It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning and we awoke to much warmer temperatures.

I went outside with Alvin and I did not lose my breath.

I am, we are so grateful for this change.

 

Yesterday was both a day of incredible highs and incredible lows.

We woke up to the day being Alvin’s 11th Birthday.

Thank you to all of our Facebook friends for their birthday wishes for Alvin.

A short walk in the afternoon as it was still too cold for a long one.

We relaxed and enjoyed the day.

Later in the afternoon I waited for Teddy and his Mom to arrive.

Teddy to stay with Alvin for a visit on his birthday and me to go with his Mom for groceries.

Just a few minutes before she arrived; there was a knock at the door.

I opened the door to see our friend “A” from down the street and her Mom.

There was something about her demeanor and the fact that Abi (Alvin’s longtime girlfriend) was not with her.

I knew in my heart that something terrible, horrible had happened.

We stepped into the house and they told me that Abi had passed a few days ago.

It was sudden and so unexpected.

She was 11.5 years old.

I, We loved her so much.

She was the cutest beagle on the planet.

Everytime we were out for a walk and she spotted us/me, she would pull on her leash and cry out to come see me/us.

I always received kisses.

Sometimes I would be on my way home from work and she would spot me and come running with her Mom is tow.

Alvin and Abi would roll about on the lawn obviously to those around them.

They hit it off right from the start.

Oh my gosh how we loved her …. hard to say loved …. we love her.

I cannot locate a photo of her at the moment.

These flowers are for her.

 

Fly with the angels, Abi.

Many kisses to you our darling friend.

We miss you today, tomorrow and always.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time.

Good Morning,

Today is even more about gratitude as we await news about a loved one.

Surgery is scary, and we know in our hearts that our loved one will come through and live a long healthy life surrounded by his family and friends.

So I thought that I would share a poem that I wrote several years ago.

Simply titled, THE THANK YOU POEM.

 

THE THANK YOU POEM

Thank you for the sunshine

Thank you for the rain

Thank you for the laughter

Thank you for the pain

Thank you for the cool nights

Thank you for the warm days

Thank you for the love

Thank you for the way it fills my heart

Thank you for each buzzing bee

Thank you for all the trees

Thank you for the roses

Thank you for their sweet smell

Thank you for my family

Thank you for the way

Thank you for my dog, Alvin

Thank you for this heaven

Thank you for the abundance

Filling my day – keeping me full

Thank you for the sun, the moon and the stars

Thank you for old ladies, young men

Thank you for music played on guitars

And then !!!

Thank you

Written by Carol Yvonne Lewis

March 2011 in Edmonton, Alberta

 

Please keep your loved ones close, and envelope them in a sea of love.

Near or far reach out and tell them “that you love them.”

Do this every chance that you have.

 

You are important to me and I love you.

Thank you

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Living … One day at a time.

Good Morning and it is the first day of time change for Alberta.

We turned the clocks back by one hour this morning.

Nice too have it bright at an earlier hour for sure.

Happy November.

 

Well time to share yesterday.

As I realized Friday evening when my daughter I erected the Christmas tree and turned on the lights that they would have to be replaced.

Last year I had “YouTube” to see what suggestions others had regarding this subject.

There was really nothing that I had not thought of so I grabbed my trusty tin/metal snips in the morning and set to work.

In between was working on the laundry.

I had checked the weather to see what the day would bring and there was rain in the afternoon forecast so I set the timer for one hour and at noon,

we headed out for a walk.

It was actually quite nice.

Upon arriving back at home I checked on the laundry once again before setting back to snipping the lights from the tree.

I worked on the lights for a total of over 7 hours between morning and afternoon.

You never really appreciate how much “lights” there are on a prelit Christmas tree but there are a great many.

It was a painstaking process.

Snipping the little holders and in some cases the electrical cords.

Yes, they were unplugged.

My hands were cut and my arms scratched.

I wore a sweater but then got hot so off and on.

I had to stand on the ladder to do the top and found my ankles and feet sore after a time.

My back was throbbing at the end of it all.

I am most grateful that it is done.

Poor Alvin was whining throughout the time.

He was verbalizing how I felt.

Once done, I stopped to have supper and of course before I ate, Mr. Alvin had his supper.

After supper and cleaning up, I spent a couple of hours putting on a couple of strings of lights and the decorations.

Once sitting back and relaxing having a cup of tea, I realized something was missing from the tree.

My box of ANGELS and berries and such.

I was too pooped to go and find the container.

Located it this morning and will finish that later today.

