a peek inside the fishbowl

Archive for the ‘Home/reno’ Category

21 May, 2021

Pandemic gardening

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno

Last year, during the first pandemic summer, I swore that This Was The Year we wrestled our garden under control. It has been wildly OUT of control pretty much since we moved in here. I thought, FINALLY, we have time! We can putter and weed and water and divide and plan! And guess what, it didn’t […]

11 Jul, 2020

When old furniture is made new again

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno

Many moons ago, my mother gave us a china cabinet. It was in the dining room in the house that I grew up in. Storage-wise, it’s great. It’s tall. The top half has glass doors, the bottom half has solid doors and hides all kinds of things. Dividing the top and bottom is a big wide (and deep!) drawer that holds […]

24 May, 2019

Spring has sprung

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to look outside and see GREEN again. It’s about time. Here’s what’s blooming here at Casa Fishbowl: You know what’s funny? I took these photos a few days ago and everything is even bigger and greener. You can practically sit and watch this stuff grow. Coming […]

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13 Nov, 2018

What does your leaf raking style say about you?

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno

Over the past few weeks I’ve raked multiple lawns and moved what might possibly be a metric ton of leaves from one place to another. I raked the small forest around my mother’s place on two occasions this fall (picture full-size maple and oak trees, so many leaves they can’t be bagged), my in-laws small suburban front […]

08 Jun, 2018

Squirrel combat gets real

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno

In a recent post about our garden, I mentioned that squirrels have been digging into my containers. It’s really frustrating. It’s not like I’ve been stashing peanuts in there or anything. It’s not like those plants are EDIBLE, but they’re dug up and disturbed and don’t get a chance to grow. So I decided to […]

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  • Gretchen Humphrey: I had a beautiful bee& birdbath filled with a solar fountain and dozens of antique marbles that were suddenly disappearing. At first I thought my
  • Jinjer: I am sobbing reading this post. And you're right, companion is not enough. Little furry treasured gifts that they are. Thanks for sharing cutie-pi
  • Karen: Dear Andrea, Mark and your daughters I am so very sad for your family xxx Piper was/is my favourite Instagram post. You shared with us so intimately
  • Christina Banuelos: Thank you for sharing Pipers life with us. Your posts of Piper brought me joy. Every time I see your post and see what kind of mischief Piper was gett
  • Carla Slocum: I am sitting here yet again crying at your loss. We have known that loss with Asta the WFT our first pup but now have the enormous gift of Stryker the
  • Janelle Brown: Dear Andrea Thank you for sharing Piper’s story with her followers. I empathise with your grief and emptiness as I lost my 14 year old Westie last
  • Natasha McReynolds-Nicholl: My god reading this is heartbreaking. December 1st was the as you describe longest day of my life, we lost out beautiful WFT hazel. Pipers final momen

The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

If you'd like to contact me, please use this form. If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here. Thank you for visiting!

 


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