The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are doing great. As it turns out Mr. Alvin did not shake his head or rub his ears all day after the morning so I am just keeping an eye on him. If this changes, of course, I will get the boy in right away.

This is an odd morning. It froze overnight (that is not odd). There is fog in the air. Fog does not happen a lot here in Edmonton and when it does, it feels odd to me. I cannot see the sunrise and not sure if the sky is blue or grey beyond the fog. I hope it lifts soon. I hope that everyone that drives has a safe drive to work. I am thinking of my daughter driving in from the countryside. Also my neighbour just left for the office as well. So grateful to be working from home and not having to worry about walking to the bus on the icy sidewalks.

We went to bed a bit later last night as I try to figure out the best time for that to happen. I know how important sleep is to us all. I turned the lights out after reading for a few minutes after going to bed at 10:00 pm. It was 4:00 am, when Alvin got up to go outside and then almost 6:00 am, when he got up for breakfast and then we laid on the sofa till 6:45 am. What is wrong with this picture? I would like to have a routine where we get up and stay up at like 6:00 am, I just find it difficult as the years go by to get up early and stay up. Have to break that habit. I am proud of Mr. Alvin he did good.

Yesterday it was a snow/rain mix for most of the day with heavy and light periods. Most of the snow that fell on the sidewalks and streets melted but the snow on the lawns stuck. Yes, stuck. I am feeling like I will never see the grassy area in our backyard. All of the snow that I shovelled and moved about back there is back. More exercise I see. But I most certainly am not going to complain about a bit of snow and ice as it is almost April and it will be gone for another season in a few weeks. Patience is a virtue so that say and I work on that virtue daily.

I am so grateful to my friend Signe who picked up some canned pumpkin for Mr. Alvin. For some reason I had forgot when she picked me up some groceries on the weekend. She found a sale so we are good for awhile. YAY.

I am so blessed and feel so grateful to have such thoughtful and considerate friends. Saves me from slipping about on the sidewalks going to and from the stores OR catching a taxi.

When we were outside walking on Sunday, I heard some geese honking and some other birds that I did not recognize their song. Just heard a goose honking as I typed the words. Fantastic.

Well time to go and have some coffee. Time to get things set up – turned on for work. I hope that you have a wonderful Tuesday.

Happy Spring!

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: I have an African Violet in my office with the most vibrant deep purple flowers and I love it.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are okay now. Last night as we were on our way to bed, I noticed that after Mr. Alvin climbed the stairs, he was favouring his right front leg. My mind flashed to last summer. My heart sank. I picked him up and carried him to the bed. He just sat there. No whining or crying. Just sat. I quickly brushed my teeth, washed and got changed into my pj’s. Then I took his toothbrush and toothpaste and a wet cloth to wipe his paws as I usually do before bed. He did not move from his spot but he did not wince when I gently wiped his paws. He laid down right in my spot and as I had no idea where this was going, I just laid down across the bed beside him. After several minutes I managed to coax him into moving over and he laid down. Finally at one point not too long after we went to bed, I took a chance that he would not follow me and took off downstairs to grab him a pain pill which thankfully I had just refilled yesterday. Grabbing him a bit of his wet food to hid the pill in, I returned upstairs. He gobbled down the food with the pill and I was grateful. I really could not sleep. He would doze off and then sit up and this carried on all night. At 2:30, we wanted to get up but I managed to get him to stay in bed a bit longer. I think it was about 3:00 or just after when we got up and went downstairs. I helped him off the bed and was going to carry him down the stairs but he went down on his own. He has not favoured the leg since last night. Perhaps he just stepped on it the wrong way. He was still up and down until I got up at 7:00. I am so tired. But I will carry on. Coffee will help.

I did some moving about of snow from the grass area of our backyard yesterday after we got home from Alvin’s vet appointment. I was pleasantly surprised that a good portion of the sidewalks for our walk to the vet were clear. The rest of the sidewalks were crappy but what can you do. I just happened to look out of the office window and saw a large cat crossing the backyard of the neighbours to the south. They are on the corner and their backyard faces ours. Another cat out and about. Anyway I also managed to get some of the water to make its’ way to the storm drain. Most of the storm drain is covered by the ice and snow chunks but I cleared the snow beside the sidewalk and the water actually started running down to the drain. Hard to explain but the water is draining. Especially when you are running on no sleep, the words are not coming easily. Water is a powerful thing.

Well time to go and grab my coffee.

I hope that you have a great day. The sunrise is beautiful. Perfect blue sky. The moon is slowly fading from sight.

Happy Thursday morning.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are well. Happy that today is Friday and that the weekend is almost here. The sunrise is beautiful. Pale colours that give a warmth to the morning. Love them.

Some weeks do seem longer even though each day is the same. Part of being human the ying and the yang of it all. We struggle with the work / life balance. Why is it that we spend more of our days, months and years working to earn money to live our lives, to enjoy those short two days called the weekend? Well obviously I know the answer but it still remains a mystery as to why things have not changed. We are in 2022. Just coming out of a pandemic. Why not work 4 and get 3 off or any combination! Increasing the time off for people to relax and enjoy their “home” life is so important. Especially with the rate of mental health issues rising each year. If you are able to hire more so that your staff can have a better work / home balance, please do so. We used to work a bit of extra time every day and get every second Friday or Monday off and that was great. Then you could do appointments on that day or some of them plus errands and then have your weekend to do maybe some “fun” stuff. Anyway, I am sure that you get the idea. It always amazes me how in 2022 we have not figured it all out. When will we and will we do it in time? I am not sure. I suppose as long as corporations are just looking to make money – then it will not happen. To all those corporations and businesses out there who give your staff extra time and ensure their life / work balance is more equal, I applaud you. Thank you Now we just need to get others on board.

I love looking at the sky. We had a full moon last night. It was so great to be able to actual see the moon and the night sky. Maybe not many stars likely all satellites and such. I am so grateful that I live near the outskirts of this city as it allows me to actually see the sky and some stars.

Time to slide over to the other desk and get things ready for work. Another sip of coffee.

Last night after work, I did some ice chipping out front and behind my house. What an endless job. It is going to take a bit of time before that is gone. The ruts in the back lane are horrendous.

Have a great Friday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. we even found right after work a place to walk where we did not get soaked. YAY us.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are doing well this Tuesday morning. Alvin and I had a fair sleep, I will say. We are always up and down and it is just a fact of our lives. Enough said. The morning sky is light with a few blue clouds dotting the horizon as the sun tries to peer through. Winter morning in Edmonton. I saw a couple of snowflakes earlier when I was outside with Alvin. I hope for bright blue skies and calmness. Yesterday we had pretty much gale force winds all day. We put on our outer gear and headed out for a lunch break walk but came to a direct halt a few houses down from ours. We came across a massive sheet of ice covering the sidewalk and had to turn around and come back home. Thankfully we had some fresh air. I have been doing some yoga exercises daily and of course we are up and down the stairs all day long with my office being on the second floor. So we are getting some exercise to help battle the lack of movement, the shortness of walks. I think that walking is one of my most favourite things in the world to do. I could literally walk until I couldn’t walk any more.

So it is Tuesday and today is the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2022. Personally we should celebrate each and every day of our lives. Every person on this planet should be celebrated. Now we do not know everyone but that doesn’t mean that they are not important. We are all important to our families, to our friends, to our neighbours, to our jobs, to our schools, and to our homes. Today I celebrate that we are celebrating. So let us celebrate today! Celebrate what we have learned and what we are learning. Celebrate that we have come this far and that we have a long way to go. Celebrate each other! Celebrate the kindness, the respect, the compassion and the understanding. Happy Tuesday and International Women’s Day 2022.

I am most grateful to be have lived yesterday, am living today and hope to be living tomorrow. There is so much to do and to do learn.

My daughter is bringing our groceries after work. I am grateful that I will have some time with her. Let us celebrate our daughters today. My daughter is the most kind, respectful, gracious, gentle, intelligent, patient, loving and compassionate woman I know. I am grateful that she is in my life and I learn from her daily.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? So nice to see clear blue sunny skies to begin the day. I noticed just before I clicked on NEW to write this post that I had written over 4000 posts since I started this back in 2010. I try to do this daily but of course there are times when it was not possible. I was so excited to notice that number. To me that is huge. Congratulations to ME! Alvin said “Congrats Momma.” Hard to believe it is almost 12 years since I started this. I hope that I am still writing this more than 25 years in the future. Till will tell.

Well the weekend has been wonderful. Yesterday we had sunny breaks which was wonderful. Alvin and I spent some time in the backyard (him on the decK) while I shovelled some of the once grassy area. I would say that I shovelled almost half before I had to call it quits. The snow did not really soften so I had to take the ice pick and break it up before shovelling it towards the back gate. A bit later, I decided as we were not able to go for a “safe” walk that I would put on his harness, me in my coat and shoes and we would walk the loop between my neighbours (in other half of the duplex) and me. So that meant down the steps onto our walk that goes to the public sidewalk turning right and then a few steps before coming back up on our neighbours walk to their porch. We made the loop ten times. It felt kind of silly and it took Alvin a couple of times to figure out what I was doing before he pretty much followed me round and round. This is the only spot that is safe for us to walk that has no ice. If we do this a few times each day until the ice has melted we will have had some exercise and fresh air. Sometimes you just have to do what you can. Nothing is perfect. Should someone drive by and laugh, well that would be okay. It is worth a laugh or a smile. I actually was smiling. Life in our fast lane!

There is only a slight breeze this morning which is nice. Not the gale force winds of recent days.

We are having a quiet weekend. Yesterday was laundry, some tidying up, cleaning bathrooms, shovelling snow and a bit of walking. Today I want to wash the main floor and put away the remainder of the laundry that is drying in the basement. We will be doing our walks a few times. I don’t even have to lock the door and do not need boots. That is my kind of walk in the winter. Would be nice to be able to go further but that is okay. We have been doing some steps as well. That is one good thing about having laundry in the basement and bedrooms on the second floor. Up and down is daily.

I prepared the coffee but did not turn it on, why did I not turn it on? Oh well, I will get dressed and then we will go downstairs and turn on the coffee and while it is brewing I can get the laundry out of the basement and perhaps we can go and do ten laps. Not a bad idea.

Well I hope that the bitter cold weather and mountains of snow is over for this year. I am tired of the ice and snow. Mainly of the ice. It would seem that we cannot have one without the other.

Well folks on that note, time to go and get dressed.

I hope that you have an awesome day.

Thank you for reading these posts. I try to read some of the posts that you write as well. I need to do better at that. I will do better. Comments are always welcome.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. Life is better without ice on the sidewalks. The ice should be up north, way up north.

The NEW Year 2022

Good Morning ALL! Well a bit later start to the day than planned but you know what it is the weekend and I can make my own schedule. When there is no significant other and no children who require most of your time – you can almost do what you would like, I say almost, because I have Mr. Alvin to consider. He does always come first but after that, my time is my own. So as long as I get up with him at 4:00 ish so that he can go outside and pee, then get up when he wants to eat which is anywhere from 5:00 – 6:30 a.m. – I am set. So this morning I was dreaming so I coaxed him to stay on the sofa a bit longer. It was so wonderful just laying there once I was awake – not having to go anywhere or do anything specific. Now it is getting onto mid morning or so. I already have picked up his little brown packages from the remaining snow banks on the deck, put on the coffee, changed the bedding, gathered the laundry and got dressed. Now for this post. I do not have a funny story nor do I have words of wisdom this morning. Just words. Hopefully something might make you smile or give you that final boost for the day.

Last night just as I turned off the computer at 4:00 p.m. (yes I stopped working on time), I heard a small knock upon the door and realized that my daughter had already arrived. I was hoping to be downstairs when she arrived but I was not. She is my pride and joy and it was great to see her. I did have a few less than stellar moments during her visit when I was kind of “venting” about goodness knows what. I have never claimed to be perfect that is for sure. We did have some light moments. We talked about so many things during her visit. I love when she visits. She is such an amazing, loving, kind hearted, good soul. I aim to be like her. Perhaps our roles are reversed. Then she was leaving for home.

We had a quiet evening. Oh, she left me some leftovers from a lunch which were spectacular. It was a vegan ginger beef in a sauce with green peppers and carrots. So good. I made some quinoa and green peas to go along with it. Best supper. I could have eaten a barrel full of that vegan ginger beef. I would like to know what they used in their “vegan ginger beef.” Anyway, it was so good. I got the name of the restaurant from my daughter but it is on my phone which is downstairs. Tonight I will have two prep made meals that my neighbour gave me. They smell amazing. Cannot wait. So excited – no cooking this weekend. Always nice to have food that was made by someone else. Wonderful change. I miss when the kids were living here. We took turns cooking.

Well time to head back downstairs and have that first cup of coffee and put in the first load of laundry. Once the temperature warms up I plan to dig out the back grass area so that Mr. Alvin can once again go down there. The snow on the deck is melting fast. Too bad the ice on the sidewalk and the ice and snow chunks would not move faster. With any luck perhaps the temperatures will remain warm during the day and we will soon be snow and ice free. I long to go for walks with Mr. Alvin where we are not worried about staying upright.

I hope that you have an awesome day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Monday morning? Alvin and I are doing great. I changed his bed in the office and I think that he likes this one better. He is one lucky little guy as he has three beds. Now one in the family room in the basement, one in the living room and one upstairs in the office. I do not have to haul them around so that is great. Alvin is one wonderful little guy. Yesterday was so nice that despite the messy icy sidewalks we ventured out for a walk. I had cleaned our walks pretty good with only one chunk of ice that is in the dip nearly impossible to remove at this point. We still have the five feet of snow and ice chunks lining the streets and our sidewalks. Keeping most people from parking on the street including company and delivery trucks. One of the neighbours from a few doors down is parking in front of Sonja’s house and I believe the reason is because they have an opening in the snow to the street or at least it is lower. Not really the way it should work. They should be parking in their garage or garage pad. The street is for company and delivery trucks not to park one of your five vehicles. I am kidding about five but some people have at least three vehicles which makes it difficult. Most times this street is down to one lane and people drive way too fast. Our street is really busy. Anyway, we went for a walk. We got down the sidewalk very carefully to the corner where our friends live across and made sure we checked both directions and in a low spot we crossed to their side of the street. The sidewalks were not too bad. We walked up the street and then I realized that I found the perfect walking place, the crescent. There is a pile of snow from the graders and we walked around the crescent and the pile of snow ten times and then went home. It took us 20-25 minutes so I figured that was perfect. Mr. Alvin was slightly confused as he kept trying to break free of the circle walking and go down the back walkway toward the other park. I was happy and felt like we actually had some exercise and we so enjoyed the warmth of the fresh sunny warm air. One of my friends posted that it was +10 degrees celsius. So today we will do that same walk. We were walking on the street in the crescent but I was able to watch for cars and not as busy as being on our main street. YAY, a safe place to walk. I hit the motherlode.

The forecast is for continued nice warm temperatures and hopefully SUNNY blue skies. I am a bit tired of the grey ones. My body craves the sunshine. My mind needs the sunshine. My soul would very much like the sunshine a bit more often. I can see the sun starting to rise with partially clear skies so we are definitely off to a great start. Happy Monday that be!

