2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Sunday morning? I will admit after a pretty good night sleep, I found it hard to get my fanny farkle off the sofa. Thank goodness for Mr. Alvin’s persistence otherwise I would like still be curled up under the blanket on the sofa. Oh well, I am up and getting to things. Figured better to write this post first and then have a shower and get on with this day. I am going to make lemon pancakes for breakfast (something different) and I have a short list of things to do. Big thing on the list is to clean the upstairs bathroom ceiling fans and the main floor light fixtures. We will get a walk. Oh, I forgot to tell you that yesterday when we went for a walk in the afternoon – Alvin wanted to keep on walking so we did our usual route. We haven’t done that walk since June. We saw someone that we knew that we had not seen since June and he was surprised to see us so we chatted for a few minutes to catch up. Funny how many people you get to know while out walking. We were home for a little bit when I noticed that the boy was limping just a little but it was short lived and hasn’t happened since that moment (thank goodness). We slept upstairs last night and as I have been doing I carried both up and downstairs. Better to be safe than sorry. I cannot go through this all over again, once is enough. Having an injured dog is not much fun for him or for the owner. It seems like forever since we had any kind of normalcy and I guess that could be held true for the last almost two years now. I guess timing is everything in a way. Had this happened before the Pandemic, I am not sure what I would have done. Taken a leave of absence and had no pay. How would that have worked? It would have been brutal. I am over the moon grateful that we are working from home. Not because of the reasons why. The sun is up and shining brightly. Earlier when we were outside as the sun was rising. The sun was coming up on the horizon and shining on the deep blue clouds giving them the appearance of a top coat of pink. Absolutely breathtaking. I could see my breath again this morning but no frost on the ground.

Yesterday I cleaned out my front flower bed. I snipped off the marigolds and dainty yellow flowers (do not remember their name) and make a small bouquet for the kitchen table. I laid down some fresh coffee grounds in the bare dirt. Cultivated the dirt somewhat. One more thing off the FALL TO DO LIST. I still need to put my summer sandals and shoes in the basement. I sure do not wear many different shoes or use many purses since I have been home or jackets. So many choices and not enough times to use them. I will leave the front closet until the bitter end …… because we all know that once you put the you know what in the closet ….. those things will be there till next May or so. LOL.

Today is the One YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my friends and neighbours Jessica & Eric who tied the knot on this date last year. It was a small wedding but so beautiful and I am so grateful that I was able to attend their special day.

I am so grateful to be surrounded by wonderful people. Truly I have the best neighbours on the planet. Last night I spent some time with Humphrey and Bogart and Cynder as their parents were out and about.

Time to hit the shower. I hope that you have a wonderful day. Have a nap if you need it. I am looking forward to tasting lemon pancakes.

Happy Sunday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Second Half of the NEW YEAR.

Good Morning,

YAY, it is Saturday.

We even slept in quite a lot with the exception of getting up at 4:30 so that Alvin could have breakfast and do his business.

Then up again at 7:30 as Alvin wanted to go outside, again.

Then finally at 8:59 (which sounds better than 9:00).

Okay procrastination for sure but it is Saturday.

After a dilly of a work day.

Okay I shall explain.

All week long it has been a struggle with work as documents/screens took forever to save.

Now I am not very technical so I will just say that every part of my job seem to take forever to do.

Come Friday morning and worse.

So I enlisted the aid of one of our systems guys ….. he worked remotely on my computer.

Doing updates and checking things.

He even reset my Wifi ….. which scared me but alas I did have the password.

Finally later in the morning I was able to actually get some work done.

But a large dent of my morning was lost and I was not a very happy camper to say the least.

So much of my job has deadlines and I lost a lot of time this week.

Even throughout the day there were what we called the “blue bars of death.”

They always pop up at 2:18 in the afternoon everyday.

But I had them a couple of times but gratefully only for a couple of extra seconds.

I ended up working after 4:00 p.m. as I was trying to get some things done.

After work, I gave Alvin his supper and decided to hit my long weekend TO DO LIST right away.

The sun was shining and we had gone for a walk at lunch time so I figured we could do without the second walk.

