The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Another beautiful May morning. Hard to believe that there are only two more days left in the month of May. Where does the time go? Feels like sometimes that it is evaporates. There is a coolness wafting into the office this morning. Yes, I opened the window to bring in some cool air. When I go downstairs I will open the windows at each end of the house. One being in the kitchen and the other in the living room. This will bring in some cool air. Gone are the days that I would open them early in the morning so that the main floor would be cool for Mr. Alvin. On the hot days, we would get out for an early morning walk. When Covid struck the planet, we would go in the mornings before work, if it was not too hot at my lunch break we would walk then and then should the temperatures be too hot after work, we would just stay cool by the fans. Sometimes we even went into the basement as it is always a few degrees cooler there. Yesterday morning after I got up and finished my small to do list, I grabbed my mug of coffee and “Alvin” and we sat out under the umbrella. He was in the shade but the umbrella did not quite cover me. There was still a nice cool breeze so I did not mind. We just enjoyed the sunshine with memories flooding my mind. He so loved his walks. His favourite spot on the deck was to lay just under the kitchen window and second was on the love seat next to me. I remember him as a pup and in the more early days how he would lay outside on the nice days soaking up the sunshine. Seems like a lifetime ago. I guess it really was but he will always be here.

Yesterday afternoon just after 4:00 p.m., the wind got up. I quickly brought in all of the houseplants and moved the other plants to the cover of the house or by the fence. I had taken the cushions from the table set and put them into the garage but left the cushions on the love seat and chairs on them. Earlier in the afternoon, my friend Gillian joined me on the deck for a cup of coffee, some sunshine, some laughter and good conversation. She is such a good friend. I am so grateful for her friendship. I was in the house and texting between three friends in two provinces when I noticed that one of the cushions had blown off one of the chairs. First time that has happened. I went out and put them away. All of my small items were moved just in case. If a gust moved the cushion then a little ornament from the table or deck could easily blow away. Not worried about anything get ruined but more of something being air borne and hitting someone or breaking a window. Anyway, after some heavy winds and a bit of rain a couple of hours later, I was out walking with Jeanette, Bruno and Eddie. Bruno, I am not sure how he is doing it, where does the energy come from, but he does a walk. Not a short one either. We take plenty of water and it almost all gets drank mainly by Bruno. We take three pet bottles of water and 500 ml (a lot of water). I will share a few photos of the boys from last night. The grass was “soft” after the rain.

Eddie

Bruno

Bruno

The time is getting late here and I have a few things to do before leaving the house for the day. Tonight I vote in our provincial election. That will be after work. I hope that you are doing well and have a wonderful Monday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin, My Forever Angel

Enjoying the sunshine

Alvin

Al

2021

Good Morning ALL. How are you today? I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my nephew in Calgary and one of my long time friends in Regina. They both celebrated birthdays yesterday and guess who forgot to send them birthday wishes. Happy Birthday to you both. May 2021 be filled with good health, great joy, much love and laughter and abundance.

Turnaround in our weather. Thankfully the temperatures are going up (warmer). One or so weeks of this frigid weather is enough for us. Tomorrow I am hosting a birthday party for one of my Edmonton friends in our garage. We will have heaters thanks to another Edmonton girlfriend. I can honestly say that I have never hosted a birthday party in a garage. I have hosted on the deck, in the house, in basements, on the beach, at McDonalds, in a park and so on but never ever in a garage. After work today, I am going to move around and organize seating and a table for us. Hang up some decorations. The Birthday Banner. The guest list is the three of us friends which includes the birthday girl. I must add Alvin to the list as he will NOT stay quiet in the nice warm house. He has to be attached to me all of the time. I have this perfect patio set that is made to resemble wicker but it is not. There is a small “loveseat” and two comfy chairs. They all have nice cushions which I just remembered will need to be brought out of their storage bags. I also have a small table that comes with the set and then a large round table. So I will move the large round table into the middle of the garage or close to the middle. Place the seating six feet apart. Make sure that everyone has a spot to set their coffee/tea drinks on and we are set to go. Set up should not take too long. Just some rearranging and we are good to go. In the morning, I will take the cupcakes (made from scratch, I might add) and some other treats to the garage along with a butler of coffee. The gift. Party time. I am so excited to spend good quality in person time with two of my best girl friends ever. They are amazing human beings and I am more than proud to call them my friends.

