Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 6th day of January, 2019.

It is light outside as it is now after 9:00 this morning but there is no sign of the sun.

Taking another vacation day, I suppose.

I know that it is there hiding behind the clouds otherwise we would be one big popsicle.

But at this vantage point it is hiding as only white clouds cover the sky.

It always seems quiet before we get going in the mornings.

Which is a good thing.

Now just the clicking of the keys as I touch them.

The furnace was running but has warmed the house so stopped until it is needed once again to warm the house.

We are expecting snow as per the weather forecast.

Another warmer day for January but tomorrow is supposed to dip down and at the cold end it is to be -25 degrees celsius.

ARGH, that is not very nice.

No complaints as it has been so nice for January thus far.

 

TODAY is the birthday of one of my closest friends.

Happy Birthday “L,” – wishing you the most wonderful day and year ahead.

Reminds me that I have not seen her in a very long time.

I used to work with her and could just take a shortcut to her house from mine and be there in just a couple of minutes.

Now not so easy.

Life changes.

 

As I review the month of January on my birthday calendar almost each day has a birthday or two.

Busy month.

Lots of family and friends, this month celebrating.

 

This afternoon I was invited by one of my friends in the neighbourhood to her daughter’s baby shower.

She gave me very “clear” instructions not to bring a gift or food and that only my presence was required.

Her words it is a celebration of the new baby and that they have the food and gifts covered.

We are close in age.

So I know that knows this is something our age group automatically does.

She is friend who was born in England and I refer to her garden as a “English garden.”

Part of my knows that I should listen to her instructions but another part cannot do this.

I have never attended a baby shower or anything like this without a gift.

So I have something small and a card from us (me and Alvin).

I am hoping that no offence will be taken and that I can use the “line” – Alvin insisted.

I guess part of it is EGO.

Not being able to bear someone thinking that “she did not bring anything.”

I only know my friend, the Mom-to-be, her sister and children.

It is unlikely that I will know anyone else.

Oh well, decision made.

Take a small gift.

Not elaborate.

I will go to the shower for a little while and then return home to take Mr. Alvin for a walk as tomorrow may be too cold.

Do not wish to miss our window for a walk.

Hopefully the snow will wait.

Or perhaps we should go this morning.

Yes, that is likely a better idea.

 

Have breakfast and some coffee …. get dressed and go.

I have a couple of hours or so.

 

Well time to go here.

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday.

 

Tonight is the Golden Globes.

I like to watch them.

 

I forgot to mention that poor Mr. Alvin has a bacterial ear infection.

Found this out at his appointment yesterday morning.

I had been giving me a few ear drops as I was thinking that he did.

His ear was tender to the touch more so than usual.

They were able to give me one of two treatments.

A more powerful treatment so that they could administer it and then I will take him back next Saturday for part 2.

Giving him ear medication is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Special Hello to: the birthday girl…Happy Birthday.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 7th day of June, 2018.

One week into June.

Another gorgeous day on the way.

Sunshine with a bit of coolness to begin the day.

 

Last night while on our walk we bumped into friends.

Two were chatting at the back fence of another admiring the garden of the one.

Our friend “L” has this amazing vegetable garden every year.

Our other friend “P” and “A” who live two doors down from her, were returning from a walk.

Our vegetable garden Queen did not plant “lettuce” this year because it did not grow last year so she has moved on.

She is so funny.

Our other friends got treats for Alvin …. we have to seriously start decreasing the treats.

For both of us… really.

Walking helps but it is not getting the belly down.

Yikes.

My friend “P” of above gave me three sunflower plants and some snapdragons as she did not have any more room in her garden for them.

She has the most beautiful “English Garden” ….. we call it that as she is from England.

The garden is so pretty …. even now at the beginning.

 

Well I have to catch the bus this morning.

Back to public transportation for a few days.

ARGH.

Not that bad other than time but that is okay.

The house is cool this morning and the blinds are all closed except for two so that Alvin can look out of those windows.

The window by his favourite chair in the living room and the one at the end of our bed.

Both face north so does not get too terribly hot.

 

I hope that you are enjoying life.

