It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning and finally we are in the last two or three days of this bone chilling cold snap.

Cars, trucks, buildings, houses, animals, humans; none of us have totally warmed us since this all started.

The roads are frozen so hard.

Icy intersections are many.

We are so blessed that our power has remained flowing and that is due to the harding crews in the power stations/offices.

We are truly grateful.

 

We will be so happy to get out walking once again.

My clothes are beginning to feel tight and not because I am eating more but because I am not walking.

We all need fresh air.

The kind that does not freeze your lungs when you open you mouth.

I am grateful that Alvin and I have a beautiful warm home during any temperature.

 

Today is the last day in our temporary location and Monday we will be back in our “old digs.”

Newly renovated.

A new day.

 

I think it is time for some colourful flower photos.

Flowers for planting from a few years back

I hope that you have a safe, warm and wonderful Friday.

Kindness and Compassion should be our way of life.

Always a good reminder in case we stray.

Some situations …. some times, we forget.

 

Happy Friday

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 25th day of September, 2018.

The darkness is here to stay at this time of morning until spring, early summer.

In just over one month we will adjust our clocks back by one hour hoping to catch one hour of daylight at the end of the day.

Time will tell.

Time will let us see if the forecasters are correct about the long range weather.

Will we have a long fall ….. we were off to an interesting start.

Snow in September.

Perhaps this is beginning to be the new norm?

 

Yesterday I took a day of vacation.

It was a lazy day.

I read a book that my friend loaned me.

The new one by Dan Brown, certainly has been exciting and given much food for thought.

If you get a chance, read it.

I cleaned out the back flower bed.

It was wet so I was not able to “till the soil.”

We had a nice walk and stopped for a visit with our friend who was working in her garden.

Making preparations for winter.

Mr. Alvin was laying on his blue blanket and now is sitting up.

A little “fruit fly” has been flying by me for a couple of minutes.

I do not like it when they fly in my face or go up my nose.

No, no, no.

Interesting last year at this time I took yesterday off as well.

 

Now Mr. Alvin has moved by my feet on the little piece of rug that my chair sits on.

He likes to be close to me.

I guess you could call him a Momma’s boy.

 

Well it is almost time to sign off.

Carpool back to work today after she had a nice little trip to Vernon, British Columbia.

 

I hope that you all have a beautiful Tuesday.

Be kind to everyone you come in contact with.

If you cannot be kind …. just walk away.

Negative energy does not help anyone.

Life can sometimes be short and why would we want to waste a second of it to any type of negativity.

Live a good life.

Be kind, compassionate and good.

 

Have an awesome day.

 

Special Hello to: my friend “V” who is the busiest “cookie” I know.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to the 22nd day of September, 2018.

Today is officially the FIRST day of FALL.

My favourite time of year.

The air is a bit cooler, the leaves are hues of yellows and oranges and reds.

Fall always feels a slower time of year.

Birds are beginning to fly south.

The grass no longer needs to be trimmed each week.

We start or have started to put away our summer things.

Cleaning out flower pots and garden areas.

We put out our fall wreaths and items.

This is what the first day of FALL looks like out my back door and windows:

Methinks it looks more like the next season, Winter.

But alas it is not to be here for too long or so the weather people report.

My poor sunflowers are drooping so low they are almost touching the ground.

I feel so guilty that I did not trim them before the snow.

The impatiens flowers appear to be okay except the poor little flowers are covered in snow.

The only items that reminds me of FALL on the deck are the ornaments of a scarecrow and pumpkin in one of the tall flower pots.

But in Canada, in Alberta – the weather can change in a heartbeat.

In parts of Eastern Canada they are having a “heat wave” extending the summer and out WEST, well here we are.

Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining.

A bit of snow does not get me down.

Only the farmers and construction workers are left waiting to see what happens.

Fall or no FALL.

Dry again or not dry again.

 

Mr. Alvin was up off and on since 3:00 a.m. today and so I am feeling a bit out of sorts.

Not bad though.

Once I have had my morning coffee I will be off to the races.

Lots to do.

I took a vacation day on Monday to have a nice extra long weekend.

Plans to reorganize my office, clean out my clothes closets and go through photos on the computer and clean out emails.

Perhaps that will be a lot for three days but time will tell.

Always laundry and some cleaning to do and walks with Alvin.

Walks in the snow with Alvin.

That will be fun.

Remember to put towels by the front door.

Noting that to myself.

 

Time to fly.

Happy first day of FALL.

Perhaps the seasons will reverse and we will have winter until December and then fall for December through till April.

That might be nice.

Although brown at Christmas time – just does not feel quite right.

 

Oh, my I forgot to mention that my daughter picked me up from work yesterday.

We stopped by the grocery store and vet.

She stayed for supper and a visit.

She brought me some clothes from a clothing swap.

Oh, I am a lucky woman.

New pants, jeans and a beautiful purple sweater.

I am so lucky.

 

Special Hello: to my sister …. Merry Christmas …. time to put up your tree…… just kidding and I hope that you are smiling now.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 19th day of September, 2018.

I almost said June …. not sure what I was thinking about …. ???

It was dark but dry but when we got up this morning and nothing has changed thus far.

They are forecasting temperatures of about 14 degrees celsius, which would be BEAUTIFUL.

Last night Alvin and I went for a walk after work with our friend “P.”

We walked around the big lake to the north of us (first of all we walked to our friend’s house as we were ready more quickly than I first thought).

It was beautiful.

Some of the leaves are changing colour to hues of yellow and orange while the others are bitterly hanging onto to their greens.

Lots of folks out walking with loved ones both two and four-legged.

The SUN was shining and there was just the perfect warmth-cool mix to the air.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk.

We will be going again tonight.

 

After our walk and before supper, I decided to put away the remaining or at least the bigger pieces.

Leaving only the bistro table (which I should not lift into the garage) and its’ two chairs.

The deck looked so bare.

I decided as we only have a couple of days left without the forecast of moisture (rain & snow) to put the flowers back onto the deck.

I had placed a few pots into the garage last week.

Kept them watered and they lived.

The only pot that I left in the garage is the lavender plant as I want to dry the flowers and put it in the basement to winter there.

 

I decided mid point in the week is a good time to put up some photos.

The ones with the snow were from this past Saturday and the one with the flowers in the “sunshine” are from last night.

There was even a reflection on the fence by the sunflowers, do you see it?

All I can say is my poor Sunflowers from Saturday.

The one on the left, actually broke right at the base of the stalk and was just kind of there.

Poor thing

 

 

My friend P said that the Snapdragons are quite hardy.

The impatiens …. they were starting to get weak in the garage.

Anyway, that was last night.

I am glad to see some colour on the deck even if it is only for a couple more days.

 

I hope that you all have an awesome Wednesday.

Happy Birthday to my old neighbour who built a new house, and moved to a neighbourhood about 6 minutes away by car.

Happy Birthday “S” ……

 

Special Hello to: my sister and my friend V …… ladies you rock.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 16th day of September, 2018.

Day two of snowing.

Earlier this morning about 5:00 a.m. it was raining and since about 7:00 a.m. it has turned from rain to wet snow to just snow.

The pavement and sidewalks as they hold the heat are just wet.

The rooftops, grass and my deck are starting to once again look like winter.

ARGH, it is way too early to have snow.

Seems like only yesterday that it was winter.

I do love WINTER but would prefer that it started in like December or even mid to late November, but before mid September.

Well that is just crazy.

Mother Nature must be really holding a grudge this year or perhaps it is of our own doing.

Oh perhaps a bit of both.

 

At the end of the day I am grateful that we are having a bit of snow and not the flooding from the hurricanes to the south eastern areas of the United States.

Everyday people are posting photos of animals that are stranded due to the flood waters.

I understand that sometimes you have to just grab and run but why would you leave a poor dog tied to a tree or to a post in the yard.

I would understand if you had a cat and it ran away and you could not grab it but …..

I will never understand leaving them behind, I will never understand stranding them.

Any living creatures that are in your household are your responsibility.

We have to be good beings and do the right thing.

The one photo that will haunt me forever is one of a dog tied to a tree and all you can see is his head and those eyes.

I only hope that whoever took the photo rescued that poor dog.

 

I do know that there are a great many good people out there who risk their own lives to help all others whether two-legged or four.

They will always hold a special place in my heart.

They are the folks that we should all aspire to be.

 

This morning is coffee date with my two young friends.

I always enjoy spending time with them.

It has been awhile as they were busy over August.

Lot to catch up on.

I baked chocolate chip cookies with an extra special treat SMARTIES.

We will have some strawberries and gold fish crackers.

I know kind of an odd mix but it is just something to nibble on.

 

Well time to go as there is laundry to put away.

Get the coffee ready to turn on.

Finish the dishes that are in the sink, waiting patiently for me.

