Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Autumn Wednesday morning? We are doing much better this morning. Yesterday was another gorgeous fall day. We enjoyed a walk later in the afternoon.

Oh Happy Day, today is the 14th Wedding Anniversary of my daughter and son-in-law. Alvin and I wish you a wonderful Anniversary. Congratulations on 14 years married. We love you both.

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Poem time.

LEAVES

Sitting with my Alvin on the sofa,

Looking out the living room window.

Our view of the world.

On a bright fall day.

Watching the leaves from our tree,

They move slightly upon the branch

A little dance, from side to side.

A slight breeze disturbs the dance,

The breeze carrying them down, down, down.

Fluttering softly to the ground.

Their home since spring, early summer.

Their colours changing from vibrant green to fall gold,

as the season continues.

Their life now over, they will give back to next spring,

from their bed upon the ground,

nestled in between blades of grass.

Oh you beautiful leaves,

Thank you!

Written by CLewis Oct 18/19, 2022

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Have a wonderful Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL. Back to work Tuesday.

We had a great weekend. I accomplished most of the things that were on my TO DO LIST, we went for walks, relaxed, drank coffee, gave the boy a hair trim and a bath but not ready to go to work. I was thinking this morning about going to the office in the winter. What a dreadful thought!

Did you have a big meal for Thanksgiving? Alvin and I had a quiet time together. I baked sweet potatoes & brussel sprouts with onion, stove top stuffing and cranberries with pumpkin pie for dessert and it was yummy.

I could see my breath last night when we were outside before bed. The moon was shining so brightly the Harvest – Hunter’s moon, full as full can be.

I am always amazed by the different trees and how some can still be green and others almost void of leaves. For example: my tree has lost almost all its’ leaves and Sonja’s next door, her tree is still green and has all of its’ leaves. How can that be? Every year it is the same. Lucky for us, I suppose that the trees lose their leaves in stages. That way we can enjoy the colour change longer.

So the patio furniture remains on the deck. Definitely will be putting away this coming weekend and cleaning out the remaining three pots.

I was watching a recorded episode of THE VOICE last night. WOW, there are some great singers this year but whenever I watch I have that same thought. Just when you think they could not possibly find anyone else to top the previous season, they do. The mix of judges is great this year. John, Gwen, Camila and Blake. I like having Gwen and Blake on together and John. Great chemistry. Just getting to know Camila. I do love her voice.

It was difficult to get up this morning. We did do the start getting ready for bed at 9:30 last night but somehow Mr. Alvin was up at 3:00 or so, then I kept hitting the snooze button at 5:45 until we finally got up at 6:30. That is not going to happen tomorrow as after today I am in the office. I guess will have to find that sweet spot for going to bed. Where is it? I was so sure that I had found it but apparently not. Mr. Alvin is only consistent in that he is not consistent when it comes to sleeping. ARGH.

Today is another drawing of $70 million lotto MAX, I would love to win that jackpot. Financial freedom is what most of us long for, hope for, pray for – need. No mortgage and the ability to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, instead of waiting. Today is the day that all my dreams come true or at least start. Not having to go to the office in the winter would be a huge win. Please, let it be me.

Well it looks like the night sky is beginning to lighten and the sun will shine in a bit.

Plug in that coffee pot and enjoy a big mug.

I hope that you have a great Tuesday (almost said Monday, lol).

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: Mr. Alvin had loose poop this morning, oh no!

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to October 2022. The sun is shining brightly and the temperature for today is to be +22 celsius and 24+ for tomorrow and in the low 20’s for the following couple of days. Great weather for October and I love it. The sky is a great sunshiny blue. Is that a colour, well today it is!

Alvin and I had a quiet Friday. I was happy that he was able to go for a nice walk and did not appear to be in any obvious pain.

Today is the Birthday of a neighbour’s son who was 8 years old when I moved in back in 2009. Happy Birthday Kahlia. He is now a grown man. I cannot believe he is 21 years old. WOW, time flies. I have lived in this place, this house, this city for 13 years now and will be 14 next year.

Well I have been adding to my list with some final outdoor chores. I still do not want to put away the patio furniture but I do want to wash the deck and porch. Easier to do when they are bare. Perhaps I will look ahead to next weekend which will be another long weekend, Thanksgiving. Oooo, pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie.

I have lots of apples to prepare. Sounds like some apple crisps and apple muffins in the near future. Perhaps apple sauce? I need to go to the grocery store as I am totally out of brown sugar and a few other things some that are required to do this baking and others just need. On my TO DO LIST.

Alvin needs a bath. He has a vet visit on Tuesday afternoon so I will give him one tomorrow afternoon.

I love this time of year but I will admit that I have been a bit tired the past few days. Perhaps the years of getting up at random times during the night has caught up with me, maybe. Sometimes, I find that in the fall, when the weather starts to cool, that I feel the need to “hibernate,” to sleep more. So I am going to chalk sleepiness up to just that.

