Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! The sky cleared overnight. We had a dreary rainy day in Edmonton yesterday. Good for the plants and remaining flowers and lawns and trees. The moon was shining brightly when we were up at 4:15 and appears to be crescent shaped. So pretty.

I have been thinking of the Queen. How did she manage to do her job for more than 70 years? I don’t remember her being ill, perhaps she had the odd sick day. Queen Elizabeth did her job with a grace and elegance unmatched in the world. Service, after all was her promise to the people when she was a young princess of 21. Something when asked decades later “Did she regret”, she replied “Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret nor retract one word of it.” I admired her for keeping her promise for more than 70 years. She worked right up until the end of her life. She definitely had a sense of humour as I have watched some footage taken over her lifetime. Listening was definitely something that she did very well. Thank you for your kindness to animals and to people all over the world.

Thank you Elizabeth, Queen of our realm for doing such a magnificent job and for more than 70 years of service! Thank you.

Today is Tuesday, September 20th, 2022. I also want to make a correction to my post from yesterday. I believe that Princess Catherine’s name is spelled with a C not a K. I apologize.

Two days now until the first official day of fall. I can feel it in my hands. They are drying out. Lotion time.

There are a few days coming up where the weather will remind us of summer. This weekend I will be finishing up outside. Bringing in the rest of the plants and putting away the patio furniture. The cleanup stuff. Wash the deck and the windows.

Appears to be breezy out there as I take a quick glance out of the office window.

Last night started the fall television lineup. I am cutting back on the shows and have already cancelled some of the programs that I watched last year. Too much television.

Well almost time to head back downstairs.

Food for thought! On the weekend my friend and I were out for a walk with Alvin and her grandpup Georgie when we came across this woman and a little beagle. The cutest, most darling creature you would ever want to see. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes. She told us about her little one who was a rescue from a breeding facility in the U.S.A. This place bred beagles in particular and sold them to be used for animal research, testing and experimentation. They lived in horrific conditions and were given food filled with maggots and feces. 4000 beagles were saved from the facility. This pup had only drank water by a drip, I did not want to know what that meant. I can only imagine. The pup did not know how to run or play or even drink water. She was surprised when I offered the little guy a drink of water from Alvin’s to go water dish and he actually drank with no instruction. So perhaps we all need to step up to the plate and say something. Tell our governments to put a stop to this, stop TESTING ON ANIMALS. Do you know why they specifically use “beagles?” Because they are gentle and do not bite. Something else she said that most of the beagles are euthanized after 90 days. I can only imagine why. It is 2022 and we are still testing on animals. We should be SO ASHAMED of OURSELVES. Take a quick peek at some of the products in your medicine cabinet, pantry and kitchen and google to see which companies “test on animals” or do product testing in other countries that allow this cruel and inhumane practice. You will be shocked how many companies and big ones, still test on animals.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Wednesday morning? I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun shining brightly and the sky mostly clear. There is a bit of a breeze. 62 days until my 65th birthday. 1957 was a busy year for babies. When I started school we had the largest grade one class in the history of my small rural town. I used to know the exact number and now I think it was 31 but I am afraid that the test of time and my memory has let me down and that number is off. But we had a large class. There were no teaching assistants in those days. The school was small and we shared each room with another grade. That is what makes me think that number is so wrong. Perhaps it was the combination of both classes with us having the larger amount of pupils. Anyway, it is okay. Does not much matter. After all these years and all of the moves that I have endured including three provinces, I still am in contact with my first best friend. We have been friends since before we started school. So 60 plus years. I am very blessed. My only wish is that I could visit her again. We live a province away from each other. But I just thought of something, online video chat! Why did I not think of that before? I am going to start connecting with family and friends via video chat. The next best thing to real life.

I have noticed a difference in Alvin the passed few days with him not having any human food. He has only had his food for three days now, I believe. No gas. He slept from bedtime about 10:00 until 4:00 a.m. and then back to the sofa until 6:00. Definite improvement. I feel so bad for him as he truly wants some of the things that I eat and that he used to eat. He even asks politely. That has been hard. I trained / showed him how to ask “nicely or say please” when he wants something and yikes, not easy to say no, instead I say all done and try not to make eye contact. Those big brown eyes. Well you know.

The last few years since the world has gone into hiding with the arrival of the pandemic, most of us have seen even less of our family and friends than we did prior to, it has been hard. I miss my sister, my brothers and family and all my friends. I have only seen the ones that live in my neighbourhood. I am so appreciative that I made friends in Edmonton and in my community. It would have been so hard. Hopefully as the world starts to return to a changed life, I will be able to see more of my truly missed family and friends.

