2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I just realized when I sat down to write this post that I left my eyeglasses downstairs. Distances I can see with no problem but close up is another story. I am going to try and do this post without wearing my glasses. If I go back downstairs I will just disturb Mr. Alvin and he is being so good. We slept six hours in a row, up and he had his breakfast and we went outside (starting to get cool overnight) and then back to the sofa. I know not likely very good to eat and then back laying down but sometimes cannot be helped. Anyway I am so happy that we have been able to sleep in our bed. We are getting there. Last night the Alvin got away on me and hopped all the way upstairs, he did not go fast but he made it. I know he is not supposed to do that many stairs yet but only been the second time since his surgery. He did not seem to have any issues although I am not going to let that happen on a regular basis. Sometimes I am not fast enough. We are enjoying our longer walks. Not the full walk but we walk as far as Pauline’s house and then turn around and come home. We will continue this length for awhile. I am so happy at his progress and his strength and his ability to do things. He is one strong old guy.

Yesterday shortly after we left the house there was a young many coming toward us on the other side of the street, Alvin stopped and looked at him for a minute or so and was wagging his tail. I stopped of course, the young man happened to glance over our way and noticed us stopped and looking in his direction. He said “Hello” and came over. He was so handsome and sweet. He bent down and said “Hello” to Alvin and gave him some pets and Alvin was so happy tail wagging away. I told him it was odd for Alvin to stop and stare and wag his tail at someone especially a guy with no pup to boot. We had a laugh. Chatted for a moment longer about weather and such and then we were on our way. He was so nice. Younger remember, too young, lol. Still nice of him to come over and say hello. Reminds me how nice strangers can be. What a great way to begin our second walk of the day. At noon when we walked we bumped into friends that we have not seen since June. We used to see them all the time. Makes a difference when you do not walk very far. So happy to start connecting again with people in the neighbourhood. I think that people were beginning to wonder and they are happy when I relate the story of our summer.

Well this is becoming increasingly more difficult to do and the words are so blurry so I had better stop. I should have gone downstairs and got my glasses although if I close my left eye it is not so bad. LOL.

I hope that you have a grand Tuesday. Remember to get out and take that walk at noon if you are able to or after work. Good for the body, mind and soul.

Almost time to get that coffee on to perk. Another workday ahead. Looking forward to an extra long weekend ahead, Thanksgiving weekend. I am so grateful.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you doing this Wednesday morning, May 5th, 2021? We are okay here at my house. Mr. Alvin for some unknown reason has been up and down since 3:00 a.m. There are so signs of distress other than him whining from time to time but that is not unusual for him. He ate his breakfast in quick time as per usual and did his business outside. I will have to keep an eye on him. Perhaps it is arthritis in his paws/legs. Poor guy. He does not look sickly and his eyes are clear. They sometimes seem to tell me when something is off. Bored, perhaps. I do not know. Older age, possibility! So I am a bit on the sleep deprived side. So it is Wednesday, mid week. The sunrise was gorgeous, yes I watched the sky turn from my vantage point on my sofa. My windows in the living room face north but I can see how beautiful the sky is as it goes from night to sunrise to morning. There is a bit of a breeze this morning and I believe today is to be a good day weatherwise.

It is true that we never know what any day is going to bring us. Yesterday for example. At noon we only walked to the park and then turned around and headed for home as it had started to rain. Although I don’t mind walking in the rain, I really don’t like Alvin to get his ears wet. He can get ear problems faster than anyone I know. Does not matter that I careful dry them. So a short walk at lunch time. I made sure that I finished work right on time as I had our Annual General Meeting for our Union Chapter on Zoom. I wanted to feed both of us before the meeting and I managed to do so but it did take me 15 minutes to get into the meeting and I was ten minutes late joining. But I did it. After the meeting I cleaned things up and decided that as it was 13 degrees out at 7:00 p.m. that we should go for our regular walk. We did just that. There were a lot of folks out walking and walking with their dogs. We were just inside the park when I noticed a man coming down the path with two really large dogs. I walked onto the grass and almost to the fence of the houses that line the park giving them a wide berth. He saw us and walked around a tree and when I came back down to the sidewalk and he got the sidewalk he turned his head and started talking loud enough for me to hear that “something about COVID, he worked as a biologist/chemist something or other for a company and that they had come up with a quick test before something else.” He also mentioned about the numbers put out by the government were crap. I mentioned about the 30 million people in India that have COVID and he said that how come only 16 US states are reporting no COVID?, Mexico? and other places he mentioned have no COVID … he went on and on … stating that his family were all University trained (what the heck did that mean). He said so much and spouted off numbers and such and said the f word a couple of times or so. Clearly he did not believe that COVID was real as he said it is just influenza. I will say this kind of scared me. No wonder we are where we are ….. I did not hang around very long. But he managed to say a lot of something in just a couple of minutes.

We continued on our walk as I tried to make sense of anything that he said. Now he said so much and I could hear him but not hear word for word.

I arrived at home just in time to see that a call was coming in from messenger. I did not catch it in time. So I opened messenger to find a message from someone from my hometown, the place where I was born. I had not spoke to him in decades. He had sent me a message and as I was reading it I accidentally called him so we chatted and he apologized for contacting me with bad news. A guy that I went to elementary school with passed away. How incredibly sad. We chatted for a long time catching up on our families. I was grateful for his call.

What a strange evening. You never know where things will go or what will happen.

Well time to head downstairs, I am truly running late and that coffee is going to hit the spot this morning.

Continuing to live this live with kindness, respect, compassion and patience for all.

Always, Love Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 3rd day of April, 2014.

It is a glorious day.

Surprise overnight visit from my nephew “T” ….

I, we always love when he comes to visit.

Elton and Penny spent the day with Alvin ….. so that is always nice for Al to have company.

Today is payday …. another good thing about today.

Temperatures seem to be warming up.

The ground is still relatively bare …. so that is something to be grateful for …..

So how are you with surprises …

Do surprises come your way often?

Do you shriek with joy when something awesome happens?

Do you shyly smile when something great comes your way?

Do you burst into tears when things do not go your way?

How do you feel?

Shocked perhaps.

I think it would be nice to have a “great surprise” come your way today.

Perhaps someone would deliver a bouquet of flowers to you at your work.

Perhaps a total stranger would compliment on your new outfit or your hair?

Perhaps someone would buy you your most favourite cup of coffee for no reason at all.

On the other hand ….

You could send someone flowers – wouldn’t that be a lovely surprise!

You could pay a total stranger a wonderful compliment – just because you can.

You could purchase a cup or coffee for your significant other or a co-worker or just the person behind you in the coffee line.

Remember it always starts with each of us ….. you …. me…..

Have a great Thursday …… I know that I will.

Special Hello to: my family who lives everywhere ……

Always, Carol and Alvin