The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary to my good friends Val & Howard. Wishing you many more happy, healthy years ahead.

Another morning with skies filled with smoke. No wind. Seems to be even more thick than yesterday. I will have to check to see how far away the wildfires are from the City of Edmonton. We have a forest area to the west of the City – not too far from my neighbourhood. The only break is the road before houses begin. I hope that today is the day that the Province of Alberta receives some much needed rain. I would be happy if we had a good soaking rain that last for two weeks. Just nice steady rain. One that would soak into the ground. Not sure about the two week time period but definitely several days. The ground is so dry. Yesterday my friend G came for a visit and told me that her sister and family are on Evacuation Alert which means be prepared to evacuate if situation worsens. If situation worsens an Evacuation Order will be issued and that means Evacuate now, situation is dangerous. People are gathering pets, important documents and having a place to escape to, ready on a moment’s notice. I pray for rain and that no more loss of life.

Photo day.

Below are the yellow Begonia plant and Lavender plants that I purchased on Thursday night. In the fridge is part of my diet plan for the next few days while my mouth heals from the multiple extractions. I am grateful that I at least love applesauce, yogurt and jello and pudding. Eggs are on the list but honestly lately they do not seem to be agreeing with me. So they will not be an everyday food. I can also have soup and that is in the pantry and potatoes on the counter. Love potatoes. Baked and then mashed with butter. Prepared I am. The red and pink flowers are from some of the many plants that I have and they are called Kalanchoe. I did some reading up on them and they can go outside so I might move some of them outdoors, maybe. After speaking with G and Amanda yesterday, I am thinking that perhaps this is not the year to have a deck, porch and flower beds full of flowers. Water is precious and with all the smoke there will not be much sunlight for growth. I have perennials in my back flower bed which are starting to come back to life and although I thought that I had pulled the plants in the front flower bed, they are about six inches tall now. I am grateful that they grew despite my efforts. The bottom three photos are my grand-pups who spent a few hours with me yesterday while their parents went to visit a friend and to meet her boyfriend. These days, I do not think it is a good idea to leave your pets at home while you are away if you live in the countryside, in any area close to wildfires. I will gladly have them here anytime. They depend on us to keep them safe! You can see the smoke in the last photo of the pups looking out the window.

Yellow Begonia & Lavender

Soft Food Stores

Orange Jello

Eggs

Kalanchoe Plant

Kalanchoe Plant

Miss Aspen

Master Mi-Mi (Milo)

Watching out the window

Hopefully the smoke will dissipate today and the sun will shine. I hear people working outside and honestly breathing in that air is not good for you. If you have to be outside, then be prepared. I could even smell smoke in the basement when I was doing laundry yesterday.

Time to hit the shower and freshen up before going downstairs. Up a bit later this morning. For some reason I could not go to sleep last night. Oh, I broke down and had some coffee. Waited till it was only warm and then had some. When I went over the sheets that the Dental Office gave me and went over in my head the instructions from the Dental Assistant there was no mention of coffee, only smoking and not drinking anything hot. So I am okay, I think. A wise woman who has undergone multiple dental surgeries told me that she had not heard “no coffee” and that all drinks had to be cool-warm not hot. I will not drink too much but I so missed the smell of coffee perking. I am going to transplant the Lavender and Begonias into bigger pots and I have some of the Kalanchoe Plants that need larger pots so will move them as well. I have a few things on my to do list for this day. Time to hit the shower.

Happy Sunday All – be safe and be well.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin, My Forever Angel

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! There is a cool breeze wafting in through the open windows. When the alarm went off I got up and opened the office window and went downstairs and opened the living room and kitchen windows. The house is filling up with the coolness of the morning air. Today is supposed to be +29 but I think it may surpass that number. The sky is a brilliant blue and the sun is up and shining upon everything it reaches. I am grateful that I can work from home most of this week. YAY.

Yesterday morning I was up in good time but not as earlier as Saturday. I had a real lazy Mother’s Day Sunday. There was even a nap in the afternoon and that is likely the reason that I could not fall to sleep last night. It was a long night. After supper I walked with Alejandro, Eddie & Bruno. Bruno seems a bit better than he was a few days ago. His Mom comes home on Wednesday night, late. Both the pups will be happy to see their Momma.

I tried my air fryer out last night making french fries. Lesson learned better to do one potato at a time. They did crisp up or at least most of them did but some did not. It was easy to do. Will have to try something else. I will have to make some of that yummy rice pudding with my handy dandy Tupperware pressure cooker. I have two small appliances that I can use in this heat. Not a good time to be turning on the oven.

