The Next Chapter

Back again, I noticed when I published the post seconds ago that two of the photos did not show. So I am going to do a second post with only photos and see if I can get this figured out. Fingers crossed.

Repotted houseplants

Umbrella up

Begonias

Hopefully this works. Not sure what happened. I hope that today is a wonderful day for you and that you are able to share it with some of the people that you love.

Always, Carol & Alvin, My Forever Angel

The Next Chapter

Good Morning. Another smoky morning and no rain last night or now. The forecast said rain but has not happened yet. Still holding out hope for rain, we desperately need some rain in Alberta. Not massive downpours that will cause flooding and mudslides but a steady nice rain over several days would help so much with the wildfires and possibly clear the smoke from the air that is over our Province and much of Canada and even into the United States. My heart goes out to British Columbia would is having more than their share of wildfires at this time. It is dry and we need some moisture. I was happy to see that the City of Edmonton, Animal Rescues and Private individuals are coming to the aid of animals and are helping to make sure as many as possible are brought to safety. It warms my heart to see there are people who care about animals and are helping. I am so grateful and thankful to these people and organizations. There is a breeze this morning which brings in the smoke. We did have a bit of a reprieve late yesterday afternoon. I saw Jeanette, Eddie and Bruno walking by my house and saw her look back at the house. We had not texted each other about walking yesterday. I watched the last few seconds of a show that I was watching. Then decided I would catch up with them. Quickly put on my runners and grabbed my keys and was out the door. I did catch up but really had to walk fast. The air was starting to clear and we could actually see the sun. So breathing was definitely easier. I had called out to her a couple of times before I got to them but she did not hear me. Finally I was there. She thought that all of the vehicles outside my house meant that I had company so she did not stop by. They were having a drink and resting as Bruno needs to stop multiple times. I found out that the cancer has spread and he has limited time on this earth. They do not know how much time and that will depend on how he does. I won’t kid around here, there were tears and memories of Alvin’s last days on this earth. Poor, poor Bruno. Why oh why can’t these beloved animals live longer. We could do without some humans and have more animals. I want to spend as much time with him as I can. So I will walk whenever they are able to go. Bruno loves to walk. We stopped multiple times for Bruno to lay down and for them to have water. Just as we were coming out of the park we saw our friend Jamie in her backyard and called out to her. She came over to us and we chatted for a minute before she went into the house to bring out Sadie (another beautiful yellow lab). Sadie was eating her supper at the time. She came out and when Jamie opened the gate, Eddie squeezed beside Bruno and almost took me through the fence but I let go out of the leash and then ran to take it off. Bruno did not really play but he was happy to be in the backyard. They have a little splash pool and both dogs cooled off. Sadie has a red frisbee and man is Eddie quick and nimble at grabbing it. He is very strong as I played tug with the frisbee. I did not even come close to getting it from him. Jeanette spoke in Spanish and he realized the frisbee. I have to learn more words. I am working on it. We all had a nice visit. I am happy that we all are friends. Then we were on our way home. I walked them to their house before returning to mine. Lately my life seems to be filled with more deaths than births. Maybe it is because of my age, I don’t know. Very sad.

Eddie

Eddie, Bruno and Sadie. Having some technical difficulties. Well I am having some issues with photos. Seems to be duplicating photos and then some will not upload to this post. You cannot see my beautiful Lavender plant in the photos below. But the Begonias are there and all of my houseplants that I repotted.

Umbrella up

Repotted houseplants

Well it is time to head downstairs and make some coffee and get this day going. My youngest brother is calling me later this morning. I am on package pickup patrol (a neighbour is having something delivered). Will be walking with Jeanette and the pups if they are up for it. I will figure out the photo thing and post the other photos possibly tomorrow. I think I may have an idea what happened.

Wishing you all a wonderful Monday. It is a holiday for me and I am most grateful to have had this extra long weekend.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin, My Forever Angel. I think of you all the time buddy and miss you more than words can say.

