Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 12th day of July, 2018.

Wishing a dear friend Happy Birthday today.

She has always been like a second Mom to me.

Warm, funny, kind and generous.

She is a great, great lady.

Happy Birthday “Mom.”

 

Beautiful morning.

We have the windows opened and the furnace fan on and the house is cooling down.

I love the sky in the morning.

Especially when there are big white billowy clouds framing the blueness.

Perfection.

 

Alvin asked for a massage again this morning.

He stands besides me and puts his paw up which is his “asking nicely, asking politely” for something.

He just stood there enjoying the moments in pure bliss.

I could tell that he was enjoying the massage.

So happy to help him out.

 

Yesterday after work and into the evening still so warm for us so we opted out of the walk.

Somedays only one walk.

I had wanted to go this morning but could not get my self in gear as for some reason I was up and down all night.

Likely just the heat.

Not worried about anything.

 

My friend dropped off the boards for the fence last night.

They have to dry for a couple of weeks before I put them up.

The I will likely be “we” as I will need help.

 

I am thinking that perhaps we could go now for a short walk to the park.

Another fairly warm one on the way but is supposed to cool down for Friday and Saturday.

 

I hope that you are having a great day.

Enjoying the summer, I hope.

Hearing doggies outside barking as the neighbour wakes up.

 

Special Hello to: my family and friends …..

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 9th day of March, 2018.

Lately the mornings start out on the cool side but warm up throughout the day.

I heard a rumour that we were supposed to have double digit plus temperatures next week.

But last night when I checked out the long range forecast on the weather channel, that was not the case.

Time will tell.

We are getting close to spring.

I believe that might have something to do with Mr. Alvin’s sleep habits.

He was up several times last night.

We even went to bed early which clearly has helped me feel even remotely “alert” this morning.

I will say that the first time he did go to the bathroom and then later, too.

Maybe just an off week.

Oh well, I am glad that today is Friday.

We enjoyed a nice walk last night.

On our walk we bumped into one of our friends just arriving home.

I asked about the family and said that they were good except for some bad news.

His mother-in-law had passed away.

He was glad that she had gone and spent some time with her mother before she passed.

I also found out that their doggie had passed away last summer.

I know that it has been awhile since we spoke …. time flies.

This was a huge reminder that I need to go and visit people, my friends in the neighbourhood.

 

Well time to go and catch the bus.

I hope that you all have an awesome day.

Good reminder to us all, check in with your friends and family a bit more often.

Time has a way of getting away on us.

 

Happy Friday.

Special Hello to: my friends who lost their Mother and doggie.  In my thoughts.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 13th day of October, 2017.

Well the ground is dry but there is a heavy frost on the cars.

It is that time of year.

Yesterday was cool but when the sun shone it was quiet lovely.

I love this time of year.

We were asked to watch one of our friend’s doggie for tomorrow.

I am excited and I tried to explain to Alvin and he just looked at me and turned his head this way and that.

Perhaps he understood what I was jabbering on about …..

I hope that we all have a wonderful Friday.

Remember to be kind …. on the phone ….. in person ….. in the written word.

I know that sometimes I can be less than what I want to be ….. always a work in progress.

Always learning to be better and knowing that somedays it is difficult to get to that “better place.”

Have an awesome day.

I am grateful for a good week and look forward to the weekend.

Happy Friday the 13th ……

 

Special Hello to: all those folks who try everyday to be better than the day before …..

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 7th day of May, 2016.

The sun is shining and the sky is blue.

You can smell smoke in the air which keeps us in constant thought of our neighbours to the north.

This is my story.

 

THE CAKE

This past Thursday night as Alvin and I were out on our nightly walk we happened to see our friend “P” outside in her backyard.

Alvin loves her and begged to come into the yard.

We immediately began to chat about the fires burning up north in Fort McMurray.

She told me that she had family living up there and how they had been evacuated and how her niece rescued neighbours beloved pets and others along the way.

My heart soared as she told me their story.

My friend also said that they are on their way to stay with them while things get sorted out.

As she was speaking my mind raced to “what can I do” mode.

I knew that the foodstuffs and extra bits of things in my pantry were at an all time low so I did not readily volunteer to cook something.

With no money until payday to start refilling the shelves.

There had to be something else.

Now I am not saying that I do not have anything to eat …. I am okay.

But to make something worthy of these folks it had to be special and that,I could not do at this time.