I wish you a great day. If it is nice where you are – go outside and take that walk. Whether it is 5, 10 or 30 minutes, fresh air and exercise is magic. Good for your heart, mind and body.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

I am so grateful to have a cup of homemade perked coffee. Oh, I forgot to mention that one of my dear friends called yesterday morning to see if I was up for a cup of coffee? I had just made 10 cups and was going to have one, what great timing and usually I do not make that many cups so it worked out perfectly. We had a great visit and even had some good laughs. I am so lucky to have such great friends and happy for such a wonderful surprise on a Sunday morning.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are well and both Alvin and I are doing great. Today is Friday, January 28, 2022. Today is the birthday of a friend of mine from back home, Jeannette and my nephew Brandon. Happy Birthday to you both.

Yesterday it was not longer after I wrote this post that the sky went from pitch black to the most beautiful sunrise. So the days are finally getting longer or at least it is noticeable.

Well yesterday on my lunch break, I decided to take a chance and go for a walk with Mr. Alvin. The temperatures have been so warm that I did not want to miss another one. We needed to get outside and do something for fun. Not me out shovelling or chipping at the ice. So I put his sweater on and I got my coat and boots and away we went. It was incredibly slow going but we managed to get safely about halfway to the park and then turned around and came back on the other side of the street so that we could stop and pick up the mail. There was so much ice, very sad that our sidewalks are so bad for walking. We have all tried. When they scraped our streets a couple of days ago they left these incredibly high windrows or banks of ice and snow chunks along the edge of the sidewalk/street. So there is no place for the ice to go if it did start to melt. With us facing north those banks block the sun from melting that ice as well. So not the best of situations. The street is now good for driving but the sidewalks are hell for pedestrians. Oh well. Perhaps they will come and haul away that mess but I am not going to hold my breath – cause where would they take it. At the end of it all, we had a great little walk and will do the same today. When on ice, take little steps and slowly and keep your hands out of your pockets so that you have balance. Walk like a penguin.

Time to go. I kind of hit the snooze button after the alarm went off and had to have a shower this morning so it has put me behind a few minutes. Oh well. Thankfully it is Friday.

I hope that you have a great day. Enjoy the sunshine wherever you are and I hope that you have sunshine in your life whether shining down from above or surrounding you on this earth.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. I am happy that the colour for 2022 is “Very Peri” which apparently is a dynamic periwinkle blue with a vivifying violet red undertone blends the faithfulness and constancy of blue with the energy and excitement of red. Now that is a mouth full. But oh so pretty. We all need a little “Very Peri” in our lives.

Living … One day at a time

Bright blue sun filled sky this morning.

Welcome to the weekend.

Last night we had rain.

This morning we have “black ice.”

I have a decision to make regarding Alvin’s 10:00 a.m. appointment with Dr. K.

It is a regular one for nails and anal glands.

I am thinking that I should ask to see if I can push it to a later time today before they close at 2:00 p.m.

Our sidewalks are a skating rink and even with the ice picks on your boots, it can/could be dangerous walking to the clinic.

Some photos from last night.

Humphrey joined us for a couple of hours.

He loves Alvin’s bed curled up looking at the Christmas tree, so cute.

Then the rain.

Yes, it was.

Raining last night.

I was so wishing that I had left my downspout connected.

Now you see about the black ice this morning after it froze.

The temperature is not cold but enough to make it dangerous for walkers and for driving of course.

I threw in some photos of my Snowman and Snowwoman, just because they are so cute.

 

Yesterday at work, we said goodbye and congratulations to a friend on her retirement after 27 years of work at our office.

It was very sad and exciting all at once.

I am happy for her as she looks forward to some major changes.

 

Well I guess this will be short as it is almost time for the clinic to open and I want to see if we are able to change Alvin’s appointment time.

I wish you all an awesome Saturday.

Be safe.

With kindness and respect, always.

 

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