Some days may be not be perfect but pick the moments that are and savour them.

 

Special Hello to: all my friends in Edmonton ….

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 8th day of September, 2016.

Well it clearly coming closer to that time of year once again.

It is almost 6:30 a.m. and just barely a sign of the sun rising.

Oh how I miss those mornings when the sun was so bright as you left home that sunglasses were a must.

But as is life there are seasons to everything.

I do love this time of year once I get past the sun coming up so much later.

It is a wide variety of colours on the trees as they beginning to ready for winter.

Some are yellow, different shades of green and some already red.

Love, love, love the colours.

Our flowers are still doing so well.

The colours all seem to intermingle so well.

I would love to see how it all looks from the air.

I would imagine utterly breathtaking.

Last night on our walk we found our friend “P” at home.

She is the lady from England (came over a long time ago) that has the most beautiful “English” garden.

Her flowers are so perfect.

She has started to ready her gardens for fall/winter.

There is pulling and trimming to do of course.

We had a wonderful visit and Alvin loves her yard.

He rolls around in the grass as though he had never seen it before …… so cute.

The grass is still the rich green colour.

We have had so much moisture and there remains rain in our forecast so it will likely stay for a while.

We enjoyed our time with our friend visiting and always learning.

I have learned so much from her …. she is a wonderful person.

 

This morning the kids are dropping off Elton to spend the day with Alvin so I can hop a ride with them to the office.

The bus is still working out the kinks or perhaps it is I who is doing that …..

The morning bus is good but at night “sucks.”

 

I do hope for one thing and that is that the evenings continue to stay so nice.

We have certainly enjoyed our walks.

I did notice last night as the sun was going down that the mosquitoes were coming out.

I had not noticed that before …..

Oh well.

 

I did not see many dragonflies this summer but perhaps because their food source was limited.

Mother Nature works her magic …..

 

Well time to fly and finish getting ready as my ride will soon be here.

I hope that you have a splendid day …. one more till the weekend.

That is always a good thing.

 

Special Hello to: all those who take the time to read my blog, thank you.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 8th day of June, 2016.

Today is my last day at the office for the week.

YAY, two days of vacation and I am grateful to have an extra long weekend.

Last  night the skies clouded over and the temperature cooled after a sunny hot day.

There was a bit of rain and the skies are partially cloudy at this time ( 6:15 a.m.).

 

Last night Alvin and I went for a walk about 8:00 p.m.

It actually had cooled and was not hot.

The Mama, me, made sure to take some water for the boy, Alvin.

I cannot imagine how hot dogs and cats and other animals get in the heat of the summer wearing their fur coats.

Alvin will be sporting a hair cut as of tomorrow or Friday.

His favourite thing to do, not.

 

Anyway back to the walk.

When we were nearing our friend’s house with the English garden …. Alvin started pulling toward the yard.

Sure enough who was working in her garden.

So we stopped by for a visit.

Alvin loves to roll around in her grass (she has a huge backyard).

He also loves to sniff around as there is so much to sniff.

My friend “P” was happy to see us and said that she had just finished making me up a pot of flowers.

The one flower that I recognized was pansies.

A pretty yellow.

How sweet.

She also dug more flowers out of her garden for me to take home.

Now with the pot and two bags of plants and Alvin and his water bottle.

I could not manage but she had thought of that and escorted us home.

Helping with carrying the pots, bags and we took turns with Alvin and the pot.

After she left I transplanted the flowers in my front flower bed.

So glorious.

Only three of the plants came from other than my friend.

Two were perennials that I had picked up from the mother-daughter annual flower shopping trip last year and the other was from my other friend who happens to have a beautiful garden as well.

I am the luckiest woman, I have the most kind and generous friends, for sure.

 

Well here it is once again time to grab that sandwich out of the fridge, put on some shoes and grab my purse and out the door.

Must take umbrella just in case.

 

I will post some photos of my flower bed as I have flowers blooming and it looks so beautiful with all my gifts.

Have an awesome Wednesday.

 

Special Hello to: my friend “W” who I have missed …… thank you for reading my blog.  Hope all is well with you and your family.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 11th day of May, 2016.