Perhaps sometimes two walks is one too many for Alvin, I am not sure.

Likely a good question for his Vet, next visit.

So this is what I decided to do.

TRIM THE TREE.

I went to the garage to grab my trusty tree trimmer tool with Al in hot pursuit.

He never leaves my side.

First male in history.

The tree trimmer is a long pole with very sharp cutting blades on the end.

You place the branch in between the blades and pull on the long rope.

Voile, the branch comes falling down.

Now it does not cut huge branches and I would not want it to as I would likely get bonked on the head.

But it does trim small to medium branches and yes, you still must watch carefully not to get bonked on the head.

As the pile of branches was getting growing – my neighbour Eric came outside and I asked if I could borrow his smaller trimmer.

He said yes and grabbed it for me.

You see, after you have all of the branches laying in a pile on the ground …. you have to cut them into pieces and put them into bags for garbage pickup.

I had quite the pile.

There were a couple of extra high branches that I was not able to reach.

I was in no way about to stretch the pole to reach them and lose control of the pole and have it and the branch come tumbling down upon me or a passerby.

Also, I found it helpful to each time a branch came down …. to place the branch onto a pile away from the tree.

Once done I then cut each branch into smaller pieces to start packing into garbage bags.

I was likely about halfway down and my back was killing me.

Lots of bending and stretching.

Finding muscles that I do not often use but a reminder that I need to stretch more.

Anyway, I went into the house and made a quick supper.

I had planned to make one of the GOOD FOOD suppers but that would take time and have more cleanup so decided to just have eggs.

So had some eggs with cheese and salsa and some fresh veg.

Much to Alvin’s disappointment, I was back out to finish the cleanup.

Oh, also my darling gorgeous tree has these little dark blue berries.

Guess what happens when the the branches fall onto the ground …. some of them found their way onto my sandals.

Yes, I was wearing my open toe / foot sandals, I cannot remember if they are CROCS or the other one.

Before I went into the house – I checked my feet and was “happily surprised” to see that the soles of my feet had HUGE berry stains.

The kind that do not come off easily and my hands …. yes, my hands, too.

I moved four bags of branches to the back gate.

Once I was finished I planned to go inside the house and pick up Alvin on the way out to the backyard.

Open the gate and then put the six bags of branches in the garage for garbage pick up on Tuesday.

I placed some larger branches end up in a bag.

Unable to cut them into smaller pieces (or so I thought).

Just as I was about to take that bag to the back gate – a gal that I knew came along with her dog named Bear.

She walked over and we had the best visit.

Alvin was not happy and barked for a couple of minutes but soon stopped.

My kids used to live next door to her and she remains in that house in our neighbourhood.

Usually when I see her out walking with Bear …. I am in the house and not able to get out to say hi.

This time was perfect.

We had a great visit.

Jody said that she had a good ladder that was perfect to get at those higher up branches.

It was substantial and solid enough to do the job.

I am not sure how long we stood there visiting but as patient as Bear was at one point me walked over to his Mom, jumped up and gave her a kiss.

He is a mix breed ….. perhaps Lab and German Shepherd, not a little boy for sure.

Jody said that was a sign that he was wanting to keep walking.

 

By the time everything was all done and I was back into the house it was after 7:30.

I was so happy that I had checked the “tree trimming” from my list.

Oh and I decided to cut back the plants in my front flower bed as I had the tools.

Ready for winter.

Check that off the list.

I do want to till the soil.

 

Well now it is getting super late and I have to have a shower.

Feeling kind of scrungy … is that a word?

Spell check does not think so.

But I am going to leave it.

I think you will understand its’ meaning.

 

Time to get this day going.

I need coffee.

Living with kindness and respect.

I/We shall remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 18th day of June, 2018.

An absolutely gorgeous morning out there.

Alvin and I were up at 4:30 a.m.; he had breakfast and went out to the back yard.

At 5:00 a.m. we went for a walk; our usual route.

The air was slightly cool; perfection for a walk.

We were the only two and four-legged creatures out and that was so nice.