A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! Another bright sunny blue sky morning out there. Cold. Very cold. We went to bed quite early last night and I guess we had a pretty good sleep as far as our sleeps usually go. I just did not want to get up and get going this morning at all. Laying on the sofa cuddling next to Alvin under our red cozy blanket was all I wanted to do. But it was Alvin that made me get up and get going this morning. Perhaps a shower after writing this post will get me going and my hair feels like it has not been washed in a month which is not true. But anyway!

We had a good day yesterday. I cleaned, did laundry, made some bagels, some soup and roasted some turkey breasts and made an apple crisp. Supper was soup, a bagel and some apple crisp. YUM. I used some of the Epicure packets that my friend Val gave me for the soup and the bagels and spice for the turkey breasts. Very good. I topped the soup with avocado which I will need to use tonight but I will have some turkey with supper as well. Nothing like hot soup on a cold winter’s day.

I realized this morning just how long Mr. Alvin’s nails are getting and that would be due to not many walks. Will have to check the calendar and see when he had them trimmed last. I know it was in January. Also I need to see when the 30 days is up for the treatment that he had for his right ear. Both ears will need to be cleaned. I could give him a hair cut and a bath but I think I will wait and hopefully by next weekend his poop will be normal with no blood. I was so happy to see that his first poop in a long time was actually firm. He pooped more than once and by the last bit there was blood. But I think things are going in the right direction. Tomorrow and Tuesday I work from home so I will need to call and give an updated report to his Vet. They called on Friday while I was on the way home from work and had my phone turned off so did not see the call in time to call back before they closed.

Oh, my did I ever dream last night and this morning. Some good and some well not so …..

Time to hit the shower and then go and make some coffee. We will have a quiet morning and then this afternoon put the laundry away that is drying in the basement. Perhaps I will be able to put away the Christmas decorations as well as they are sitting out in the basement family room. As I will be down there for awhile, I will need to take Alvin with me and just want to ensure that he will be okay for a bit so that I don’t have to carry him up and down and down and up much.

I hope that you are doing well. With all that is going on between Alvin and work, I have not kept in good contact with my family and some friends at a distance and even close by. Just not enough time in a time. But I am thinking of you all and please forgive me for not reaching out more often.

Oh, I transplanted some slips from a plant yesterday. They had such long roots. I am sure that they will be enjoying the dirt. This particular plant is so beautiful and has the prettiest little flowers. I just do not recall the name.

Have a wonderful Sunday. Keep warm and stay safe. You are in my thoughts!

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

From Christmas ……. me Alvin, Aspen at the window and Milo and Alvin watching her from the sofa.

Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! I hope that this post finds you doing well. We are doing well although I do admit that I like being able to sleep later in the mornings but I am up and almost ready. Alvin has had his breakfast and been outside to do his business, okay, I shall say it “to p&p.” Our weather has been absolutely gorgeous. I sure am grateful for these above zero temperatures. I can hear a dog outside to the south barking. I hope that they let the poor guy into the house. Why do people leave their poor dogs outside? Those are not great human beings. I cannot imagine doing that. I feel badly if I let Alvin outside and run into the basement for something quick. He always beats me to the door and then starts barking. Most times, the majority of the time, I go outside with him, especially since he is getting older.

I had a great idea this morning. While thinking of Alvin, I realized that my daughter does not have the phone numbers of my friends that help with Alvin. She does have the phone numbers of my friends Gillian and Signe or at least the group chat. So what would happen if something happened to me, who would she contact. So I took a screenshot of some of my contacts, the ones that are looking after Alvin today and tomorrow while I head out to the office. This is something that we likely do not think about – the exchange of contact information. I plan tonight to make a list of all of my close friends and their phone numbers and give to my daughter. Should anything happen to her, she will have the information at easy access. I also sent her my Manager’s cell number. Organized and prepared are good things. You should always give the person that would be looking after your affairs and finances, any information that is required to access those records. My daughter has most of my info but I need to make a list and give it to her. Should something ever happen to me, I do not wish her to be stressing over account numbers, banking info etc. in the midst of grieving. We should all be prepared. It is important.