In about one hour I am going to have coffee with the young ones.

My young friends.

So enjoy catching up with them.

Well that was my weekend.

It was a test of patience which I failed miserably.

As Mr. Alvin can attest to ….

Well failed miserably is likely a tad to strong as I did have time where I just settled into the work listening to Christmas movies.

Life.

I am happy that my tree is up and mostly decorated.

Looks pretty good.

 

Sometimes it is the little things that can test your patience.

Yup, the little things.

Time to get this show on the road.

I have laundry to put away.

Then time to get out of pj’s and go out for coffee.

Am looking forward to the break.

 

Have an awesome Sunday.

Sending you much kindness and respect for your day.

 

Always, Carol & Al

I

Living … One day at a time.

Hello, Good Morning and it is Wednesday.

Mid week.

Another workday for me.

Alvin is resting on his blue blanket and when I was running / am running a tad behind this morning …. he was quick to get me going into the office to write this post.

He knows our routine inside and out.

Also the timing.

He knew that I should not be getting dressed and that I should be in the office writing.

 

Last night we enjoyed another wonderful walk with great weather.

Humphrey joined us as you can see by the photo below.

The sun is a garage sale find and is perfect hanging on my fence.

Our flowers strangely enough … some of them …. the SNAPDRAGONS have decided to bloom.

There are tons of blossoms and they are so pretty.

I love the photo of Humphrey, I was trying to score a photo and had to call him and snapped this one of him peering out from side of the chair.

Now Mr. Alvin well he was being Mr. Alvin.

I think in the last photo he might have thought he was getting a treat and jumped up.

Hard to tell but is in mid air.

Well almost time to go downstairs and finish putting things together for work.

One last time outside for me Alvin.

I hope that you have a great Wednesday.

 

 

Love with Kindness and Respect.

 

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Wednesday already.

Sky is a mix of clouds and sunshine.

The past month or so we have had on average four days with rain per week.

Crazy.

The rest of the week was not all sunshine …. but there was the occasional rainbow.

 

Yesterday Alvin and I enjoyed a walk after work, we took our usual route.

Always makes my day to see the geese and the babies almost grown up.

The families of geese were spread out on the grass and up to the sidewalk as we approached the park.

We would have to walk almost right by them.

Mr. Alvin totally ignored them …. I don’t think he even took a glance in their direction.

He stayed on the right side of me which was the furthest away from them.

Alvin just sniffed in the grass beside the sidewalk.

I was proud.

NO barking.

NO chasing.

He just had respect for those beautiful creatures.

Mama, well I was taking in the view and trying to miss the goose poop which was everywhere.

Alvin somehow and I don’t believe intentionally seemed to miss the poop.

Thank goodness.

As we neared Master Teddy’s house as per usually Alvin took a beeline across their lawn.

I called him back only to see Teddy’s Dad sitting in his work van; he saw Alvin and quickly opened the door to the van.

He called Alvin over and invited us in for a visit.

Alvin raced to the door.

I unhooked his leash as he had his nose right in the crook of the door.

He was not going anywhere but inside once the door was opened.

So cute.

We had a great visit with our friends.

Teddy might be joining us on Saturday for the day.

It will be great as we will also have my grand-pups here while my kids attend a friend’s wedding.

Lots of four-legged babies on Saturday.

Love it.

Friday will be busy getting my laundry and stuff done.

I like to have a free day when have the pups around so that I can play with them.

Once home after our walk last night; I went and picked up Humphrey.

Who was at the door …. waiting for me.

He had his nose in the crook as well.

Guess he could smell me.

Anyway the boys had a good night.

Inside and out.

Later on when I was getting sleepy I took Humphrey home which was about 9:00 p.m.

Humphrey had been laying on Alvin’s big doggie bed surrounded by Alvin’s toys.

I called him and said “Come on Humphrey, time to go home.”

He actually got up and ran to the door.

I scooped him up grabbing my keys.

After I locked the house; I noticed a brown bundle by the tree.

Well here it was a bunny eating the bird seed that my friend leaves for the birds.

We were only a few feet … maybe 5 feet from him.

He just chewed and watched us go by.

Humphrey looked over my shoulder very intently as we walked by and up the steps to his house.

I even managed to walk right by him and to my house.

Once inside I grabbed my phone/camera and snapped these photos.

So cute.

 

Well here we go again … another day ….

Have an awesome Wednesday.

I hope that this post finds you in good health, filled with great joy and surrounded with love and abundance.

Always with Kindness and Respect.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

Welcome to the last day of June 2019.

How did that happen?