I am not sure if my flowers will be as colourful as past years but I thought we could all use some colour and beauty in our lives this morning. Oh, I see some clouds coming in. Perhaps we should have got mobile earlier and gone for a walk.

I hope that you enjoy these beautiful flowers this morning. Have an awesome Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. I am grateful for all those souls that have graced my lifetime thus far. I am so utterly blessed to have known them.

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 11th day of September, 2017.

Just starting to get light but too dark to put on my sun glass clips when I leave the house.

But partway into the bus ride the sun will be up and I will need them.

Funny this time of year.

 

I have just started reading a book that I acquired.

Written by past United States President Bill Clinton.

The name of the book “Giving” How each of us can change the World.

As I read the book and hear of how many and how much has been given for years and continues to be given, I wonder:

1.  How much would it take to fix the Environment, is it even possible?
2.  How much would it take to end world hunger, is it even possible?
3.  How much would it take to bring peace to the world, is it even possible?

Food for thought?

 

Well I am running late ….. just some questions that I doubt can ever be answered ….. not in my lifetime.

Have a wonderful day as we each ponder these questions.

 

Special Hello to:  all those who give and make a difference.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 26th day of July, 2017.

Today’s forecast is HOT.

Last night Ed Sheeran and James Blunt were entertaining those lucky enough to attend the concert here in Edmonton.

Sadly, I was not one of them.

But I am grateful to the videos posted so that I could hear just a bit of them perform.

So good.

 

Well here we go two weeks from today I turn 60.

I cannot believe it.

Six decades.

How did that happen?

In a blink of an eye.

So much to look forward to …. spending time with family and friends.

That is the best part of the birthday thing.

Time with family and friends.

 

All too often we take for granted family and friends until it is too late.

So take some time today, tomorrow, next week and call someone …. SKYPE someone …. spend time with those you love.

I hope that we all get to live a long, joyful life …..

 

Special Hello to: all those folks who take precious time out of their days to read this blog, means the world to me.

Always, Carol & Alvin

COUNTDOWN: 60 Days to 60

Today is Monday, July 10, 2017 and it is the 31st day until my 60th Birthday.

When I think back to all of the different professions of the people that I have meet over my almost 60 years ….. it has been incredible.

I have known leaders of major corporations, people who have started and grown their own successful businesses, mothers, fathers, ministers, teachers, tax collectors, reinsurance brokers, dancers, singers, musicians, policemen, lawyers, doctors of all kinds, nurses, veterinarians, all sorts of customer service personnel, firemen, policemen, postmen, sheriff, house and business cleaners, construction workers, hair stylists, cooks, servers, bartenders, real estate brokers, insurance brokers, farmers, volunteers, new reporter(s), DJ, children’s author, adult authors, accountants, private pilot, airforce pilot, airplane mechanic, bank managers, professional photographers, IT specialists, claims adjusters, underwriters, foreman, electricians, plumbers, tow truck owner/operator, pharmacist, jewellers, bus drivers, mechanics, oilfield workers, driller on oil rigs, directional drillers, housewives, contractors of all kinds, managers of all kinds, social workers, hospital unit clerk,  data entry operators, cashiers, customer service clerks, bank tellers, administrative assistants, dental assistants, dentist, and too many others to count.

 

If you sat back and made a list of all the people that you have known over your lifetime and what did they for a living the list would be massive.  I know that I am missing a great many.

Surrounded by incredible people my whole life.

These people who have helped form the person that I am today.

It truly takes a village.

I am truly blessed.

 

Always, Carol

 

COUNTDOWN: 60 Days to 60

Well today is Sunday, June 11, 2017 and is the 60th day until my 60th Birthday.

I would say that this has been on my mind, as of late.

Not that I am stressing over this upcoming date.

Just pondering the path behind and the road ahead.

Over my lifetime to this point;  how I envisioned my life is not exactly how it has turned out.

In the early days I wanted the white picket fence, the house, the husband, the four children-two sons and two daughters, summer vacations and to be a nurse and writer.

However that is not exactly the course that my life has taken.

I do not have the white picket fence.

Fences are not all that necessary.

I finally got the house on my own just months before I turned 52.

I do have have a husband, and that is okay.

I was married and have been divorced for several decades.

I do not have four children.

I do however have ONE amazing, wonderful DAUGHTER and a great SON-IN-LAW and GRAND-PUPPIES.

I adopted my four-legged companion, Alvin in 2010.

He brings great joy to my days.

I am not able to take summer vacations.

I am not a nurse.

But I write ….. this I have done since I was 6 years old.

So life changes as the days and years pass.

Our dreams change over time.

I will say that I never thought that I would be single, take early retirement after 30 years with a company and then start another “career” and am now almost 6 years into it.

Time flies.

I kid with folks and say that I am “OLD” but truth is …. I feel young even though somedays my body reminds me otherwise.

I love to laugh and when I find that I am taking life too seriously I change directions and find the laughter once again.

 

I watched a video last night of James Corden doing an interview with Ed Sheeran in a car.

They were driving along ….. singing and talking ….. talking and singing.

Enjoying life.

I must say I love ED SHEERAN and pleasantly surprised by James Corden’s voice (he easily could have been a singer).

You may wonder what Ed and James have to do with 60 days to 60 but in actuality it is partly the choices we make about music and such that keeps us young.

Think young ….. act young ….. be young.

 

Well I guess if I am to write things for 60 days about turning 60, I should stop now.

Safe to say the next 59 days worth of posts will be shorter.

I hope that my journey to 60 will perhaps inspire you, make you laugh, maybe even bring a tear to your eye but most of all I hope that it brings some joy to your day(s).

Now yikes only 59 days till I turn 60……………

 

Always, Carol

 

Thought for the day or perhaps a revelation ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 5th day of September, 2016.

Perhaps by now some of you may have noticed that I have not written on this blog since the last day of August.

My daughter noticed that I had not written on my blog for the first couple of days and asked if something was wrong?

I told her no.

But that was not one hundred percent accurate.

There are times in one’s life when the mere gravity of words and actions by those around you just makes you feel incompetent and makes you question

the things you do.

I am not saying it was a huge matter but it was enough to give me cause to pause.

Sometimes you just need to take a step back in order to go forward.

Or at the very least stop doing some of the things that you always do, and reflect.

Or sometimes it is just something you need to do for you.

It can be just as simple as that.

I just knew that I had to take a break, and that there was no way of explaining this to you.

I do apologize for that.

 

I had questions.

Was I really doing something that I truly loved or just doing something because I had been telling myself, and others for several decades

that “I am a writer.”

But was I?

Am I?

 

For as long as I can remember I loved books, I loved words. I loved the sounds of words.

They could take you near or far.

In my case it was the far that appealed to me the most.

I could imagine a new life, a different life.

I loved to read.

I loved to write.

Or perhaps it was the mere essence of the feeling that I got at the end of it all.

I do not know.

But questioning things ….. that is where I am at.

Can I write?

Sure I can.

But am I good enough that is another question.

Good enough compared to who, to what?

I had wanted to be a published author but at fifty-nine that honour still eludes me.

Perhaps there is a part of me that believes that I am not really good enough or smart enough to go the distance.

Short term projects; I can do and have done.

So this is part of the dilemma.

The other of the self-doubt is that I feel that I have worked very hard my whole life and somehow I feel unaccomplished.

But why?

Really, I should not.

I left my home of thirty years to start over in a new place.

I finally in my 50’s was able to buy my first house, and yes I have a mortgage.

After a lifetime of work I took a couple of years off for a mini retirement.

After which I found a job ( into my 50’s which is not easy these days ).

I adopted my first dog when in my 50’s.

I have made many many life choices and changes after the age of 50.

But perhaps the biggest thing of all is the fact that back home many of my friends are now settling into retirement or at least close.

Life is full of choices and we do the best that we can.

This was and is my choice for good or bad.

But sometimes we just would like things to have gone a different way.

 

I have tried to remain positive but sometimes that is just impossible.

So it is a combination of writing and life choices that brings me to this point.

I will continue to write not because I have to but because I want to.

 

Perhaps this does not truly or in full explain what is really in my heart but it will give you an idea of where I am at …..

Alvin in his cuteness, well he is Alvin and he just looks at me as if to say “Come on snap out of it.”

I say to him, “Yes dear one, I shall.”

 

Thank you for making the choice to read my blog.

I am so thankful for you.

Life evolves …..

 

Special Hello to: YOU

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 8th day of August, 2015.

Today is my niece-in-law’s 39th Birthday ….. Happy Birthday “S” ….. we hope you have a great day.

We have lots of friends and family birthdays in August.

Mine is tomorrow.

I will be “58”

Have you ever just sat and thought about all of the things that you have done and seen in your lifetime thus far?

I have …..

Here are some of the things that I have done or accomplished and seen from birth until today.

