butterfly!
Luckily (?) I can get over a shock quite quickly and easily 😉 so in the true spirit of YOLO: YES – I bought the damn tea! I reasoned it was the equivalent of buying a very fine bottle of wine or spirits, so out came the credit card. I also purchased the other blend we selected for our high tea – Lady Londonderry (at $18.95, a veritable steal…).
As if I wasn’t spoiled enough already, my good friend and fellow blogger Donna wanted to treat me to a day at Butchart Gardens including THEIR high tea! Who am I to say no to two high teas only 3 days apart?!
After that delicious meal, Donna and I valiantly tried to walk some of it off around the gardens.
In comparing the two teas, they were equivalent in terms of quality of ingredients in my opinion. The Butchart Gardens tea tray seemed to give you more in terms of quantity as well as cost – the Empress high tea cost was almost double per person – but in the wise words of our waiter, Shane: Yes, but you had to pay to get into the Gardens in order to eat here…
The Empress provides a different sort of ambience – including a piano player tinkling away throughout our tea, and a gorgeous view of the Victoria Harbour and Parliament buildings…as well as the history of that grand hotel itself. Meanwhile the Gardens provided spectacular vistas and blooms everywhere you looked while enjoying their tea and later walking their paths. I couldn’t choose just one over the other, and luckily I didn’t have to!
If you are ever on the island (and celebrating a special occasion…or not!), I can highly recommend either of these venues. After all, YOLO!!!
And if you can’t find anyone to treat you, there’s always this wisdom from the Parks and Rec crew:
Rock on,
The WB
The Sunday Schnauzer – Our Chicken “Friends”
Bowser’s daddy brought home something very interesting the other day.
Bowser’s daddy brought home 3 seven week-old birds initially, and has since added 2 more to the flock. They are kinda easily spooked right now and thus hard to photograph. They are so young they don’t even cluck yet – they can only cheep cheep (which is adorable!!!).
We hope you are enjoying a wonderful Sunday with your friends, chicken or otherwise.
Rock on,
The WB
The Bathroom Renovation
A blogger friend of mine (and yours too, probably) – Kate – is undergoing the hell excruciating pain distress pleasure of a bathroom renovation at the moment. This is reminding me that I have promised and so far failed to deliver on my own recent renovation experience, also a bathroom.
This was a whirlwind of a renovation, with most of the work being completed by contractors within the space of ONE WEEK in May.
Don’t hate me. This has never happened to me before and will likely never happen again.
It helped that two contractors (drywall, tiling) live a few houses away from me and could pop over in the evenings or on the weekend for an hour here and there, while still pursuing more lucrative and involved day jobs than my wee bath. And that my favourite plumber had openings on his schedule.
Here is the BEFORE: the old bathroom in all its beige 1990 glory:
And here is a video of the glorious AFTER:
I am so happy with my refreshed bathroom space. It puts a big smile on my face when I pass by and catch a glimpse of the shower curtain and the plants and coloured glass hanging in front of the window. And an even bigger smile on my face when I am relaxing in my new, much deeper soaker tub. It’s the hippy-dippy bathroom of my dreams!
This is officially the last large renovation I am doing in my little cottage (she says, hopefully). And also hopefully: LAST RENOVATION EVER.
I don’t want to temp the renovation gods after this incredibly smooth, incredibly fast one!
Rock on,
The WB
The Sunday Schnauzer – Thimbleberries
Thimbleberries are ready, and in abundance this year! This is making our daily walkies even more delightful than usual.
We hope you are enjoying the fruits of summer as much as we are.
Rock on,
The WB
The Sunday Schnauzer – How Is This Even Comfortable?
Sometimes Bowser sleeps or sits in ways that make me scratch my head in disbelief.
Do your dogs do this? Please reassure me 🤣.
We hope you are finding some comfortable places to sleep this weekend.
Rock on,
The WB
