2021

Good Morning All! Welcome to another hot day in Edmonton. I will be over the moon when our a/c is serviced next week and I am willing to bet that Mr. Alvin feels the same. I certainly am not going to complain about these warm days as our summers are relatively short compared to our winter / cold months. So we do our best to keep cool. I would have escaped to the basement with Alvin but packing him up and down the stairs is not easy. He weighs a good 30 pounds give or take and I have to carry him a certain way so as not to hurt his knee any further. So we just spend our evenings in front of the fans. I do hope it cools down later in the evening.

Last night I was fixing the living room blinds so that Alvin could clearly see outside without having to strain looking through them semi open.
I noticed there was a little robin standing on the top of the front flower bed. It didn’t seem to be too disturbed by me watching through the open window with only a screen between us. It hopped about and into the dirt amongst the flowers, all the time holding something in its beak. I love robins. Partway through taking photos through the screen I decided to go outside and see if I could snap a photo or two. I was able to get a couple of our little visitor. I was thinking that perhaps the little one may be thirsty so I took a clear glass storage container and filled it with cool water. As I stepped off the last step and edged closer to the little feathered one, it semi flew and hopped onto my neighbour’s front flower bed. Surprisingly enough it didn’t fly away but hopped onto the grass. The water is left for any birdie or perhaps a bee needing a drink.

The second photo behind the screen is of the robin and is the first photo I took and then I went outside.

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  Little Visitor

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  Alvin

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  Keeping an eye out

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  Flower power

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  My little piece of heaven

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  Panoramic shot

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  Fav thing on hot day

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  From my vantage point

Well as our life continues to change with our new norm, we just continue to live one moment, one day at a time. Trying to keep some sense of sanity, patience, definitely patience and knowing that things will get better.

I am grateful that our sofa is comfortable but even at that it is not our bed. With the heat we struggle to get comfy and sometimes can make for a long night. But we will get through it, just one day at a time.

Wishing you a wonderful Friday.

Continuing to live each day with kindness , respect, compassion, patience, understanding love an gratitude.

It is a NEW YEAR.

Monday morning.

Good Day.

How are you doing?

Did you have a good sleep?

The sky is overcast here in Edmonton this morning.

I had a fair good sleep for a Sunday night.

Noticed that most nights have been filled with strange dreams.

The coffee is perking away.

Always a great way to begin the day.

No wind this morning for a change.

But I will say that having some wind has definitely made short work of the snow banks that lined our side of the street.

The houses that face south have had no snow for quite some time now.

I have been gradually shovelling and moving the snow in the backyard and it is almost gone.

Leaving behind a mucky yucky mess.

Yup, yes a mucky yucky mess.

I am hoping that once the bit of snow melted back there and with warmer temperatures this week that it will dry so that I can give it a good raking.

Then Alvin will be able to start using it.

This morning he went to where the last remaining bit of snow was and then could not get turned around so he walked through some of the muck.

Luckily I was keeping an eye on him and grabbed him at the door wiping off his paws.

Usually I wipe them off when he comes in from outside as you never know what he could be tracking into the house.

This is a practice that I have always done.

Not just since COVID-19 made its’ appearance.

I do not see a beautiful sunrise anywhere as I gaze out of my office window.

Oh well, we will have sunshine at some point.

 

I am excited to have the full size computer monitor to work with today and for the remainder of my time working from home.

 

Yesterday was a great day.

I had a luxurious bath with one of our Steeped Tea bath bombs.

Strangely enough I had always bought them and given them away never even trying them.

I tried to keep one in the house so that I would try them out and then a birthday would come around and I would add one to the birthday gift.

Yesterday, I did and it was wonderful.

Unfortunately we no longer see them.

Boo hoo.

Sad about that.

I actually stayed in the tub for just over 30 minutes.

Feeling really relaxed and skin so soft afterwards.

It was great.

 

Then it was Alvin’s turn.

He did not quite have the same experience as I did but I think it was okay for him.

I made sure the temperature of the water was just perfect.

Not too hot and not too cold.

Just a nice temperature for the boy.

I massaged for quite some time the shampoo into his body and I could tell that he was loving it.

He does like to have his neck and back massaged most days.

So he did enjoy it.

Not so much the drying off.

But anyway we were both feeling pretty pampered.

 

After our baths we made some phone calls.

I called my youngest brother and my sister.

I had made arrangements to speak to my older of the two brothers after supper.

So nice to speak to my family.

Everyone is doing well.

Two of them are working from home and the other is not.

Yesterday was self care day.

Relaxing baths, chatted with siblings and followed by a walk.

I will say that our walk …. well Mr. Alvin is not quite as white as he was.

He is black and white …. the white fur is not as brilliant as it was after his bath.

Oh well.

 

Well I hope that you all have an awesome day.

It is almost time to get the other computer turned on and start this new work week.

My tea order arrives today.

Tomorrow the HELLO FRESH food order arrives.

I am excited for all of the packages to arrive.

Try some new teas and check out some new food dishes.

 

Have a glorious day.

Take some time to be in nature.

Even sit in your backyard and see if you can hear the birds.

Perhaps a Robin.

On the deck or on your living room floor (place something soft under your bum).

Close your eyes and just relax.

Self-care.

Remember to hydrate.

Very important.

Nap if you can.

Enjoy.

 

Time to go and get some COFFEE.

 

In life, with kindness and respect,

I/We remain,

As always, Carol & Alvin

 

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Wednesday Morning.

The sunrise is amazing and the sky is beginning to clear.

We had a nice light blanket of snow last night.

I heard from the Weather Channel that Sunday we are to have double digits for temperature.

On the plus side, I should add.

Finally, perhaps that will put a serious dent in the snow banks that are lingering about.

I can hardly wait to see buds on the trees.

The birds are beginning to return from down south.

I believe that I mentioned I saw a Robin last week.

So happy about that.

I love them, little robin red-breast.

I have the coffee perking away.

Oh, how I love coffee in the morning.

Alvin is resting on his little bed beside my computer desk.

 

I must say that I never thought in my wildest dreams, did I ever, think that I would be doing my job from home.

Not ever.

Not even a random thought.

Now here I am close to a month into working from home.

Wow, so strange.

I guess we truly never know what is going to happen in the world.

 

Yesterday Alvin and I had two walks.

This is starting to become a habit which is a good thing.

I placed a tea order after our later walk.

One of my friends picked me up a few things from the store.

I believe that we are set for awhile.

Although how could I forget to get “olive oil.”

Anyway not life or death so it can wait for a week or so.

 

Oh, big thing …. I cut my hair.

Oh, yes I did.

I had been wondering how it would work if I used Alvin’s electric hair/fur clippers.

I found that the extensions do not fit on or at least I could not get them onto the clipper.

So I just took the “electric” clipper and starting cutting.

I took off quite a bit and it looks pretty good.

Had to fix some even this morning with my handy dandy hair scissors.

Although next time I would make sure that I dried my hair straight.

What I mean by this is ….. I would not put my hair in a ponytail and then pull through.

So it was curly / wavy when I removed the hair elastic.

But despite that ….. I am pretty happy.

Besides my hair grows fast so why not.

Alvin is lucky as I cut his hair.

I have noticed a lot of doggies are looking a bit on the shaggy side.

 

Well I guess it is time to go and grab my coffee.

Might start work a bit early today.

Just because.

Not because I have to,

Just because.

 

The sun is shining so bright.

Mid week so that is good.

Weekend around the corner.

I hope that you and your family are well.

Stay safe.

Remember there are always the bathroom fans to clean.

Top of the cupboards might need a bit of a dust job.

Basement.

I know I have many things that I can do when I have the time.

Summer is close.

YAY.

 

With kindness and respect.

I/We remain,

As always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 24th day of April, 2019.

Another gorgeous morning as the sun rises filling the sky with hues of pinks and oranges and yellows.

Well my five day weekend has come to an end and it is back to work for me.

What a glorious five days we had – working – walking – working and walking.

Alvin saw his friends and spent some time with Humphrey the Cat.

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to get some tasks completed around the house.

Always things to do but I made a large dent in the list …. perhaps dent isn’t quite the right choice of words but you know what I mean.

We even lounged on the deck for a bit yesterday afternoon.

Sometimes we walked just me and Mr. Alvin and other times we were joined by our friend P (once with Georgie her grand pup).

I am grateful for the kindness of my family and friends.

I am grateful for this spring wonderful weather.

I am grateful to have beautiful parks so close by.

I am grateful to have seen swans flying in our neighbourhood as they passed through Edmonton.

I am grateful to have seen the return of robins in our area.

I am grateful that both Alvin and I are in good health.

I am grateful for our life.

 

Today feels like a good day to share a poem that I wrote many years ago.

 

FROM DREAM TO REALITY

I had a dream late last night,

Of sparkling white sandy beaches,

Palm trees swaying in a sweet scented breeze,

Of clear blue skies and water, clear blue,

Of monkeys, elephants and parrots, too.

When I awoke and looked all around,

It was a dream, so I had found.

The picture is somewhat sadly different.

My sandy beaches are cluttered with garbage.

The palm trees have been removed, replaced with malls.

The breeze smells bitter — terribly so,

The monkeys, elephants where did they go?

We have come too far, too fast,

The signs have been there,

But we did not see, due to our hungry greed

From horse drawn sleighs to gas powered cars,

From tin and glass to Styrofoam and plastic jars,

From all that technology we still didn’t learn

That we’re literally burning our planet — our Earth.

The time has come to join together,

Mothers, Fathers, Sons and Daughters,

If we learn to reduce, recycle and reuse

We can save our planet —

The gem in our universe.  Our Earth!

Written for Amanda’s school play at W.H. Ford School

By Carol Lewis on November 28th, 1990

This is so bizarre that I wrote this twenty years ago for my daughter’s school play.  It is even more prevalent today.

Now it has been almost thirty years now.

What has changed?

 

Well almost time to go downstairs and finish getting ready to leave for work.

Alvin is nesting on his blue blanket which has been made even more comfy by adding a lap blanket my Grandmother made in about 1990.

Talk about lots of older things.

It remains almost as new.

 

Have an awesome Wednesday.

Sending out our thoughts and positive energy to all those in need.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Special Hello to: my friend V who is such an amazing person……

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 18th day of April, 2018.

Well the snow went by us yesterday with the exception of a few flakes later in the evening.

Otherwise we had mostly sunshine yesterday.

This morning the sky is the most glorious yellow and pink hues on the rise but a few scattered clouds from the night hovering above.

Looks like a beautiful day ahead.

I am going with a positive mindset as this snow has to go.

The water in our backyard has all but disappeared.

The streets are dry again and the sidewalks will be there as soon as the snowbanks on our lawns have melted.

Summer is just around the corner.

I heard a Crow cawing yesterday.

So excited to see my first Robin as they are one of my favourite birds.

 

Alvin and I hit the sofa for some extra zzz’s this morning.

So nice to have that extra time snuggling.

 

I was able to print off the RECYCLING DO AND DON’TS from the City of Edmonton’s website.

Just want to ensure that I am doing everything properly.

Sometimes folks it does not hurt to check and make sure that you have not strayed from the proper way to do things.

We all innocently forget sometimes.

 

I hope that you all have a great day.

Today we all will learn something new.

Doesn’t have to be rocket science – just something new.

Whether the name of a bird or a flower.

How to plant a garden?

What to plant in your garden?

 

Special Hello to: my friends back in Saskatchewan …. always nice to catch up.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 2nd day of July, 2015.

It is absolutely the most perfect morning here in Edmonton.

The sun is shining, there is a slight cool breeze which was perfect for our morning stroll.

I have a couple of days off from the office.  We were up to stay fairly early for a day off.

There were the roses that line our path at the entrance to the lake …. the fragrance was enchanting.

A robin hopped along not grabbing Mr. Alvin’s attention.

The grass glistened with dew looking as though there were diamonds sprinkled everywhere.

What an absolute perfect morning.

I wish every morning would be like this for us.

For now I will take these ones and treasure them.

Alvin just loves to sniff the grass as we walk along ….. not sure what he is finding.

Upon our arrival home and once Mr. Alvin had his harness removed; I grabbed the watering can so that I could give the front flower bed a quick drink. The back side of the bed rests against the house and does not get all of the rain.

My flowers are doing well and so are the little weeds that are trying desperately to find a home.

They are so nice and green.

But …….

We had a great Canada Day …… was just deciding about getting up when the phone rang (deciding factor).

It was our neighbour inviting us over for coffee.

So ate, dressed and went out …. what a great way to celebrate Canada Day….. good friend and coffee.

Mr. Alvin came with me ….. not fair to leave him at home.

Well I had better get on my way ….. breakfast …. make a couple of phone calls and this afternoon ….

I am going to bring out the beads and make some jewellery.

I miss making things …. so much fun and therapeutic.

I hope that you enjoy your day and have time to do something you love.

Happy July 2nd, 2015.

WOW ….. second day of July.

Special Hello to:  all those folks who are on vacation ….. enjoy.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 2nd day of June, 2014.

June …… WOW.

I see the first fly on my office window ……. officially spring/summer.

A robin just flew by ….. sure seems to be lots happening as I look out my window.

The sun is shining and the sky is a lovely powder blue.

YAY …… perfect Monday morning.

I hope that you awoke this morning surrounded by delightful-ness (not sure if that is even a word).

Last night on our walk just before the skies opened up – we picked up most of the posters from our neighbourhood cleanup.

We will get the rest tonight.

Back to the fly …….

The fly almost looks like it is frightened to be up so high.

He keeps turning ever so slightly.

I do not know how high they fly?

Maybe two stories is too high.

Poor little guy.

Well almost time to go to work ….

Just seems like it was Monday ….. a day or two ago.

Lots has happened in that one week.

The fly is still there.

Seems weird.

They never stay in one place for very long.

Perhaps he just just taking in the sights or maybe he is a “peeping fly” ……

Very strange.

Okay, enough fly commentary ….. time to go to work.

Have a great day …..

Special Hello to: all those people who write stories ……

Always, Carol and Alvin