Photos out of our bedroom window this morning. The leaves are turning. Not as crisp photos as if I went outside but it is was a last minute idea.

Time to head downstairs and get this day going. I need coffee. Alvlin is bored.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

Continuing to life with life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and COFFEE.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! Today is the last day of September, 2022. Wow, how did that happen. We had a reasonably good sleep. Up late but Alvin slept till almost 4:30 and then up again at 6:30 and then a couple of hours later. The first time we were up we felt a few rain drops on our skin as we made our way back to the house and then at 6:30 the ground was wet. The sky remains overcast with the sun peeking through in spots.

Today is a day off from work as we remember and reconcile our Canadian history with our Indigenous peoples. A good place to start and build on a better future for all of our peoples. Each being is important and should be treated with respect and compassion. You never know what is going on with anyone until you walk a mile in their shoes or get to know and to understand them. We all have history.

Today is a day to reflect and of reflection.

Front Porch

Tree trimmed

View of tree from inside

The sky from our deck

a few days ago

I was able to upload a few photos. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of my fall wreath from the front door. This will be the weekend to finish off the fall cleanup. Our tree after my daughter and I trimmed it last Saturday, not even one week ago. This morning the tree is almost all yellow. Will have to have more photos. Mr. Alvin could not wait for me and came upstairs. I was not fast enough. Lately I have been trying to carry him up and down the stairs more often. The photos of the sky and the clouds were taken from our back deck in the morning, if I remember correctly sometime this last week.

Time to head downstairs and have another mug of coffee. Today will be a quiet one for us, perhaps a walk a bit later if it is not raining. I am so grateful to have my own home and to be with Mr. Alvin in his twilight years. We have been together since he was almost one year old. So much history.

Have a wonderful day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL – Fall is upon us as the leaves turn colour and the air begins to crisp. Although this week our temperatures are anything but normal as they are into the mid 20’s.

There is something warm and inviting about fall.

A time to take a breath after the excitement of summer.

Preparing for the next season.

Who shall remain nameless.

In the meantime, we have:

FALL

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Soon the leaves will be an array of colour.

I cannot wait.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are doing great on this official FIRST day of FALL/AUTUMN! This is my favourite season of all – beautiful colours – warm but not too hot temperatures – sweater weather – fall cleanup – that fresh smell in the air – taking in the harvest of crops and gardens. There is a breeze on this first day of fall, the sun is slowly rising in the sky.

The sights of “autumns gone by”

Our first trip to my daughter and son-in-law’s new home at Lac Ste. Anne – Alberta Beach, Thanksgiving 2021. Home grown green peppers. Wreath on front door which I changed up a bit this year and did not update the photos. One of our many adventures to the park north of where we live, it was a beautiful fall day. Old photos of our tree in the fall – love the colour. I love this colourful candle holder and the way the sun shines on it.

Lac Ste. Anne – Alberta Beach

Thanksgiving 2021

Alberta Beach

Fall Day

Pepper Harvest 2021

Fall Wreath

Adventure with Alvin

Park north of us

Alvin

Fall gone by

Our tree

Reminds me of Autumn

To get us in the mood for the first day of Fall.

I go to the office tomorrow and am thinking of all the walks that I have had at lunch time and right after work with Mr. Alvin over the last 2.5 years. I am sad that we have to go back to sitting in a dreary office where I cannot see the sun shining or the weather changing. Back to early bedtime and up earlier to fit in a commute to the office. Not really sure how this is supposed to be good for anyone. This is 2022 and we have changed our way of life due to a pandemic. So why are we trying to recreate a time before the pandemic? There is no going back, we can only move forward. I will miss those extra hours each day that I had with Mr. Alvin and in my home. We go back to work three days each week starting in October. Back to close quarters and surrounded by germs. YAY. What a life?

Well sorry for the dip in happiness moment. It is the truth and so we must state it.

I hope that you have a great day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am well, we are well. Perhaps a slight bit sleep deprived but nothing new. Still dark outside and that is part of living in Western Canada. The sun will not rise for awhile but that is okay. We will be voting on the time change next week. “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Sound familiar. Someone has decided this morning to bark every 10 seconds or so while I am upstairs despite my calling down to reassure him. Perhaps he has to pee but not likely. He is joined to me at the hip and whenever I am in the house and not beside him …. it is a problem. Definitely is getting more anxious as he ages. When I am outside and he can see me, no problem. Thank goodness that I do not have to go back to work at the office very often. My next time is November 9th, 2021, I think but I will have to find someone to come and check on him or he will go spend the day with someone. There is no way he will survive a 10 or so hour day without going outside or having human contact. Life.

Yesterday morning Canadian born William Shatner became the oldest person to go to space. I listened to him as he spoke to Jeff B. upon his return to Earth. He was so genuinely excited about the trip and grateful that he was able to see Earth from space. As he said he will be changed forever and he wished that everyone could have that experience. I wish that as well. I am so happy that “Captain Kirk” got to actually go to space. How strangely wonderful is that. Pretty darn exciting.