Well I guess it is time to head on back downstairs. Put on the coffee and start work in a few minutes. YAY it is Friday. It has been a strange week. Alvin seems to have a dislike for the headset that I put on so when I am on the phone which is often he barks. I even let him sniff the headset but to no avail, he still barks. When I was using the phone app, I could get up and take the phone with me, I cannot do that with the headset, as it is not cordless. So it has been frustrating. Sometimes he has to go out and other times not. What a guy.

Okay, it is Friday. Today is going to be quiet and a great day. Looks like it may be nice enough for us to take some semblance of a walk at noon today. I am so grateful. I think he needs to get out for longer than bathroom breaks.

Living with kindness, respect, compassion and learning to be more patience. Learning. Learning, Learning.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 7th day of May, 2017.

Well looks like today may not be quite as beautiful as yesterday …. cloudy this morning but the sun is peeking through in spots.

Yesterday was amazing.  Nice and warm.

I do not know what the temperature was but Alvin and I enjoyed hours outside.

I washed/hosed down the front, side and back of the house – as far as the hose would reach.

I washed/hosed down the deck – carefully getting into all the little spaces.

I brought out the patio furniture and washed it down before bringing out the cushions and putting it all in order.

Now just need some pretty flowers.

Also cleaned out the garage.

Started by folding up all the Steeped Tea cardboard boxes.

I had a lot of them.

Reorganize, rearranged, and then swept the floor.

Looks like a new place.

Lots of garbage for Tuesday morning.

In between did several loads of laundry and vacuumed.

Felt like I accomplished a lot.

After supper we went for a walk and not far away from home bumped into one of my guy neighbours with his dog “Jersey.”

Jersey is part bull-dog and I do not remember the rest but she is so cute and Alvin likes her.

They were on their way to the park.

He had a remote control truck with him ….. said that Jersey liked to chase after it at the park.

They usually go to the little area in between the lakes that is closed off except for the opening.

So quite enclosed.

He asked if we would like to go with him, so we did.

Ended up some kids were playing soccer in the little area so we stayed to the side which was away from the streets on both ends.

So cute watching Jersey chase after the truck.

You could tell she loved to catch the truck.

After a few minutes the battery died on the truck.

“J” said that he does not leave it fully charged as Jersey can not catch it.

He asked if we wanted to do the loop around the lake and “we” said yes.

I though that it was dry but apparently not as my shoes were soaked by the time we reached the sidewalk on the other side.

Oh, well.

Thank goodness I did not have my good ones on.

We bumped into friends along the way.

Such a great walk.

Nice to have conversation with a guy …..

Different perspective and all.

Great to have good neighbours.

After I got home I decided to bake some cookies.

Then we watched “Deepwater Horizon” ….. got to rent it for only $1.00.

Based on a true story from 2010.

Perfect ending to a great day.

Did I tell you that it rained all night?

Or for several hours anyway.

The grass out front looks more green this morning.

Well time to get dressed …. feeling lazy.

I was going to go out and do “my community service” and clean up the trash in my neighbourhood but ….. with the rain last night, I do not wish to pick up wet stuff.

It gets too heavy for me to carry.

I know that there is lots to pick up but I would rather it was dry.

Perhaps if it warms up and the sun goes out maybe this afternoon.

But my daughter may drop by for a visit this afternoon and she trumps everything.

I love time with my girl.

Well did I say time to get dressed, yes, I did.

I hope that you all had a great and productive and relaxing weekend thus far.

Happy Sunday.

Special Hello to my friends all over the world.

Always, Carol and Alvin