• lived on a farm
• had one sister and three brothers
• changed diapers before started Grade one
• went to school, learned to read and to write (loved biology)
• earned first money babysitting for neighbours at age 8 (back in the day)
• wrote poetry throughout my childhood (my Grandma kept ones I wrote to her)
• still writing years later
• drove a tractor and combine
• spent a winter in Texas as a child and swam in the Gulf of Mexico at Padre Island
• taught my siblings school that winter (they all passed with flying colours including me)
• lived in three Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta)
• went to four different schools in three different provinces from Grade 9 to 12
• black and white to colour televisions
• computers
• man on the moon
• went in a prop plane to California in the 70’s.
• gave birth to my daughter
• visited Victoria, B.C. (twice) … love antique shops
• Canadian Cities visited: Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, WInnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton
• Visited the Rocky Mountains in Canada
• Banff and Jasper, Alberta Parks
• visited the World Trade Center in New York in 1994.
• went to a musical on Broadway in New York
• visited Las Vegas twice
• visited Las Angeles, California and walked in the Pacific Ocean
• belonged to the Downtown Optimist Club in Regina
• was Optimist of the Year (very proud moment) and held various positions within the organization
• visited Montreal, Quebec and Quebec City ……
• continued with Volunteer work in Edmonton – Capital City Cleanup Block Captain (keeping area clean)
• retired early after 30 years (with same company)
• back to work now four years
• worked first real Retail Job after age of 50
• was top seller in said job
• adopted my first dog in 2010 (over 50) – me Alvin
• started my blog after age 50
• corresponded with a Wall St Journal journalist (after age 50)
• saw 58 years of the sun, moon and stars
• always had great friends ….. still do
• raised a gifted daughter ….. photographer ….. artist …. good person
• bought my first house on my own in Edmonton, this house (after age 50)
• started making jewellery with my daughter
• sold different things over the years like Tupperware, Fashion Two Twenty makeup ……
• visited several U.S. States over the years.
• most important, I am alive to celebrate another Birthday.

When you start making a list you suddenly realize that your life has been busy.

If you read this blog and you know me …. can you think of anything else notable?

Well time to have a shower and get ready for my “Birthday party”.

My friends “S” and “G” are having a party for me at our coffee date.

I have very thoughtful friends.

With the sun shining and a cool breeze I shall start this Saturday.

Grand-puppies here to keep Mr. Alvin company while I am out.

It is funny I keep thinking of things and adding them to the list ….. time to go though.

Make that list and see that you yourself have been an important part of this planet.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

Special Hello to: “S” Happy Birthday …… Also my cousin “M” who was born on my birthday.

So many birthdays……

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day ……

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 17th day of June, 2015

This morning I awake to rain…

Today as always, begins in a state of gratitude.

I begin each day writing as a physical reminder.

This morning part of my bus route is being detoured so I am catching the earlier bus.

This morning there is a Memorial March for a fallen Police Officer here in Edmonton.

Police Men and Women will come for all over to participate to show their appreciation and support.

I am grateful to the men and women who work to protect us all from harms way.

It does always make me think “but why?”

We should not have to place other human beings in harms way from each other.

You would think after how many thousands of years that we would have evolved to be more peaceful.

I am disappointed, but yet hopeful, that someday, perhaps not in my lifetime,it will happen.

So on this day I would like to say thank you to all those people out there who work to keep us safe.

I do appreciate your time away from your family, and to those who were taken from their families much too early you have my eternal gratitude.

Please take a few minutes today to show your support.

Our neighbourhood,and many others in our City have wrapped blue ribbons around trees and posts to show their support.

Special Hello today:  to all of our women and men in blue ….. you are the best.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 20th day of March, 2015.

Awoke to a fresh blanket of the white stuff covering everything.

The deck is white.

The rooftops are white.

The street is white.

One last snowfall ….. Mother Nature has a great sense of humour.

The past couple or so days at work have been odd.

Due in part to some staff leaving on a voluntary lay-off.

Government cut-backs …. funding…..

But there was something else that played a part in the mood.

Everyone has been feeling in a kind of “funk” …..

We figured out what was possibly making us all feel at odds with life in general and that is the MOON.

When the Moon is closest to the earth it is called a Supermoon.

WOW, what a connection

Also in addition to the Supermoon is the Solar Eclipse and Spring Equinox.

If that isn’t enough to throw us all into a major FUNK ……

 

At this same time, I have felt empowered to make some major changes in my life.

Might as well do it on the first day of spring….

Sometimes after going in the same direction for an amount of time you must stop and makes some changes.

I always consider things to the fullest.

I am not one to make a change without due consideration.

I felt a major relief once I gave myself permission to make this change.

It is a big one.

I think that we all find that happens at some point over our lifetime.

We just go about doing what we think we need to do and then one day it is like someone takes the blindfold off, and gives you permission to try something new.

Nothing ventured – nothing gained.

I am looking forward to this next chapter with a full heart and at the same time some “heartache.”

Life goes on.

Back to winter boots ….

Ah, it is Friday …… working all weekend at the store…..

Special Hello to: all those folks making changes.

Always, Carol and Alvin