WOW …..

Bright sunny morning with a bit of a breeze.

In about one hour – Master Teddy will arrive to spend the day with us.

I, we always love to have Teddy spend time with us.

He brings an instant joy and energy wherever he comes to our home.

I dare not mention him before he comes or Alvin will spend the time at the window watching for him.

Same goes for Teddy.

Except Teddy will just run around making it hard to catch him.

So his Mama does not say anything until they are on their way.

Although I am pretty sure he knows at that point that he is coming to our house.

It is so amazing that these wonderful beings are excited to come and see us.

I love being surrounded by these amazing creatures.

They don’t care what you are wearing or if you have on makeup.

Doesn’t matter if you have dishes drying in the sink or if you have a pillow out of place.

There is no judgment of any sort.

They just love you for you and perhaps a treat or two.

If you treat them with respect, kindness and with love they will be loyal for a lifetime.

They do not ask for much.

Animals are more forgiving than humans.

It breaks my heart to read stories about the horrible treatment of animals whether domesticated or in the wild.

But why?

Why do we always have to do such things.

We could learn so much for all of the other inhabitants of this earth.

So on this last day of June take note of how you treat all of the non-human creatures on this planet.

If we all change our ways just a bit ….

Can you imagine what a wonderful world this would be?

If we treat animals better … then we treat each other better.

Be kind and respectful, always.

 

Happy Sunday.

May your day be filled with sunshine and rainbows.

May you be joyful and surrounded with laughter and abundance.

Life is good.

 

All my babies and me.

They bring such joy to my life.

And no matter what …. there is kindness and respect.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 5th day of April, 2019.

Still dark outside but sun is shining in my heart.

I want to take this moment to send positive energy to family member and friends who are in need of some extra “help.”

My heart is open and I am thinking of you at this time.

May what you need come to you sooner than soon.

 

We all have our ups and downs.

No matter what is going on in your life; show gratitude.

 

I would like to take this time to say thank you for one of my favourite people in television.

She is one of a current duo.

Today is her last day on the 4th Hour with HODA; she is Kathie Lee Gifford.

I have watched her from Canada for most of her twenty-six years on television.

Firstly, she won our hearts with Regis and then with HODA.

Throughout those years she has made  appearances on other television shows, done commercials and movies.

Kathie Lee is boundless energy, love, kindness, witty, talented and so much more.

She makes us laugh and takes us to places where we may shed a tear or two.

Oh how she makes me laugh.

I will miss that part of her the most, I think.

This week once again she brings her strong faith and humour and energy to those final shows.

I wished that just once I had made it back to New York to see her and HODA in person; on the TODAY Show.

She gives everyone hope that is over 50, well over 60 – women and men that you can still change gears and do what you love.

There is no age limit.

Just do it.

She gives me hope; she gives us all hope.

I am proud to share the birth month of August with both Kathie Lee and HODA.

I share the same birthdate of August 9th with HODA.

Cheers to you Kathie Lee Gifford.

Wishing you all the Best for I know will be an amazing future.

Looking forward to seeing your movies.

Thank you.

 

Well time to go to work.

Special Hello to: Kathie Lee Gifford.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 2nd day of April, 2019.

Dark outside so not sure if the sky is overcast or not.

We had some rain yesterday afternoon.

I am feeling much better now.

Alvin is laying on his blue blanket beside me as I write this post.

My security blanket on his security blanket.

What a great companion.

 

Last night Sir Humphrey the Cat stayed with us.

Boys did well.

Sometimes Humphrey keeps his distance and others like last night he jumped up on the sofa and walked my outstretched legs until he reached my chest.

He stopped and stretched one of his paws to touch my face.

Very softly he touched my face with his paw.

He sat there for just a few seconds and looked into my eyes.

I am not sure what he was looking for but it was sweet.

He that that twice last night.

A record for him.

Every time that Mr. Alvin went outside – Humphrey went outside.

He wanted to go down in the grass which is a mucky mess now and made it down there once without me seeing him.

I fixed it by shovelling some of the snow around the steps going down to the grass area.

He doesn’t like the wet snow so much.

Kept him clean that way.

 

Most of the snow in the back yard has now melted.

Even the ice build up on the front sidewalk seems to have melted.

So grateful to have almost dry sidewalks.

Likely not completely dry until the snow on the front lawn has melted.

How many sentences can one type with the word “melted” at the end?

Seems like 3 thus far.

Oh well.

 

Question?

If you could have just one WISH or realize one thought what would that be?