This will be short as I did not set up my workspace last night and am feeling that I need some COFFEE this morning. I also need to take some of my plants outside. Will try and find a place that will not be in the burning sun. Likely will end up moving them about throughout the course of the day. My deck faces south and there is no cover from the heat of the day. My daughter is going to bring me an umbrella which will help with some shade.

I hope that you keep cool on this Monday. Be safe.

Wishing and praying that moisture extinguishes the wildfires. Keep the animals and humans all safe.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning. Happy Mother’s Day to All the Moms out there. Mother’s Day celebrates all those humans that care, look after and love another living being. If you have children or if you have a pup or a cat or a fish or a bird we celebrate you. I think it is important to celebrate all those people that keep another living breathing being safe, cared for and loved. Happy Mother’s Day.

Yesterday I was lucky to have my daughter, son-in-law and grand-pups Aspen & Milo visit me. We also had a special guest Miss Breeze who is a black lab and will be spending a few days with my kiddos while her parents are away. She is such a sweet doggie and I fell in love with her. We had take out for supper. The kids had ordered some Vietnamese dishes and picked them up on their way over. The food was so yummy. For dessert my son-in-law had his favourite chocolate chip cookies (I baked them) and we gals had a Key Lime Pie from M&M’s (obviously not baked by me, lol). We even had time for a game of Sequence. My family gave me an air fryer (see photo) and I gave my daughter a bag full of Mary Kay products. What girl does not like makeup!

To Amanda

Miss Breeze

Aspen & Milo

Humphrey

Bogart

Gift time

Aspen chilling

Opening gifts

Miss Breeze relaxing

Miss Aspen relaxing

My GIFT

GIFTS

I did snap a couple of photos of Humphrey & Bogart from my earlier visit to them in the afternoon. Their Dad came home early so that ended my responsibilities. Miss Aspen sure loves her spot by the living room window. I made sure that I had set it all up for her before their arrival.

Last night after the kids left for home, I say outside and had some coffee while the sun set. What a beautiful evening. This morning the air is cool with the office window open.

Today will be a quiet day. I will go for a walk with my friends Alejandro, Eddie & Bruno. I hope that Bruno is doing better. Might be later than 6 p.m. if it is too hot then.

Last night I realized that I would like to learn some languages. Perhaps not to be fluent but to be able to converse with someone and to understand. I am thinking Spanish (I already know some words) and Arabic. Perhaps I could do this when I retire.

Time to head downstairs and make some coffee. I wish you all a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Have a great Sunday. Be safe!

I hope that the wildfires are burning out, stopping. I wish moisture to fall upon them and stop further damage. I hope all life is safe and unharmed.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel).

Photo by George Dolgikh on Pexels.com

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Well here we are once again at Monday morning. The sky is partially overcast and we are all hoping for rain. The ground is so dry. The forests that paint a lovely picture of our dear home “Alberta” are desperately dry and need some moisture. There are still many wildfires burning out of control. I fear that the loss of wildlife and domestic farm animals will climb with every moment the fires burn. Spring is the time of renewal and of birth. So many babies will never have a chance at a life. Very sad. My heart breaks and hurts for this unnecessary loss. Most of the fires that are burning are man made. Some idiot either threw a cigarette out of a window while driving, or was burning trash or something. I know that many wildfires burn as a result of nature. Lightning strikes are a big one. Sending thoughts of moisture to extinguish the fires. Seems like everyday they are placing another community on immediate evacuation. I keep checking with my daughter to see how they are doing. They have bags packed to leave on a moment’s notice. I am glad that they are taking this seriously and are prepared.

Last night in mid evening (for me), I saw a little bird with a piece of fluff in the tree. All of a sudden the piece of fluff or cotton fell. The little bird quickly dove down to the fluff and picking it up in its’ beak tried to lift it up once again. There was nothing that I could do to help. The bird gave up and flew away. Was it trying to make a nest? I am thinking that this may be late for that but I am not a bird. Perhaps the little bird has had trouble finding little things to make a nest. Poor little one.

Thankfully the wind has calmed down this morning. Hoping and praying that the winds remain calm from here on in. That would be nice and would help the fire situation greatly.

Yesterday morning I baked a pumpkin cake and made a cream cheese icing. The chocolate banana pumpkin loaf that I had made Saturday night was not quite the way that I like it for someone else to eat. It is edible so I will munch away on it but not to take for friends to eat. The pumpkin cake was a yummy. So glad that I decided to try a new recipe. I did change up the icing though. I had a great visit yesterday afternoon with my dear friends Gillian & Signe. Always great to catch up with these ladies.

Time to head downstairs and make coffee and have breakfast. My mouth is still a bit sore. After the pushing and pushing (not pulling), I think it will take awhile for it to feel 100% relief.

Wishing you a great Monday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning Everyone! I hope that you had an excellent Saturday.

My Saturday was very good starting out with a great walk and ending with watching a movie. The in between was pretty great as well. I did some cleaning, transplanted a plant, laundry, walked with one of my girl friends to Save-On and back and odds and ends. A productive day.

I also forgot temporarily in the morning that I had recorded King Charles III’s Coronation. The ceremony was spectacular. I can only imagine being in the congregation.

Charles was the 40th Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The first was William the Conquer in 1066. The Stone of Destiny from Scotland was present. St. Edwards Crown which was made back in 1661 was brought out from the vault and is only worn for coronations. This is a heavy crown and likely part of the reason that it is only worn for a short time. Queen Consort Camilla wore Queen Mary’s crown, her first crown. She had the crown remade so that it was lighter using some of Queen Elizabeth II’s personal jewels in the crown and removing 4 of the 8 arches.

The Archbishop of Canterbury administered the oath to the King. There were many prayers. The Coronation Chair was surrounded by Anointing Screens featuring embroidered trees representing the Commonwealth. The Anointing with Holy Oil is central act of the religious ceremony. A long golden coat was placed on King Charles III followed by the Coronation Girdle. The long golden coat is named the Supertunic. He was vested in Columbium Sindonis, Supertunic and Girdle while sitting on the Coronation Throne. Then there was the Investiture of King Charles III which involved presenting him with the SPURS – which symbolize Knighthood and Chivalry. The Exchange of the Jewelled Sword by Lord President of Council Penny Mordant who presented the Sword to the King. This was the first time in history that a woman has carried and presented the sword to the King. The Armies (bracelets) were presented to the King by Lord Kamala. Prince William presented the Royal Robe/Stole to his Father, King Charles III. Followed by the Orb – Sovereign’s power which was made in the 17th century, the Ring which signifies Kingly dignity and the Coronation Glove which signifies authority and gentleness and grace. Ending with the Sceptre & Rod which signifies equity and mercy, power and justice. He was then crowned with St. Edwards crown.

The ceremony for the Queen consisted of presentation of the Ring, the Crown and the Sceptre and Rod. A much shorter ceremony but beautiful all the same.

The King exchanged St. Edward’s Crown for the Imperial State Crown before leaving Westminster Abbey.

The Diamond Jubilee Coach is made of wood but covered in gold and weighs 4 tons. Eight horses pulled the coach.

After leaving the Abbey the new King and Queen stepped into the Diamond Jubilee Coach to make their way to Buckingham Palace. They were followed by the next in line to the thrown Prince William, Princess Catherine and three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in a separate coach. Prince George was a page to the King, his grandfather.

At Buckingham Palace they took to the balcony where they greeted the people who had come to the palace to see them. The working royals were all in attendance along with the pages to the King and attendants to the Queen.

The music was amazing and the sound in the abbey was heavenly.

They are having a concert to celebrate unfortunately it is not televised by any of the major networks so not so easy to watch. I am sure that someone will post clips on the internet.

This morning continues to be windy and the sky is overcast. I am going to my friend Gillian’s for coffee at 1:00 p.m.

Time to head downstairs and make some coffee.

Have an awesome Sunday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel).

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Today is the Dentist day. My appointment is for this morning. Fingers crossed that all goes well. The house is warm this morning. I am going to run downstairs and open the windows to cool the main floor before the pups arrive in less than one hour. Change to plans as they have to come earlier today which worked out okay.

Last night after work I had planned to go for a walk but was having some groceries delivered so had to wait. I ended up going for a walk after supper. The Universe is also watching and guiding. I decided to take the cards for my friend Sara down the street. Yes the thank you card and memory card for Alvin. We just did not seem to connect and I thought I may be able to catch them at home. We had a nice catch up visit and then I continued on my walk. I did not get far at all, one house away when I saw my friend Jaime, her daughter and dog Sadie and then I heard in response to my “hello” to them on a porch another friend “Ada” and would find out in few minutes her sister. Of course, I had not seen these neighbours since before Alvin passed away. We had some tears and hugs and a nice visit. Ada’s sister told me when her pup passed and how she just could not go for walks anymore. I find myself going but feeling very alone when I am out, like someone is missing. He is missing, of course. My Alvin was an important part of my life for a long time, 13 years plus. I miss him. The next few months will be hard as I am sure we will see more people that I had not had the opportunity to tell them. It was funny, not haha funny, that both Jaime & Ada seem to know when they did not see Mr. Alvin with me. I guess we were always together. I don’t think that I ever went for a walk without him. Jaime had her phone with her so she took my phone number for a planned future walk. I seldom take my phone with me and sometimes miss out catching photos and numbers. When plans change there are reasons why! Had I gone right after work, I would have missed seeing Ada, meeting her sister and Jaime & Sadie and meeting her daughter. Just as I was about to continue on my way more friends showed up to the party “Allie & Bailey.” Bailey saw me first and I could hear her squealing with delight. They were on their way home from a walk so I joined them.

I decided that I would work from home for a little bit this morning before heading out to the Dentist appointment.

I have a bit of a headache this morning. Perhaps from being hot. Supper did not sit well with me last night. Maybe a bit of worry about the dentist. I know it will be okay but there is always the unknown.

Time to head downstairs and prepare for the pups arrival. I set up my computer last night so it is ready for me to work for a bit before I leave for the appointment.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Wow, sure has been windy the past couple of days. Waking up to another windy day. My daughter let me know that they are not being evacuated due to the wildfires. The fires turned direction so they are safe at home. You know I never thought of them being affected by wildfires until they moved to the country. I guess we all have a false sense of security living in the big city. Now when the wind blows, I feel panicked. They only have one car. The person that is working or is at home does not have a vehicle to get them and the pups to safety. An EXIT plan is a necessity. One never knows what could happen. Even sometimes it could be the smoke, too. Anyway, I let her know if there is every a time where they need to get out – come here. I suppose she already knew this! Also if one has an item or three that are irreplaceable, they should be ready to go at a moment’s notice. I believe in being preparing. Never hurts to have a plan or two in place.

Well, I decided to go to work and see what time that I can get into the dentist as it may not even be until tomorrow. Who knows? Hopefully this afternoon or tomorrow morning. If I can get in after lunch, I can leave work at noon and make my way there. I may even be able to catch a ride with my carpool as she goes home at noon to drive her son to school. He turned six last week and will be in grade one in September. I am grateful that I am pain free with the broken tooth, so I will just go to the office.

Yesterday, I vacuumed and wash all of the floors on the main and upstairs. I cleaned the top of the landing rug as well with my bissell cleaner. Looks good. I had the windows open as well to air the house out. Sure was quiet with Cookie gone home.

Time to go downstairs and put the coffee on. According to the weather channel there are some warm warm days on the way for this week. Pups come tomorrow. I guess time to break out the fans. I will open the windows on those days early to cool off the house for them.

Wishing you a great day!

Fingers crossed that everything goes well at the dentist. I am certain that the tooth will need to be pulled and then what? I think bridge but not sure about the surrounding teeth.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Woke up with a headache but have to shake it off as I have things that need to be done today at work. The sky is starting to rise as the sun positions to rise. Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day. On my lunch break I walked over to the mall and cashed in my winning lottery tickets. I won $2 and a free play. Better than the opposite. I also picked up the winning $62 million lotto 649 for last night’s draw. The walk was so nice. By the time I got back to the office, I was warm with my sweater underneath my jacket. My coworker & carpool had an appointment in the afternoon and left work early so I caught the bus home. Nice walk. The ice and snow on the walkway near to my house thankfully had dried up. YAY. Spring, truly is here. The snow has mostly melted from my back yard and the front. Another week or so and I will be able to rake. Definitely waiting until the ground has thawed completely. I may not rake the leaves up as I heard it is good to leave them on for awhile. Perhaps wait until grass starts to turn green.

When I arrived home, my neighbour (other half of duplex) came out. Jess said that she had something for me, I asked if I could quickly run and grab the mail. My parcels were here from TSC (The Shopping Channel) – the quilt and sheets for my bed had arrived. YAY. When I got back to the house, Jess handed me a bag and told me that she wanted to give me something special as a memory of Alvin. I will have to put the photo here as it is a whirly that has a photo of Alvin on it ….. for outside …… it is made of tin and is so beautiful. I will post a photo later. So grateful to everyone near and far for their love and support. There isn’t a day that goes by where I do not shed a tear for Alvin, I miss him so much. He was the best guy and friend and companion.

I made the executive decision to call a repairman to “fix” my stove. The company I called charge a $99 diagnostic / come out charge so I figured why not? If I can fix the stove – better than something to go to the eco station or wherever old appliances go. The appointment is for 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Fingers crossed that it is an inexpensive repair and that I have my stove back again. Time down will be three weeks on Sunday. ARGH.

I am sorry for this to be short but hard to think with a headache. So I shall sign off.

Have an awesome Thursday! Yup, only one more day now till the weekend. Whoops, sorry – do not need to be rushing the days. Sometimes, I do, sometimes I need to ….

The rabbits are almost completely brown now.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning. Well I wished that I had not decided to check to see what my utility bills were to pay them. My EPCOR bill for heat, electricity and water and the extras like garbage and sewage was $522.44. Over $200.00 more than it was last month. Holy smokes, I almost hit the floor. What the heck! What is going on? I quickly checked my EPCOR account / bill to see that the natural charge skyrocketed from last month and I did not even look at the electricity. Someone is making money hand over fist. Let’s get real out there …… what do they think we are, made of money! There is no reason why these costs have to be so high. I am one person. I guess I am going to have to turn my heat way way down because this is bananas. Anyway, rant is over.

Definitely running a bit late now. I need a pot of coffee and I do not even think that coffee will help me now. I just cannot believe that my bill increased by over $200.00 from last month. I am in shock. What do large families?

On the upside, it is Thursday and a long weekend lies ahead. Thank goodness. Last night after work I went for a nice walk and at lunch break as well. Also my daughter swung by after work and brought with her a heating element which she had stopped to buy for me. So tonight I will install the element. Looks like it should be pretty straightforward.

I have the treat bags ready for the office. Happy early Easter.

Wishing you a great day.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Well it is Wednesday and one more day after today until a four day weekend for me. I am excited to have four days off in a row. Time for a break. Easter sure came quickly this year. How are you this morning? Are you having a good week? Are you working or going to school or perhaps you are retired or in between dreams? After work yesterday, I quickly got changed and grabbed the necessities, my jacket and put on my runners. Yes, the ones that my daughter picked up for me at the thrift store are really comfortable and perfect for my walks. I was heading not just for a walk but to the grocery store. Two reasons. Save-On had 15% off and because my oven is not working – I had to go with plan B for the office “Easter” treats. So I found some little Easter bags and picked up several sweet chocolate treats to fill them. The bags were made of a light canvas like material and had a draw string closure with ribbons and they had sewn fake Bunny ears in the inside of the front so that they would stand up. Very cute. They actually had a couple of different ones. Af first I found blue and pink ones and then I found the ones that I just described. They are better for adults. I also made out of various colours of construction paper egg shaped cards and decorated them with stickers. Oh, yes, I bought a package of Easter stickers and am going to put a sheet of them inside each bag. Happy Easter to my FIVE co-workers. Our Manager is going to “hide” some treats tomorrow morning to celebrate Easter for us. After the last near month of acclamating to the new way of doing our jobs, we need some fun and some chocolate. You are never too old for an Easter Egg hunt. Our office is small so I am thinking it will be an easy one. I like easy (sometimes). So tonight after I go for a walk, I will finish putting together the treat bags for the office. One of these days, I will get the photo thing worked out so that I can share with you all of the photos that I have been snapping. The photos that I have been sharing are ones that I already have in my photo library in word press. I know. Sometimes this technology thing is just too much. Maybe in between spring cleaning I will figure out the photos and why I am not able to upload them from photos on this computer to word press. Likely something very easy but then again my daughter could not figure it out and she is very tech savvy.

Oh, the store was busy last night. I even saw my neighbour Savannah and her little boy Grayson (oh my goodness, cuteness). He would not say hello Carol but he did say bye Carol (he is not quite two). I think he did well. My name is not easy to say.

After I returned home and was putting things away, I happen to see my friend Alyaa and her daughter Donia coming up the walk. I opened the door and she was holding a tray of food. As it turns out she had made too much of this dish and wanted to share with me. I would akin it to “pizza” but a Middle Eastern twist on the Western version. A thin crust with light topping of spiced ground beef with onions and peppers. (Was really good). We had a lovely visit and so many laughs. She is such a wonderful person. Guess what? Miss Cookie will be staying with me later on in April for just over a week while they travel to the United States to see Alyaa’s sister. I am excited to have Cookie with me.

Well bedtime came quickly last night.

Whoops I better get “hopping” here as I want to get my coffee perking and have breakfast. The sky is lightening and the morning is definitely here. I hope that you all have a wonderful day. Be safe, be well and have fun. Laugh with a friend, your spouse, with anyone. Laughter, we did more of …..

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities, coffee and forgiveness.

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel).