Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to the 2nd day of April, 2016.

It is a bright and sunny morning here in Edmonton.

I am up and showered – freshened up.

Time to write in my gratitude journal, have breakfast (share my banana with Alvin) and then share a pot of coffee with my neighbour “S.”

This morning I am off to clean-up the trash around the neighbourhood.

It does not look like I even went out about a month ago as there is so much.

So I will put on some comfortable old shoes, my sunglasses, grab some garbage bags and some disposable non-latex gloves and my keys and be on my way.

Whoops almost forgot my handy dandy GARBAGE PICKER UPPERS…..

It will likely take me about 1-2 hours to clean things up as I will do a big loop and of course, the walk-way to 62nd Avenue (which is CRITICAL again).

I know for a fact that MacDonalds and StarBucks do not throw their coffee cups into the wind so that they blow into our neighbourhood.

Why oh why cannot people just take them home and throw them into the garbage.

Perhaps too easy.

Are people really that stupid?

Uncaring.

I just do not believe that say you throw your StarBucks coffee cup into the bushes/grass on the walkway today.

Then someone comes behind you and does the same thing.

Everyday you walk there and it just looks worse and worse.

Does that not bother anyone except me?

Anyway I am going to make it beautiful.

The way it should be.

My wish is to educate people.

Also I am going to plead once again with the City and the Neighbourhood Association to please put up a garbage bin.

I hope that next time you are walking about enjoying nature and sipping on your coffee or cold drink that you will think about taking the cup home instead of throwing it onto the ground.

Now obviously I realize that not everyone does this or else our world would be completely filled with cups.

Have a great weekend.

Please keep your neighbourhood clean and tidy.

All you have to do is keep in front of your house clean and secure trash on pick up day.

Thank you.

This is my public service announcement.

Have a great Saturday.

No poems for me today …..

 

Special Hello to:  to all those folks who help to keep our planet clean and tidy.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 1st day of April, 2016.

Another beautiful spring day on the way.

Tomorrow is to be 20 degrees celsius – summer?

It will be a good day to pick up the trash from around the neighbourhood.

I noticed so much on our walk last night.

Sad as I have already been out once near the end of winter – beginning of spring.

Oh well, it is my contribution to our neighbourhood, and I love our area looking beautiful.

Also is great exercise.

 

As it is Friday, I thought that I would share another poem with you.

I wrote this one on Earth Day in 2011.

THAT GIRL – JUST A GIRL

I am that girl

The girl who smiles everyday

The girl who passes your way

The girl who has a dog

The girl who writes on her blog

The girl who loves life

The girl someday a wife

The girl next door

The girl never a bore

The girl who loves boys

The girl playing with the kids and their toys

The girl who loves flowers

The girl finding her inner power

I am just a girl who loves to dance

I am just a girl starting to take a chance

I am just a girl who loves her dog

I am just a girl reaching out of the fog

I am just a girl with a pure heart

I am just a girl whose smart

I am just a girl who loves to share

I am just a girl who even takes a dare

I am just a girl who loves to shop

I am just a girl loving a new top

I am just a girl who loves starry nights

I am just a girl who believes in what is right

I am just a girl who has a song in her heart

I am just a girl eager to bake that tart

I am just a girl trying to make this poem rhyme

I am just a girl living her life …. this time

I am just a girl who loves to write

I am just a girl who even just might

I am just a girl who thinks so much more

I am just a girl not afraid of a chore

I am just a girl whose funny

I am just a girl loving a bunny

I am just a girl taking the time

I am just a girl a song out of rhyme

I am just a girl

I am that girl….

Written by Carol Yvonne Lewis

Earth Day, April 22nd, 2011 in Edmonton, Alberta.

 

Special Hello to: my fellow bloggers …… thank you.

Always, Carol and Alvin

No reason other than I love the way the moon is sitting above our rooftops and the street light.

It was just after sunset.

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 23rd day of September, 2015.

Today is the first official day of “fall” or “autumn.”

The leaves are already changing colour and so many have taken that long ride to the ground.

I love walking through the piles of leaves on the sidewalk by my office.

The swish and the crunch ……

Most of the smaller birds have already hiked on down south.

The geese honk as they fly by.

The majority opinion right now is people are tired ….. wanting to sleep.

Time to hibernate.

Oh, autumn ….. we love you.

The colours, the coolness to the breeze ….. the simplicity of it all.

We enjoy looking at all the different leaves on our walk.

I guess Mr. Alvin is not so much into leaves unless there is a piece of food under them.

I wish us all a long warm fall.

Time to get our outside fall clean-up/put away stuff.

Time to get those autumn photos done.

Speaking of which – almost time for me and Alvin to have our Annual Autumn Photo done.

We will have to speak with our resident photographer.

We are so blessed.

Well almost time to grab the shoes, jacket, scarf and mini gloves for the walk to the bus.

I hope that you enjoy the first day of fall.

Special Hello to: all those crafters out there ….. you do good work.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day……

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 5th day of August, 2014.

What a gorgeous morning out there …. slight cool breeze with definite hopes of being hot.

Fed Aussie (one of my neighbours cat’s); emptied the dishwasher, had breakfast, dressed, wrote in my gratitude journal, made my bed of course and put on the coffee.

Seems like I did more but after I write this and grab my coffee …. time to hit the garage and get things organized.

I want to have my house, yard and garage all cleaned up before Thursday.

Clean the bathroom fans, dust baseboards and blinds ….. all the fun stuff.

All, while enjoying several cups of COFFEE.

I most especially love the smell of brewing coffee.

YUMMY.

Things are going great …. so grateful to be on vacation.

Alvin is settling down and actually listening to me.

Which is nice.

Likely because I do not raise my voice to him ……

Love me Alvin ….. such a good little guy.

Well what is on your agenda for this fine Tuesday.

Oh, I just felt a tinge of coolness coming in from the window ….. ah, so nice.

Alvin is standing watch or rather sitting and watching out the window.

My daughter took today off from work so she is having a shower.

She wants to sit back and enjoy watching some of her recorded television shows and read.

It’s her last day off and she has worked so hard …… she should enjoy it.

Me, I will enjoy reorganizing the garage ….. haven’t really done much out there since the garage sale.

Or garage give aways…… it was so great to give 97% of everything away.

People were shocked and surprised.

That’s okay ….. all good.

Well time to get my butt in gear and grab my coffee and the baby gate so that Mr. Alvin can watch …. I really don’t want him underfoot.

Happy Tuesday….

Special Hello to:   so many Family Birthdays ……. Happy Birthday Everyone…….

P.S. only FOUR sleeps until I am “57” …… how crazy is that …… I feel something GREAT COMING MY WAY ……..

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 13th day of May, 2014.

Okay, it is beautiful here in Edmonton as I look out of my window the sky is blue and the sun is up.

I sure hope that wherever you are the sun is shining.

How are you this morning?

Are you up and energized ….. ready to start your day.

I honestly find the mornings the most challenging part of my day.

I absolutely love the early morning or at least my mind does and if I could just get my body in sync, it would be perfect.

Alvin is an early riser …. somewhere between 4:30 and the time the alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. …. he is ready to go and EAT.

I must say he loves his food.

So we get out of bed ….. Alvin stretches and I must start doing that …. my brain the intelligence centre does tell me that it is good to do.

We go downstairs ….. Alvin has his breakfast and a sip of water and then goes outside to do his morning constitutional.

Then inside …. pending on how I am feeling ….. we might (okay, we usually) hit the sofa for some extra zzzz’s …. I set the timer on the microwave.

There was a time that I just got up and stayed up ….. it was okay.

I guess at the end of the day it is all about training your brain and somedays my brain just says “enough already.”

Well because we hit the sofa for extra zzz’s this morning it is almost time to go so I had better hop to it.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day.

Keep the faith ….. all you can do is keep on trying.

Someday we all shall reach perfection.

Nice thought, right.

Special Hello to: my friends who are helping me organize a neighbourhood clean-up on the 31st of this month.  Should be fun.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day….

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 20th day of April, 2014.

Where did April go?

Is it really the 20th already?

WOW.

Time does fly when you are having fun.

When Alvin and I first got up this morning at 6:30 we found that it had been raining.

I have today off so we went back to sleep for a few hours – just because we could.