So I did volunteer my spare bedroom and my air mattress but my friend said they should be okay (they have a HUGE house).

On our way out of the yard we chatted about her flowers which by the way are amazing.

She is English, and truly has an English garden, no matter the time of year, so beautiful.

P offered me a fern as she has many ….. I accepted but we decided to dig it out on the weekend.

She gave me some bulbs last fall and I am proud to say that they are growing.

On our way home I was thinking that I did have a cake mix, yes a store bought one in my cupboard.

Usually I make from scratch but always good to have one on hand.

I knew that I had plenty of eggs and just enough vegetable oil and of course, lots of water.

So I knew that I could bake a cake and take it over on the weekend.

The only fly in my ointment was the “icing.”

I had only a small amount of icing sugar (clearly not enough to cover a 9×13 cake).

No vanilla, lots of butter, no canned milk and some condensed milk.

What to do?

I needed to borrow some type of milk.

So I went to one of my neighbours and borrowed a can of coconut milk.

That was all she had.

It would work I thought …. would not be quite the same, but okay.

So I baked the cake which turned out proper.

Then I went to work on the icing …..

Earlier I had taken the butter out of the fridge so it could soften before I made the icing.

I placed the icing sugar into my mixer bowl, followed by some cocoa, and butter which was not clearly soft enough but in my need to get this done, I went ahead.

I added some condensed milk and some of the coconut milk.

Started to blend.

The butter was not mixing so I turn off the mixer and went about some other business.

Returning a while later …. mixed some more.

Still not perfect.

Returned a while later.

This went on for over three hours …… that butter just did not want to break down.

Finally I mixed and squashed the butter by hand.

The consistency is not the same as usual as there was not enough icing sugar, no vanilla and no canned milk.

But it tastes good …. so just after 11:30 last night I put the icing on the cake.

It spread well as it was not thick.

I covered it with some sprinkles of coconut as I thought with the coconut milk it might add to it.

Also threw on some of our Steeped Tea raspberry sugar …..

The point of this story is not really about the cake but to my need to immediately help out.

I have learned that it is better to wait for some time than to rush in and not be prepared.

The cake is baked and I had my neighbour check out the icing and she said thumbs up.

So I am relieved.

Later today I will take over the cake for the heroes visiting our city.

It is not much but it is from my heart and that is what truly counts.

I have heard of so many stories of how people have given so much when they have little themselves.

It is “our way” ….. to reach out and help those in need.

We have an office up north that my place of employment is affiliated with that was destroyed in the fires.

Some of the employees at that office have lost their homes as well.

I volunteered to go up if they need a hand knowing that Alvin can easily go and stay with my daughter and son-in-law.

We continue to hear stories of bravery and heroism and they will continue for a long time to come.

We all want to help.

No matter what you give as long as you give it from your heart – it is enough.

Time to go and give Mr. Alvin a much needed hair cut.

I am thinking that I could foster a doggie if needed.

Special Hello to: all those people from Fort McMurray you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day …..

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

Day #2 of May ….. it is a beautiful morning.

The sun is rising and the sky is clear.

Temperature forecasted to be 26 degrees celsius.

Crazy for the first week in May.

Tomorrow they are saying 28 and Wednesday 27.

Sounds like it will be time to turn on the AC for Mr. Alvin.

Today I will just close the blinds to the south and turn off the furnace.

I think it is safe to say that it won’t be “cold” until fall.

 

Question:  When someone asks you questions about someone else – do you answer those questions?

If you know the answer – do you always share?

I was just thinking that even though I may know the answer, if I believe the person being asked about would not give that information, then I will not share.

Common Sense or Common Courtesy or perhaps a bit of both.

I just think sometimes people get too nosy.

Sometimes it is just conversation.

BUT.

There are some things that people like to keep to themselves.

Some folks are just more private than others.

If someone tells me something not to share, I do not know.

Anyway food for thought.

 

I hope that you have an awesome day.

My daughter says Sir Elton continues to heal each day and is doing very well.

They had company on the weekend (friend with a doggie) and he was played out.

But then again he is almost “13” or almost “91” in human years.

Can you believe it?

Alvin is over 49 ….. that is crazy as he still acts like a young dog not a pup but a young one.

 

Well time to get this show on the road.

I hope that you all have an awesome Monday.

Stay cool …..

Special Hello to: my sister ….. HELLO

Always, Carol and Alvin