This morning the sun is up and shining and it is WARMER inside our house.

Thank goodness for that.

I noticed our tree out front is flowering big time.

Now I am pretty sure it might have had little fuzz balls other years but not full blown FLOWERS.

It is so beautiful.

I must snap a photo later ….. to show you all.

 

Mr. Alvin and I had a nice walk last night by our lake.

It is so peaceful there.

Such a great place to relax and think.

Or just relax as you walk along.

Sometimes we stop and watch the geese and ducks in the water.

Admiring the green grass and trees.

Checking out the yards that back onto the lake and how beautiful the gardens are becoming.

My friend “P” lives in one of these homes and her yard always reminds me of an English garden.

 

Always a good idea when you are out and about to just soak in the natural beauty that surrounds us.

Even if you live in a concrete jungle you can always find a park in the city or just look up to the sky.

Nature is my meditation.

She makes me feel good.

 

Happy Wednesday.

Special Hello to: all those folks who love to walk.

Always, Carol and 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 Saturday the 16th day of April, 2016.

YAY, happy that it is now the weekend.

Last night after work Alvin and I set out on our routine “early evening” walk.

It was about 5:30 p.m.

We were walked to the park and were about halfway round when I heard my name being called.

I looked away from Alvin to see our friends “P and A” sitting on their patio sipping on drinks.

So we toddled on over to say hello.

Alvin was desperately trying to get in through the gate.

They have the one that is steel/iron or the like and he can get his nose in ……

He wanted the door to be opened so that he could say hello.

We quite often see our friends in the summer.

P is an avid gardener and has one of the prettiest ones in the area.

She is English and her garden lives up to the “English Garden” reputation.

Anyway …… they invited us in.

Mr. Alvin was so excited.

They said gates were closed and nothing he could get into so off came the leash.

Now they live off the park that surrounds our man-made lakes and they have a BIG backyard.

They had crocuses blooming and at the moment some yellow daffodils.

I remember crocuses on the farm when I was a young girl.

Fields of purple….. so lovely.

He ran and ran and rolled and rolled.

He loves their backyard.

They asked if I would like a glass of wine …. now I am not much of a drinker period and wine is not really my forte but I decided to throw caution to the wind (and it was windy) and have a glass.  Whew, long sentence, I know.  I was thinking it all in one breath.

So out came the extra chair and a glass of white wine.

It was actually yummy and we visited and I sipped on the glass.

There was a cool wind blowing so eventually we took the “party” inside.

I joked about not eating and was feeling tipsy after half a glass.

Oh my …..

Alvin was treated to some yummy stuff and they from time to time look after their “grand-puppy (an actual puppy) …. wait for it “GEORGE.”

The cutest bundle of brown joy if there ever was …..

He was not there but Alvin enjoyed some of his treats.

We visited and had a great time.

They are such a wonderful couple.

Two hours later Alvin and I walked into our house.

First thing on the agenda … supper.

A quick bowl of soup and I felt much better.

I will say that this morning I had a bit of a headache – ARGH a hangover ….. at my age.

Oh well, it was so much fun.

They invited us to come over when they have a fire … they have an iron fire pit (so it is contained).

We will have a party with hot dogs and marshmallows and maybe even a glass of wine.

Food first …… definitely.

Well I am now getting ready to go and spend a couple of hours with my friend “J” whose grandson is in the Stollery Hospital here in Edmonton.

The family (Mom, Dad and big brother) are stay at Ronald McDonald House.

So my friend thought it would be nice for me to take a tour and to meet her elder grandson who is 2.

They live in Regina / Moose Jaw.

Tomorrow is my training party for my new consultant to Steeped Tea.

I guess I have a team …..

So a busy weekend and I am also meeting the girls for coffee tomorrow morning.

Usually I am at home except for a stop to the grocery store.

I am sure that Alvin would be okay …. I just feel badly to leave him alone.

Gotta run and eat and have some COFFEE.

Have an awesome Saturday.

Hang out with some friends …..

Special Hello to: all of my friends … I am truly so blessed.

Always, Carol and Alvin