Would you like:

$10 million dollars

A new house

WORLD PEACE

A new car

END WORLD HUNGER

No more flooding

END DISEASE WORLD-WIDE

RETIRE

Start a charity to help animals.

Start a charity to help animals and people.

Library of Books

Fresh clean water for everyone on the planet.

Good healthy food for every being on the Earth.

Only JOY found on this planet.

 

I guess that the list could go on and on.

What would you like?

Would it be for you, your family and friends or for the world.

 

Time to head on downstairs.

We are “UBERING” today as my carpool was rear-ended on her way home from work last night.

So grateful that she was not hurt but the car did sustain damage.

I hope that you have a great day.

Ponder the question.

 

Have an awesome Tuesday.

 

Special Hello to: all my fellow humans …. remember to be kind to all living creatures.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 27th day of March, 2019.

Well we had a rainy day on Tuesday …..  we missed our walk last night.

Sometimes I wished that Alvin had a raincoat with a hood.

I have to be careful that he doesn’t get an yeast infection.

It can happen from excess moisture in the ears.

Who knew?

We opted out last night but he spent time on the deck and every time he came into the house – out came the towel.

Tonight I have a meeting and our friend is watching over him.

Perhaps it will be nice and she will take him for a walk.

Otherwise we will have to play catchup tomorrow and over the weekend.

Not so bad.

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

I read the following just before signing on to do this post.

It was surrounded by math problems.

Love is many things none of which is logical.

I would tend to agree with this statement.

Love is anything but logical.

We all know and remember poems and song lyrics about love.

Nothing logical about any of them.

Perhaps love is an opinion.

After all we all love differently.

Some we understand and some we do not.

But we cherish LOVE above all else.

There is the love of another human being.

There is the love of one’s children.

Different love between you and your parents, for example.

There is the love of money.

There is the love of material items.

After all that priceless family heirloom was purchased with love and handed down over the generations with love.

There is the love of animals.

I love my Alvin.

There is the love of nature.

I love walking by a lake with tall grasses waving in a breeze.

I love watching animals in nature.

There is the love of food.

Who does not love chocolate.

There is the love of oneself.

Many levels of self love.

There is the love of a rain storm.

Yes, love the excitement of thunder and lightning.

There is the love of sports.

There is the love of exercise.

There is the love of music.

That song that you simply cannot live without.

There is the love of love.

Anyway you look at it LOVE covers a great deal of ground.

 

Funny how one statement can spark conversation or in this case a great many statements.

I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing that you love yourself, you are safe, you are in good health and are surrounded with love and support.

Happy Wednesday.

Have a wonderful day.

 

Special Hello to: my friends and family all over this world.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 23rd day of February, 2019.

That darn Weather Report says colder weather on the way.

Hopefully when Alvin and I walk to his follow-up Vet appt. in a little bit (930); it is not too cold.

We did not make arrangements for a ride.

Thankfully it is only about an 8 minute walk.

Also wishing a Happy Birthday to our friend “A” who lives a few doors down.

It is her Happy Birthday today as well.

Also a girl I know back home.  Happy Birthday “M.”

Lots of birthdays on this day.

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

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

So, today is the DAY.

Today is my beloved sister’s “60” Birthday.

I cannot believe she is 60 ….. where has the time gone.

Seems like yesterday we were teenagers and young adults.

I will say this …. we always had fun … no matter where we were or what we were doing.

We have laughed and cried together.

We have worked together (for same company).

We have lived together for a bit of time.

Always there for each other.

Yes, we have had our “spats” but at the end of it all, we always made it out of the mud and on our way.

She has been my longest friend.

No one can make me laugh like my sister.

I love her sense of humour, her smile and her laugh.

She is one of the most intelligent beings I know.

My sister is dependable, loyal and herself.

Wishing my baby sister the most wonderful 60th Birthday.

Yes, I know I am giving away your age but sister, 60 is huge.

It is just a number.

But a glorious one.

Happy Birthday Sister C.

The pups wanted to get in on the WISHES.

Happy Birthday from Miss Aspen, Master Milo and Mr. Alvin.

Purple flowers – Lavender for a February birthday.

How about an ANGEL FOOD CAKE with Fresh Strawberries …. next visit …. will make you one!

Wishing you a Happy Happy Birthday.

Wishing you a great day and year to follow.

May you have good health, be filled with great joy, love, and abundance.

AND always, surrounded by the ones that love you.

With love from your family

Me, Alvin, A & S, Aspen and Milo.

Have an awesome day.

 

Special Hello to: the Birthday Girl, of course.

Always, Carol