The only others up and out were the Geese and some Robins and other BIRDIES.

What a grand walk.

Our temperatures are going to be in the high 20 degree celsius and above this week.

It will not likely cool down enough for us to walk comfortably so an early morning stroll is just right for us.

I actually feel much better after our early morning walk which was followed by writing in my gratitude journal, breakfast of fruit, a shower, dressed and now my blog.

We both enjoyed walking in the early morning.

Surprising how light it was – the sun rises early here.

Actually was perfect daylight.

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Photos.

Fruit Pizza – this was dessert from our family supper on Saturday night.

Front Flower Bed – just had to share my IRISES.  They are the purple flowers, perennials.  THE ferns have almost taken over the bed but you can see the other flowers peeking through.

Love to see the green.

Well almost time to leave for work so better get this show on the road.

We had a great weekend with lots of company from near and far.

Good food and great company.

Does not get better than that.

I promises Alvin a hair cut and bath this coming Saturday.

 

Have an awesome Monday.

Special Hello to: my friends and family.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 22nd day of May, 2018.

‘Tis a bright and shining morning.

Not much of a breeze this morning which is great in some ways as it is trash day and several bits would have been air borne for sure.

We just arrived back home from a 30 minute walk this morning.

I figured it was the last day of my long weekend and we should take advantage of it.

Back to the grindstone tomorrow.

This week is to be a HOT one so perhaps we shall get our acts together and go for a walk in the morning before work.

We have time if we get it together.

 

I finally got the photos uploaded to my computer.

I chose some of my old favourites and some new ones this year.

I love the reds and purples and yellows.

Different from the pinks and purples of yesteryear.

Flowers bring smiles to our faces.

 

 

The ferns in the front flower bed are racing to the sky.

I love the impact of the greens, reds and blue in the front flower bed.

In the back it is purples, greens and yellows, mainly.

 

Time to have breakfast.

Wanted to get these photos up for you to see.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

 

Special Hello to: my sister “C” and my friend “V”

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 21st day of May, 2017.

Another glorious morning here in Edmonton.

Alvin officially has the title of “Out of bed Enforcer.”

He will do whatever it takes to get his Momma out of bed ….. this morning starting at before 4:00 a.m.

I have to just get up stay up.

Not perhaps at 4:00 a.m. but the next time he instructs me.

We are just on our way out for a morning walk …. there is plenty of sunshine and a slight breeze making it PERFECTO.

I must tell you about our yesterday ….

Yesterday it started with mowing the grass in the back, transplanting some flowers my friend “P” gave us, cleaning the back garden and the rocks.

While I was trying to dig out the rose bush that has been unhealthy for a few years …. I had to ask for help.

Just happened that Alvin noticed our neighbour “S” at her patio door ……

She was over in a second to help remove the rose bush and then ended up helping to pull out the huge shrub.

It was the centre piece of that garden but showed absolutely no signs of life.

Brown and broken …..no green.

So we dug it out.

The roots were huge.

So the garden is a mess.

Two small shrubs remain.

I cleaned the rocks.

Now it is ready for me to remove them, pull out the black cloth and fill the garden with some good soil.

So we are part way there.

I can hardly wait to go and get some flowers.

My flowers in the front bed are growing like crazy well at least most of them.

I had to pull out two that I had purchased from a nearby nursery about three years ago. ARGH.

Not sure how much dirt I am going to need.

BAGS or maybe a yard of dirt or half a yard?

How much really is a yard of dirt?

I have seen the bags that are a yard and honestly do not get it?

Well Mr. Alvin is ready for our walk and perhaps a little adventure.

Time to grab his water bottle.

Have an awesome Sunday.

We, will.

Then home after the walk – make some coffee – perhaps enjoy some on the deck under the umbrella and then bake a chocolate ginger loaf (from Steeped Tea) for the barbecue.

Happy Sunday……

YAY ….. it is summer.

No longer are we freezing in the house.

Last night it was 72 degrees in the house – 12 degrees warmer than two days ago.

Special Hello to: all those folks who take the time to follow our story ….. me and Alvin.

Always, Carol & Alvin