Someone is finally quiet down there and I am not sure why. Grateful for the quiet.

Yesterday we enjoyed two walks, one at my lunch break and the other after work. Before the walk after work I raked the leaves from our front lawn including Humphrey & Bogart’s. The leaves were crunchy. So pretty. Love this time of year.

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  Sunflower in my back garden couple of years ago

I thought that perhaps we needed a bit of “yellow perfection” in our Thursday. I love Sunflowers. So perfectly beautiful. My gift to you for today.

Well time to go and get that coffee on to perk and see if Mr. Alvin does in fact have to go outside.

I wish you a great Thursday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning All! How are you this morning? My first day back to work since last Thursday and I will admit that I HIT the snooze button more than once, yes I did. I am up and going in the direction of work.

I was listening to the news yesterday. Next week in our Municipal Election they are asking us to vote on whether or not we want Daylight Savings Time. A Doctor was stating the cons of the sunrise and how it negatively affects us. So the sun would rise at 9:30 instead of 8:30, something like that. My home to the east Saskatchewan has been on DST for years and I don’t remember hearing that they were enduring problems. I like the idea of having everyone on the same time instead of having to think about the time everytime you call someone outside the province. Hopefully people will want to make the change.

Guess what I missed the Northern Lights show on Monday night. I cannot believe that I did not hear about it or SEE the light show. We were even outside and still up when the show was happening. Perhaps I do not have a good vantage point from here! I guess not if I did not notice the green sky. Hopefully it will happen again in the near future and I am sorry that I missed the show. Green is my favourite colour.

The last few mornings have been very crispy outside. Had to don a light winter coat. Still surprised by how many leaves remain on trees around the park and in our immediate neighbourhood. When we were out for a walk yesterday afternoon, I took notice of all the sizes and shapes of leaves from all of the different trees and the colours. Do you remember as a child collecting leaves for school projects? I do and that was a long, long time ago. There were long narrow leaves, round leaves, pointy leaves, almost square leaves, oblong and on and on. Colours everything from a plum, burgundy to golden yellow and orange. I love this time of year. My favourite time, actually. Walking and crunching on the leaves.

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I took this photo a little while ago but I love the leaves from my tree. Now they are crunch and much fewer. I raked these ones but left the remaining ones as they fell to the ground. The wind has been so strong that there was no point in raking. Some of mine have gone to the neighbours and some of theirs to mine. If there is a point in the near future where there is calm outside I will give them one more rake before the season changes. One of the neighbours north of us has a tree that has red leaves. So pretty and such a vibrant red.

Well time to get downstairs and get the coffee on. See if Alvin has to go outside before I start work. Then turn on the computer and start work.

I hope that you have an awesome day. Wednesday already.

Continuing to live with respect, kindness, compassion, patience, understand, love, laughter and gratitude.

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning All! It is a frosty window here in Edmonton. There remain many trees in our neighbourhood that are full with leaves. The sun is shining in a full clear blue sky. A beautiful fall morning. I took an extra day of vacation to make this an extra long weekend. Just chilling on the sofa with Mr. Alvin. I am trying a Mary Kay facial mask. Feels good. The coffee has finished perking and not quite sure if I can drink with this mask on. it is not your typical clay mask but rather a mask filled with good things for your face. You remove each mesh side and then lay the mask which has holes cut out for your eyes, nose and eyes. Then you lay on your face and press in place. Feels great.I will report back later with name and results.

I am so grateful to have this extra day to finish up things before back to work. Some time for self pampering which is the facial mask. I do not often take the time to pamper myself like having a soaking bath, facial mask, feet soaking etc. But when I thought about it just after I washed my face and got dressed – it felt like the time. So here I am sitting on the sofa with a mask doing its’ job softening and treating my skin while writing this post. Sometimes you just have to take time and do something extra for yourself. Might have been better if I had been laying on my bed relaxing but that okay. Better than not at all. Take the time. When I was listening briefly to the news a little while ago and heard that 90 year old William Shatner is going into space. Maybe only for 13 minutes but he is still doing it. I feel at 64 that I should be doing more and maybe this was the kick in the pants that I need.

Okay almost time to remove the mask and have coffee.

Remember to take time for you and not just sitting on the sofa watching television.

Have a great Tuesday.

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

Always, love Carol&Alvin

2021

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are all well. It is a beautiful bright sunny blue sky morning here in Edmonton. It is the beginning of the long weekend for me. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to all my Canadian Friends and Family and to all Canadians.

We have so much to be thankful for this year and every year.

I am grateful to be alive, to be employed and working from home, to be in good health, to have my own home, to have great family and friends and for everything in my life including a barking Alvin who is not happy that I am upstairs and he is not.

Please enjoy some photos taken just a couple of minutes ago from the front of my house looking out from the porch as the final leaves dropped from our tree and then some from the backyard. A few decorations for fall.

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Enjoy your day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin