It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning,

We had some rain overnight.

We also had hail yesterday afternoon.

Thankfully I did not have Mr. Alvin out for a walk.

After watching my poor flowers being pummeled with petals and leaves flying; I decided to go and rescue what I could.

I grabbed the pots that were closest and the ones that I could easily carry and brought them close to the house.

My poor Snapdragon, with new flowers, looks perfect.

It is amazing the strength of some plants and then the Irises in the front not so much.

They are long with a thin stem and the wind / hail bent them in half.

I love my garden and hope that the flowers come back.

 

Alvin went to the Vet yesterday at noon.

He has an yeast infection in his right ear.

Over $200.00 later we were home and she had given him medicine.

This new stuff lasts for a month in the ear.

So do not have to go back for another dose in a week so that is nice.

Of the $200.00 I did spend about $60 on food and treats.

Alvin, is happy that his Momma is rich.

I just snickered.

To myself.

 

The birds are chirping away this morning as they survey the damage.

The wind, well there is not any wind this morning.

Something different for us.

 

I want to send good energy out to a family member who is having surgery today.

Kisses and hugs and prayers.

 

Well here it is once again time to go to work.

I know the commute is brutal.

It truly is and I don’t know how I am managing.

Oh well, what can you do.

Another cup of coffee?

 

Well I know …. get to work.

I am excited to have a few extra days off next week.

Looking forward to that time.

 

With kindness and respect,

Living my life.

I/We, shall remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Mixture up above this morning.

Front of the house ….. bright sunshine

Back of the house …. clouds rolling in ….

This week, last week and the coming week ….. all with rain in the forecast.

Well for now the plants and trees and lawns are enjoying it so much as you can tell by the vibrant greens of the plants.

My IRISES are blooming.

They are a miracle flower.

The stems are so long and thin it is a miracle that they can hold up this beautiful LARGE flower.

I could not help but to snap multiple photos …..

They do not last for a long time and I wanted to enjoy them while I can.

I am hoping that you enjoy them, too.

Alvin was looking out the window from his favourite chair last night as I snapped a couple of photos of the IRISES.

The tree photos are from this morning.

So excited to see bright sunshine and blue sky.

I still cannot get over the green.

Feeling LUCKY IRISH, today.

I should have worn GREEN.

 

Back to last night.

Alvin and I enjoyed a wonderful walk.

The geese were out gobbling up food near the water at the entrance to park last night.

There were multiple families and the baby goslings all different sizes.

So cute.

I could have stood there or sat in the grass (a patch without goose poop) and watched them all night.

Alvin just sniffed paying no attention to them whatsoever.

They were watching him though.

Very carefully.

 

Lucky me, I do not have to catch the bus this morning as my neighbour is giving me a ride to work.

My carpool is on vacation, camping.

 

Well it is almost time to leave for work.

I hope that you all have an awesome Wednesday.

Yes, my friend V it is Wednesday already.

Time flies when you are having fun.

 

Reminder be kind and respectful.

It always begins with self.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Ah, Alvin is snoozing on his blue blanket beside me.

 

 

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.

********************************************

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 Sunday the 1st day of October, 2017.

October ….. 30 days after today until Halloween.

31 days till I start decorating for Christmas.

My favourite time of year.

Both of my favourite times for decorating although Christmas wins out.

I do love them both.

 

So yesterday I said that I was going to remove the rocks from my back garden.

After lifting many rocks and placing them in every empty container I could locate.

I decided to use some them along with the areas that would have flowers.

It was definitely some of the hardest physical work that I have done in a long while ……..

The photos do not do it justice as this was just after I watered the plants and of course the rock got wet and it just does not look the same.

Some of the plants are IRISES and the others I do not remember the names.

This bed was completely covered in stone and the shrubs/plants that I had in here before where surrounded by them.

Pulling out the landscaping cloth was not easy but so happy I was able to do it.

Also because Mr. Alvin has started to bury his chew treat in this flower bed, I upon the advice of my daughter placed up the little metal dividers.

You can barely see them but it should keep him out.

I had some plants temporarily in there and with him jumping up …. well not good.

I also threw in a photo of my ready for winter front flower bed.

There is no real design involved in the garden …… just what worked.

Our front tree all yellow and gorgeous.

Decided to wait and rake the leaves all at once instead of five times.

Oh, the fall wreath on our door.

I made this …. should have been a close-up but it has lasted pretty well since it was seven years ago since I made it.

I put away the last items that I could move myself.

Left are the two tables, the bottom thing that holds the umbrella in place and the two chairs for my bistro table.

Deciding if I should just put them all in the garage or not.

Doesn’t leave much room for a car …..

That was my Saturday except for laundry.

Poor Alvin was outside with me the whole time …..

It took about five hours or so ……

Coffee with my girl friends this morning.

One has her Mom visiting from Newfoundland and we are celebrating her birthday.

Should be fun.

The sky is overcast and rain is on the way.

Only hoping it is ONLY rain.

Perhaps I shall take Mr. Alvin for a walk sooner than later.

Happy Sunday Everyone ……

 

Special Hello to: all those folks preparing their gardens for winter.

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. feeling a bit sore this morning most especially when I bend ….. oooo

 

Thought for the day ……

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 30th day of September, 2017.

The last day of September and possibly the last day without snow.

If the forecast is correct.

Hopefully it is only a temporary situation for now as it is far too early for winter.

After all we are still enjoying FALL in all of its’ GLORY.

I love this time of year.

Our tree in the front year is full of the most beautiful YELLOW leaves.

It is windy out this morning so they may not hang on for too much longer.

But I hope so.

I do love watching the leaves slowly dancing their way to the ground.

Not so much a fast trip to the ground in a big wind.

WE are off to a bit of a later start this morning.

Alvin’s internal clock is all over the place.

We were up off and on several times since 4:00 a.m. – yikes.

Anyway sipping on coffee with breakfast out of the way, dishwater emptied, bed made and laundry gathered we are well on the way.

I have a major project to get done today and that is the back garden.

I have to remove all of the rocks today so that I may plant some irises that my friend “P” gave us last night.

She gave me some others and I planted them out front last night and cleaned up the flower bed …. trimmed the plants all back.

So that is done.

Well I had better get going.

One more thing to mention.

While catching 45 zzz’s on the sofa just before getting up for real ….. I was dreaming that my friend “H” and “R” from Regina were outside, trying to get my attention but I did not hear them with water running in the

house ….. finally realized someone was calling my name.  We laughed and they gave me “heck” for not hearing them sooner.  Surprised that it took so long for Alvin to notice as well.

They had with them a bucket of KFC chicken and some other items that I now have forgot.  Came into the house and all of a sudden another friend was there sitting at my table “D.”  My longtime friend.

It was so bizarre.

What is the meaning of this, I wonder.

Well it for some reason filled me with energy so that is a good thing.

Gave me some ideas on some future projects.

I also watched “SARAH” OFF THE GRID while eating breakfast and sipping on the first cup of coffee.

That also gave me ideas.

Not time to get going.

Those rocks are not going to move on their own and neither is the laundry going to magically wash.

Have an awesome day.

Life is great …. you just have to live it.

Took a few vacation hours from work yesterday afternoon.

It was great.

Oh, I found new winter boots at West Edmonton Mall.

I found them at the most unlikely place for me to go.

PAYLESS.

The associate was simply amazing.

Friendly and helpful.

After I checked out SEARS and THE BAY and MARKS and a few others.

It was great to find a pair that are made for minus 20 ( I have ones for the really cold).

Best of all in my price range.

 

No rush and I was home one hour before normal so Alvin was happy.

A bit warm and I was dressed way too warm but I had fun.

Nice to be able to look around.

Time to get this show on the road.

Wish me luck “rock picking” ….. AKA remove the rocks from the back flower bed.

ARGH.

Good for the core …..

Have an awesome Saturday.

Special Hello to:  my friends back in Saskatchewan “ALL OF THEM” and my sister.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 12th day of June, 2016.

It has been overcast and raining off and on this morning.

There have been slight moments of brightness appearing out of small cracks in the deep blue clouds, sun I presume.

It was cool in the house when we first got up this morning.

But no need to turn on the furnace at this time of year.

 

I just returned a bit ago from cleaning up part of the neighbourhood.

A particular walkway to the 62nd Avenue.

One side is our residential neighbourhood and the other is a very main street and on the other side a bunch of fast few restaurants and a strip mall.

So quite often meaning all of the time there are a vast array of cups and fast food wrappers from Starbucks, McDonalds, Dairy Queen and Boston Pizza.

I have asked for a garbage barrel to be placed there but to no avail.

I guess as long as someone like me will pick up the garbage why would you pay for a barrel, bags and someone to empty them.

Oh well.

I do not mind ….. I am helping out my friends and neighbours.

The only one that truly minds is Mr. Alvin as I have to leave him at home and he does not like that.

He likes me to be at home on the weekends.

I cannot blame him.

 

Well I guess time to go and enjoy my coffee while it is warm.

The first cup earlier I only drank a bit of it as I wanted to get out before the rain arrived.

Funny thing it rained a bit when I left the house and started to come down a bit harder on my way home.

Just gave me the perfect time to get it done.

YAY.

 

My neighbours that have been here since I moved to Edmonton are moving out tomorrow into a brand new house that they had built.

Not too far away so I think we will see each other but likely not quite as often, I suspect.

I am looking forward to meeting and getting to know the new people.

I shall miss my neighbours.

“S” was here alone when I moved in and two years later got married.

Nothing last forever and change is a learning process or at least that is what I keep telling myself.

 

Mr. Elton is coming over at 3:00 p.m. to spend a few hours with his Grandma and Alvin.

We look forward to spending time with him.

 

Did I mention that my irises are blooming?

The most perfect purple.

 

Well time to sign off.

I wish you an awesome Sunday.

Thank you for reading.

 

Special Hello to: “M” longtime friend ……

Always, Carol and Alvin