I watered some of my plants upstairs this morning. They are doing well. My African Violet is blooming with the most exquisite deep rich purple flowers. I am blessed to be surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers. Not only do they help the air quality but they are beautiful. Do you talk to your plants? I do, I touch their leaves and chat away to them. Sounds a bit strange but I do not have any humans in the house. So Mr. Alvin and the Plants are my sounding boards and with whom I chat about things, about them, about life. It would be odd never to talk to Alvin. I hope that he likes the sound of my voice. Likely thinks I talk too much, lol.

Today and tomorrow I am off to the office. I am so grateful that I have a ride to work with a coworker and that I have friends to watch over Alvin.

Only this weekend and next until I have my “baking weekend” followed by two Christmas parties, two Saturdays in a row. Busy December. This weekend I will double check my list of ingredients to ensure that I have everything that I need. Always good to be prepared even for baking weekends!

I hope that you have a great Wednesday, I almost put down Tuesday. Yikes. I am feeling much better, thank goodness. If I am able to sleep, I always feel better. Sleep heals.

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! We went to bed last night as my daughter stopped by after work and after her trip to COSTCO for a few things including some items for us. I bought a new vacuum. A Shark something or other. I cannot wait to give it a try – most especially on the stairs. It is cordless and has handheld for the stairs. Very exciting. We had a great supper. My daughter loves roasted root vegetables so they were a hit. YAY. Amanda had also picked up a pair of blue jeans from COSTCO for herself and decided to try them on here and found out they were too big for her and so she said “you try them on.” My first thought was they would be too small but guess what they fit. I have noticed that my regular pants are fitting a bit loosely lately, so I can now fit a size 12. Perhaps that sounds large to some people and that is okay but for me that is great. Always better when you are a bit older to lose some weight instead of adding to the number. So now I have two new pair of blue jeans which is great. I have not bought new jeans in a long time. They are high waisted and I LOVE THEM, they are skinny cut which I find laughable but they are very flattering, I must say. Who knew, I am feeling like a “semi sexy woman of a certain age.” LOL. Life is good. Between new jeans and a new vacuum, I feel like a million dollars. My order also included a box of poop bags (which should keep someone going for awhile), light bulbs (because you cannot see in the dark), some grocery items which included some red seedless grapes which are so yummy. I could have eaten the whole container last night and then decided not a great idea at 9:45 p.m. (I had just finished cleaning up and putting things away and did not realize how late it was). I am so grateful to have one of the BEST daughters on the planet. She also gave me a black skort (which happened to be the same one that I bought this summer except this one fits perfect) and a black skirt. The black skirt fit but was very short and I thought, we thought, not likely too appropriate. If I bent over – it would not be pretty, lol. So a great evening. YAY.

Today is bright, sunny and windy. I was looking out of the bedroom window and saw that the eavestroughs are full of leaves. OMG, perhaps I could get someone to climb up on the ladder and clean them out. Will have to see if that is a possibility or not. Yesterday late morning and into the afternoon, I spent almost 2.5 hours helping my friend Signe trim her tree. I supplied the tree trimmer and ladder (although we did not use it in the end). We managed to cut down most of the black rot from her tree. She is going to call the City and see if they can help her with the last branch which is several inches thick and not something we could do. I helped her with the cutting up and bagging of the branches so that she can dispose of. It was fun helping a friend and manual labour yet!

I am wanting a cup of coffee at this moment. Nothing like the first cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. I have changed the bedding and collected the laundry to be washed. Before heading downstairs I want to water my plants which are in the office and spare room. All doing well. Signe helped me move the plants from the main floor to the basement. I had a Canna Lily in a big ceramic pot and a Citronella in a small ceramic pot. They have to be winterized. Cut back a bit. But I want to check out exactly what to do with my “plant friend Pauline”. Also I will clean all of the blinds on the main floor and do the upstairs tomorrow. Oh and vacuuming with my new machine. So exciting.

Well I hope that you are doing great. Have a wonderful day. Hopefully the temperature is warm today. There was no frost last night.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: there is nothing like sharing a meal with your wonderful daughter, walking with your pup, receiving an unexpected new pair of jeans in a small size that fit and buying a new vacuum. Happy Saturday to me.

I almost forgot that I wanted to share something with you, the Health Properties of PUMPKIN. Some of you may have bought a pumpkin for Halloween to carve. Did you know that the flesh of a pumpkin can: help keep your joints limber, good for your eyes with the Vitamin A, Immunity booster Vitamin C, has Potassium, good for weight loss, skin saving antioxidants and helps with pooping (or at least it does with dogs). Eat some pumpkin. You can add to a stew or a sauce, make muffins or a loaf or just roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. So many great benefits.

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Wednesday morning? Alvin and I are doing very well. We had a great sleep for us. Lights out at 10:00 p.m. and first time up at 4:00 a.m. and then up to stay up at 5:40. No complaints. Today is my last day at the office for the week and that makes me happy. I am doing a little dance while sitting on my chair typing/keying this post. YAY.

The traffic seems to change from day to day. Sometimes I get dropped off at 4:30 and others about 4:45 or so. Life in the fast lane.

There is not too much new in my live at the moment so that is good.

I am thinking ahead to next weekend which will be the first weekend in November and time for me to start decorating for Christmas. With Halloween being on Monday and working at the office from Tuesday to Thursday, I thought better to wait until the weekend.

Looking at the plants that I have in the office, I noticed that my African Violet is blooming. Beautiful deep, rich purple flowers. She is amazing. The Spider Plant is enjoying more sunshine in the office than in our bedroom and the third plant which I am not quite certain its’ name, is green and beautiful. I am so grateful to be surrounded by so many healthy, pretty plants. Looks like they may need a drink so I shall do that before I go back downstairs. One more time outside for Mr. Alvin before I leave for work. Our friend is only able to come over at noon today so I want to make sure that he has that last pee and possibly another poop and drinks some water (not necessarily in that order). Better to drink the water first and then go outside. Hopefully he will.

There was frost on the ground again. I noticed that the weather channel has single digit temperature for today but warming up for the next few days. I hope that they are correct. We can enjoy more warm walks. Perhaps Alvin won’t need his sweater. I think that I gave Alvin’s winter coat away, the big one as it was a bit too big on him anyway although with his recent weight gain, that may have changed. Will have to check things out.

I hope that you have an awesome day. May you be surrounded by the beauty of nature. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees although there are a few left and I treasure each moment with them on the trees. Looks like I may have some raking in my future although some leaves on the ground does help protect the grass and fertilizes it for spring.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: oooooo, coffee!

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! Another beautiful day on the way. The sky is partially overcast but I am hoping that it remains dry for the day. I am so grateful to my daughter for spending overnight on Friday with me and Alvin. She stayed until about noon on Saturday. I had a list of things that I required an extra set of hands for so she helped me out. We hauled the dresser in from the garage and it is all set up and most of the drawers are filled already. Moved things about. One of my downstairs plants has a new home atop of the dresser. She helped me trim a bit more fur/hair from Mr. Alvin’s front paws. He was squirmy so we did not get much but a bit and that is great. There was an ear cleaning (he sure sat a lot better for her than for me). We moved the heavier plant pots that had been emptied into the garage along with the base of the umbrella stand that she gave me. Well actually the base is sitting on the upper deck drying out from the last rain. I do not want wet sand sitting in the garage. The big thing was TRIMMING THE TRIM. I was amazed that with girl power how much we were able to do. We even brought out the 5 foot step ladder and got some of the higher branches, not the highest ones but enough that I feel better. We were so proud and even had fun doing it. Amanda likes to trim trees, I found out. We also found out that if we both hold onto the tree trimmer together and one pulls the rope it worked a lot better. The tree trimmer is about 8 or so feet long and has a hard core blade system at the end. It is very heavy for one person. She was amazed that I had done it by myself the past years. Well, I always say “you do what needs to be done, one way or the other.” We tossed the branches over the back gate as I needed to borrow my neighbours shorter handle tree trimmer tool to cut up the branches so that they can be taken by our garage people. So it was a great morning.

In the afternoon, I did laundry, some cleaning and later in the afternoon, our friend Pauline stopped by with a plant and some seeds. Sunflower and Brown-Eyed Susan plants. We chatted for a few minutes and then we walked her home where we had a short visit as it was time for her to prepare supper and me to go home and ready mine. I fed Mr. Alvin before she arrived at our house.

So a great day all round. I rewound and watched LIGHTYEAR a few more times and even saw bits that I had missed from Friday night. That was in the afternoon. Just left the movie playing as I did some housework. Last night it was just watching some episodes of YOUNG SHELDON and BIG BANG THEORY. Some I had seen before but I enjoy these two shows so I watched them again.

Our tree is beginning to turn yellow. I noticed there are quite a few trees that are still very green.

The grass is a mix of green and yellow/brown. The north side of the street most of the lawns have gone yellow/brown but on our side, the south side, many remain green.

Well time to go and get dressed for the day. Have some coffee and then go and chop some branches. I have to retrieve the laundry that is drying in the basement and then do a couple of loads of laundry. Have a walk with Mr. Alvin somewhere along the way and then have a quiet one. We might use BOBI the robot vacuum cleaner to clean upstairs. My daughter is lending me BOBI as her floor space is small and she does not use much and my vacuum cleaner, my beautiful ELECTROLUX is not working. I think it is the sensor according to some troubleshooting research that I did on GOOGLE Search. Perhaps at some point I will find someone who can fix it.

Wishing you a great day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvlin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning All! Another smoky looking sky morning. Alvin and I were up and out for a walk earlier. The diarrhea had started to go in the other direction but then back again. We were in bed by 10:00 p.m. last night and then up at 3:00 a.m. to go outside (only pee), it was so nice out there. Clear sky. I don’t know if the bright shiny objects in the sky were stars or satellites or the space station but I could see them all the same. Then back into the house and settled down on the sofa for some additional sleep. I set the alarm for 6:00 a.m. as then is when Alvin needs his probiotic, the alarm went off and Alvin was still sleeping so I turned off and then got up a few minutes later. Today I can start mixing in his food with the chicken and rice. Now that is quite the mixture. I am quite sure that I am over feeding him by a bit but hard to measure them all to come up with 3/4 cup total. Oh well. After he ate we went outside, I was sad to see that the starting to firm up poop from yesterday was back to not being firm. I know, poop, poop, poop, poop. But it is my reality at this moment. We do not realize how important the state of one’s poop is in our overall health whether you are human or a dog. Any animal for that matter. The “stuff” that our bodies dispose of tells the story of how well we eat or not and our state of health. So it is a big deal and I take that very seriously. After that I had planned to stay up but the sofa was calling my name and I just laid there for awhile thinking about things, my things, what to do, what can I do, what should I do. Also thinking about how grateful I am for the life that I have lived thus far. I will say this it has not been dull. There have truly been incredible highs and equally lows. But that is life, right?

We were up just before 8:00 and I ran upstairs to throw on some clothes, because no one wants to see me out walking in my pj’s, I am quite certain of that. So once done and back downstairs, I grabbed his harness and put on him before filling his water bottle. Then grabbed my keys, leash and put on my flip flops (my Clark’s, which I absolutely love) and out the door we went (oh, I put on my sunglass clips), locked the door and carried Mr. Alvin down the steps. We did not come across anyone during our walk to our happy place. We just doddled along with Alvin smelling each and every blade of grass and me, taking in the morning air, admiring the trees, the ponds, the stones I could see in between the trees and the roses still blooming. We did not go into our friend’s yard but tomorrow we will. We both love it there and while Pauline’s flowers are blooming we want to enjoy them. I shall email her tonight to give her a head’s up, just in case she happens to look out the window and see us sitting in the yard. On the return trip home – Alvin stopped and pooped, yup still you know what. Not my favorite word in the English language or any language for that matter. I gave him a couple pieces of his hard food when we got home. Positive thoughts. His poop will get firm over the course of today. We saw a woman in the entrance way to the park and we both said hello. She told me that she was enjoying the area and that she was visiting from Vancouver. I said we live in a beautiful neighbourhood. Then we were off for home.

Once home, I removed our gear and put on the coffee to perk and then went out to water all of the plants. I read last night it is better to water in the morning than in the evening. So will give that a try. Alvin stayed on the deck like the good guy that he is while I watered the front. Then I watered the back and then took the watering can to water the Begonias on the front porch. As I walked across the lawn, I noticed a woman who then noticed me and we realized that it was a friend who lives in the neighbourhood who I have not seen in literally years. We chatted and caught up and remarked on how things have changed since COVID came into our lives. It was so nice to see her. I miss seeing her on a regular basis. She is a very sweet and nice person. Then we said our goodbyes and she continued on her walk. I finished watering the flowers and walked to the backyard where Mr. Alvin was patiently waiting for me. I actually was very surprised that he did not jump off the deck and come to find me.

Back into the house, poured some coffee and upstairs to make our bed and do some things. Now I am sipping on coffee and writing this post.

Oh, yesterday I accidentally clicked on my gmail – email on my phone and noticed that I had over 7000 emails. Yup, that many. So I started reading some of them and deleting others. I found emails from my daughter from 2016 with photos and videos of the original three amigos: Elton, Penny and Alvin. OH, my goodness such good memories. I loved reading the emails and remembering back before COVID and before we were that much older. I have to start deleting them. No one needs to have 7000+ emails and I have another email address as well but I do keep it more respectable, lol.

Life, this is my life. Trying to keep cool. Hoping that Alvin stays healthy. Sometimes thinking about miracles and trying to remain positive despite the curveballs that come my way.

I hope that you have a great Sunday. Time to head downstairs. Finish my coffee. Do a few things. This will be another quiet day. Tomorrow will be cooler so I can get some things done outside and in the house for that matter. I did vacuum the main floor yesterday and do laundry but hard to do much when it is 36 degrees outside as the more active you are inside, the more the house heats up.

Have an awesome Sunday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: thanks to my friend for picking up bathroom tissue and bread. Two staples in every household.

Last Half 2022 – August

Good Morning ALL! What a wonderfully cool Monday morning this is. The sun is starting to rise, the sky is a pale blue as the night leaves for morning with pale orange hue on the horizon away from the sun. Beautiful. The house is cool this morning and I even forgot to open our bedroom window last night. How did that happen? I even got up just before I turned the lights out to turn off the fan which I had briefly turned on at the lowest setting. I have closed the bedroom windows and blinds except for the office one for now. I will close them once I am done writing this post. Monday morning here we come. I am so happy that Mr. Alvin slept until almost 4:30 and then he woke up at 5:57 (still beat the alarm). So we have been up for a few extra minutes. Today is shower so I need a bit more time and we are still walking in the mornings due to the heat at lunch time and after work. Yesterday when we went for a walk in the mid morning, it was so beautiful out that we just kept walking and before I knew it we had walked our whole “old” route. This time it took us 45 minutes. Alvin is slowing down. We used to do it in 25-30 minutes. But I figure 45 minutes of fresh air, sniffing in that beautiful air, checking out the grass, the trees, the flowers and just being together is great. I am happy that he is still able to walk. I am so proud of Mr. Alvin. We bumped into an older gentleman with his dog, a girl, I do not remember her name now but Alvin liked her. She was 9 years old, I think the man said. Anyway, Alvin took a shine to her and she was timid but did not seem to mind the attention. The love fest carried on for a few minutes before we both went on our way. So nice. Whoa, the sun is coming up and reflecting off of the neighbours garage, looking oh so pretty. I am glad that we are up and getting things done.

A good weekend and I am so grateful that the temperatures were less hot. Way less hot. Yesterday I spent some time cleaning out some of the flower pots where most of the flowers had already passed on. I also did some rearranging and cleaning of the garage preparing for putting the patio/deck furniture away. Won’t be for a bit but not too far off, I would think. I have already prepared the front flower bed except to trim back the perennials that remain. There are three of them. I was going to clean the blinds on the main floor and that did not happen. Just putzed. It was a wonderful day.

Off the subject, I have had this computer (new) in 2009. It is a 2009 model. So it has served me well. The computer can no longer accept updates so it remains behind. I have an Apple iMac. I have been researching to find out which would be the best one to get and am shocked by the results of my searches. I found that the Shopping Channel had some on sale and you can pay for them by interest free monthly payment which would be ideal for me. Upon some research between myself and my daughter (whom I could not do anything technical without), found that the newer Catalina operating system will not be supported after this year. So I do not know if this means that there would be no more updates. Who wants to buy a computer that is basically obsolete before you even pay for it? The new ones that were made in 2022 are thousands of dollars. I love Apple products but seriously do we need to charge so much. Aren’t the Apple people rich enough. How about making things a bit more affordable. You have the “customer base.” Anyway, I have some serious thinking to do before I spend any money. More research and time. I hope this old gal can work for some more time. She has done pretty darn good. Fingers crossed.

Well time to head back downstairs and go for a walk with the boy. Alvin is resting on his bed in the office here beside me.

I hope that you have an awesome day. Cannot believe that the long weekend in September is only a few days away. September, FALL ……. I love fall.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: I am so grateful to be working from home ….. I love that we can go for a walk and come home and then I can plug in the coffee pot and then start work. I love that I can drink home brewed coffee all morning long if I chose.

Last Half 2022 – August

Good Morning ALL (it is just barely morning). What a great last almost 24 hours we have had. There is something about having your brother, his husband and your daughter and your pup in the house at the same time. We laughed and cried as we shared news and talked about “the old days.” Some of us remembered things a bit differently but it was all good. Just after the boys arrived, my brother and I left the house to go to the grocery store. Likely not a great idea for Mr. Alvin as he was left with my brother-in-law who is a lovely human being but Alvin really didn’t know him. Todd said that he tried to get him to go outside with him but did not work instead he sat on one of his beds and looked out the living room window waiting my return. Clearly no separation anxieties here, lol. I get it – for most of the time he sees only me and he had not met Todd before and to be honest, I never really thought about it. Note to self. Do not leave the house right away after bringing someone new inside. It is funny not funny ha-ha that Todd has never been to my house here in Edmonton and I moved here in 2009. My brother has been here several times over the years. My poor Todd is awaiting double hip replacement so it was not easy going up and down stairs but he does not let that get in his way. He is a real trooper. Good mindset about his whole ordeal. He will be 54 in a few days. Hopefully after waiting for over two years, the surgery will happen soon. It breaks my heart when you know someone who has been waiting to have surgery and in constant pain. So it seems to be the standard thought process to give you drugs that you may or may not become addicted to help with the pain instead of doing the surgery right away. Drugs that over time damage and destroy your muscle/joints and whatever else. So why not do the surgery sooner than later. I wonder what the real reason is? We also realized that my brother and Alvin are on the same pain medication – just a different dosage. We had a real giggle over that.

I was so happy that my daughter decided to stay and visit. We had a cold supper if you will which was great. After supper and the sun went lower in the sky we sat outside on the back deck. It was wonderful listening to the laughter coming from my house. It has been awhile since I have had that many people enjoying the deck and each other’s company. I am so grateful that they took the time and came out of their way to come from Calgary to Edmonton before heading to Regina with final destination Winnipeg – then the lake. I remember to a few days ago when we were out at my daughter’s. I love the laid back lifestyle. So much fun.

Well it is almost time to head downstairs and get the laundry going and set up the fans and close all the blinds before it gets too hot in the house.

I am grateful to the Universe for bringing some of my family together for a great evening. I drank a bit and even had a few puffs of a cigarette (my brother-in-law smokes). I was a bad girl but sometimes you just have to be “bad.” We had good food, laughed, cried, shared stories, took pictures and just enjoyed being together. Does not get better than that.

We made a pact that next summer for us to get together again but we will make sure that our sister and other brother will be there, too.

Well I should go. Get things back to normal and do laundry. Always laundry.

Have a wonderful Saturday. Oh, I have to check my lottery ticket from last night -that would be a perfect end to a wonderful time. Especially if it were enough to share with family and friends.

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

I do love to entertain. This morning I made buns with two kinds of toppings, some cut up raw veggies and a container of unbaked chocolate macaroons. That was my gift to the boys – the macaroons. A request made by them. We celebrated my birthday and Todd’s which is coming up last night. Now they will have a good snack to have on their trip.

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. we had some rain earlier this morning.