2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Monday morning? I hope that you are well and doing the things that you love. Alvin and I had a good night. I will admit that some Sunday nights I find it hard to turn off the “thoughts” and fall asleep. This was one of those night. We had a good day yesterday. Full of surprises. Early in the morning as it was raining I ran outside to move the downspout (I have a flexible one) as I had remembered that it was turned facing the area in between ours houses. When I went out to move it – I noticed to my surprise that the end stone retaining wall around the flower bed at the front of the house was falling over. It was close to coming down. I made a mental note and would come out and properly assess the situation once the rain was over and it was light outside. I finished some chores in the house and later in the morning, I collected some tools like a shovel, mini raking tool and a large pail and my heavy duty gardening gloves donned my spring jacket and my shoes and headed outside. Oh and I also opened the front window and pulled up the blinds so that Alvin could see and hear me. Out to work I went. I quickly realized the job ahead. I had forgotten about the heavy stones under the top couple of layers of flat rocks that were about two inches by 10 inches. Luckily I was strong enough to remove most of the wall. I had gone to ask the advice of my neighbour and her friend who agreed that the stones come down and have to move the dirt away from the styrofoam covered with black cloth to move it back into position. So digging I started after removing all but the bottom row of stones which is also semi buried in stones that cover the area in between our homes. These stones would be much hard to remove as I would have to move the stones first. ARGH. Also after doing some digging I realized that some of my plants would have to be removed and some had deep thick roots. At point I figured that it would be easier to dig being up in the flower bed so up I went. I dug out all the plants thinking maybe this is the perfect opportunity to start over again. Last year the plants were beginning to look bedraggled. After I dug them up I continued to dig up the dirt by the end of the wall and after two hours, I was done. I took the pail of plants and a garbage bag that I had semi filled and put them in the backyard. Then I grabbed two more garbage bags and divided them accordingly so that it would not be so heavy and placed the bags into the garage. Put away the tools (actually left the shovel by the front door hidden behind the bench, partial out of sight. So I think it will likely take me a couple of days after work to finish this project. I see some physical work ahead. Good exercise. I definitely used some muscles that I do not often use.

After I had finished cleaning things up, I went into the house to have a small snack and a bit of coffee. Alvin had some treats, too. I sat down on the sofa and felt so sleepy that I decided to have a nap. Two hours give or take I woke up and it was almost four o’clock. Yikes. Felt so much better. I worked on a few things around the house before giving Alvin his supper and once he was done – we headed out for a walk. I was happy that when we got to Pauline and Al’s house, I found Al and his grandpup Georgie outside on the patio along with his grandson. Then when she heard my voice, Pauline appeared followed by her daughter. So we had a good chat from the fence. I filled her in on receiving my first vaccine and the story along with my “flower bed wall” situation. We decided to get together sometime this week after work and go for a walk.

After our chat, we continued on our way. I cannot believe how much new grass has sprouted and how many buds there are on the trees. Still waiting for my tree to bud.

Well it is getting late and I have to turn on the coffee and get to work. Alvin needs to go outside.

I hope that you have a wonderful Monday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.

Always, with Love Carol & Alvin