Up at 9:00 to sunshine.

Then about an hour the wind was blowing and the clouds are rolling in…..

I hope that you are having a great long weekend.

I hope that you are as blessed as me to have a few days off in a row.

I made a huge dent in my TO DO LIST yesterday.

Alvin had a hair cut and bath, the neighbourhood is much cleaner ( 2 hours and 3 bags later) and I coloured my hair and other household duties.

I sure can feel it in my back and arms this morning.  Those bags of trash were heavy especially since it is still wet out.

But I am pleased that the “hood” looks the way that it should.

Hopefully it will stay that way for awhile.

Well have to run …. my daughter is coming over ……

Happy Easter Sunday.

Going to SKYPE my sister today (if you are reading this ….. how about after lunch sometime?)

Special Hello to: my family and friends all over the world.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day……

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 24th day of March, 2014.

Temperatures warming up and I for the third day in a row I am wearing shoes outside.

I love it when you can just slip on your shoes and go.

No boots and carrying shoes.

Just slip on and go.

How wonderful.

It is amazing how much extra time and effort it takes to get dressed to leave the house in the winter time.

Anyway, I am one happy girl.

Even Mr. Alvin can go without a jacket or at least not a heavy one.

I can see the earth in most places.

Still a few banks and some ice but for the most part a few plus days and it should be gone.

Just think in a few weeks or so we should see buds on the trees and people will begin to plant some flowers.

All of the greenhouses will have their plants out ready for purchase.

I absolutely love going to the greenhouses whether it is the family owned one just outside of the city or the one at Canadian Tire …. I love to check out the flowers …. the colours …. the smells.

Oh what a fantastic time to be alive.

You can just feel the relief and the wonderment of this time of year.

Everyone big and small is ready.

Ready to go for nice long walks …

Ready for late sunsets.

Ready for dips in the lake.

Ready to go camping.

Ready to do some gardening.

Ready to clean up their yards.

Ready to get outside.

So on this first day of the week …

I hope that this finds you thinking and working on preparing for summer.

Always a good time to go through your closets and “storage containers.”

I hope that you are generous.

Do you really need five black skirts?

Have a great day.

Special Hello to: my sister who is arriving back home today from Vegas…… hope you had a great time.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day…..

Good Saturday Morning and Welcome to the 30th day of March, 2013.

Second last day of the month ….. wow how time flies.

The sun is shining brightly here in Edmonton with promises of more snow to melt.

Most of the snow has now melted from the top of my garage which gives me great relief.

One of the City sanding trucks came down our street just after 5:30 a.m. …… I am not sure why as he did not leave any sand behind.

There are many side residential streets that still have deep snowy icy ruts.

Perhaps this will be the day that they melt, and are gone.

Well what is on your plate for this Saturday?

Perhaps you will be enjoying coffee with family or friends.

Perhaps you will be shopping for groceries to cook that “Easter Meal.”

Perhaps you will be out shopping for that beautiful spring dress or outfit.

Perhaps you will be cleaning the house.

Whatever or wherever you are ….. I hope that you have fun.

Me, well ….

Mine is to continue to clean the “paper” from all over my house.

You know how you just seem collect bits and pieces ….. now they are not laying on the floor or on top of every flat surface.

Most of them are carefully tucked away in rubbermaid containers or boxes.

Sometimes I think that I might still need them …. but in the end they find their way into a blue recycling bag.

So with coffee in hand, I shall tackle my “paper” … one or two pieces at a time and I shall fill yet another bag.

I know that once I am done I shall feel “weightless” …..

So on this day in between “GOOD FRIDAY” and “EASTER SUNDAY” ….. enjoy.

I hope that you get out and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are and we shall, too.  We, being me and Alvin.

Me and My Sister …..

Easter Bunny visited me and Alvin early …. it was last summer.

 

Flowers for Easter ….. Happy Spring

Have a great day …. time to go and take Mr. Alvin for a walk.

Then get to the paper.

Am I procrastinating …. perhaps ….

But today it is my prerogative.

Till tomorrow ……

Special Hello to:   YOU AND YOU AND YOU… Happy Easter.

Always, Carol and Alvin