 

Also, I had to take one of my beloved sunflowers out of the garden as yesterday it broke off and was laying on the ground.

So sad.

First year that I have had sunflowers.

They were so tall and were starting to have those amazing yellow flowers and heads filled with seeds.

Maybe next year.

Will get some earlier.

 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Sunday.

Oh, I rented from my cable company “BOOK CLUB” and watched last night after supper.

IT was so FUNNY.  Almost peed my pants, funny.

OH and I made the most delectable supper with quinoa, roasted chicken, homemade peanut sauce and chopped green onions, celery, carrots, and broccoli.

So good.

 

Okay, I am going now …… sometimes I just babble.

I know.

 

Special Hello to: my friend “V” who made this crazy beautiful birthday cake for her Mom’s special day.  It was amazing.  She is so talented.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 2nd day of September, 2018.

The sun is shining brightly this morning with no sign of rain clouds.

Yesterday even before I wrote up my TO DO LIST, I decided that I was going to trim the tree out front.

I grabbed the tree trimmer apparatus from the garage and before you know it there was a pile of branches on the ground surrounding the tree.

At one point I could not hold the tree trimmer securely and cut the branch, thankfully it was about the time my neighbours arrived home.

I was standing there trying to figure out how to get that upper branch that was hanging over the eavestrough when we started a conversation.

The young man helped me trim the branch as he was taller and that was what was needed.

Although later I found out that there may have been a telescope on it to reach higher (oh well).

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the process which would have been a good idea.

Especially when you are writing a blog and post the stories.

I will leave it to your imagination.

Further with this story.

I also realized with my light coloured jacket on that as the berries hit my jacket or whenever I picked up a branch I have little purple dots all over my jacket.

Oh well, another note to self moment.

They loaned me their trimmer so that I could cut the branches into smaller pieces to pack into garbage bags.

It was the most slick garden tool ever.

So sharp and easy to use with its’ arm length handles.

They asked if they could borrow my (actually belongs to my kids) tree trimmer and I said “yes, of course.”

While trying to cut the first branch it BROKE.

I think it may have been as young man was holding the pole and his wife was pulling on the cord but on an angle.

Anyway after some discussion, I lost out and my neighbour (young woman) said that they would pay to replace it.

I told her it was expensive, she said it did not matter, they broke it.

She knew I sold tea and asked if I wanted to give them something, some tea would be nice.

I said DEAL.

She went in and checked on HOME DEPOT’s website and ordered the tree branch trimmer.

Very nice and so generous to offer and to do.

It was nice to actually have a conversation with them.

They are busy with their lives and we usually come and go at different times.

A little bit later they picked up the tree trimmer and brought it home.

They tried it out first and it works so slick and even comes with a saw attachment.

Worked out.

It took me some time to cut the branches down and then pack them into garbage bags as there were a great many branches.

I did not realize that I was stepping and squishing the dark berries into the ground and subsequently into the soles of my shoes.

I realized this when I went into the house to grab the garbage bags.

Thankfully no marks on my floor – just on my wooden front steps.

But the steps look decorative with berry stained shoe marks.

That is okay ….. add a little colour to the front steps.

NOTE to self: check feet and always take your shoes off before going into the house.

Usually I do but I guess I was so zoned and in the moment ….

Big job done and before I even wrote it down.

After the tree job was completed and I had, had a sit down coffee break, we went for a nice walk.

Turned out to be beautiful day.

The photos below of the sunflowers and my flowers are from this past Thursday evening AND the clouds were from yesterday morning.

I cannot believe how pretty they still are ….. will have to take a photo of my trimmed up tree, she looks great …..

 

The clouds looked extra cool but somehow the photo just does not capture that ….

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Change your inner voices from:

You cannot do to You can do

You cannot have to You can have

You cannot be to You can be.

 

Might be a good idea to change how you say things to your children and to others.

 

Well time to have a shower.

My daughter is coming over and we are going to IKEA.

She needs a book case and they have the best ones.

 

I hope that you have an awesome day.

You can do, have and be whatever you wish.

 

I can continue to grow and be a better person each and every day of my life.

I can continue to have a great home, family, and friends.

I can continue to do all that I need to do to be healthy and live a happy life.

 

Special Hello to: You, my friend.  Keep up the great work.  Have a happy day.

Always, Carol & Alvin.

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 25th day of August, 2018.

Me and the pups are just hanging out.

We were up just after 5:00 to go outside and have a bit of breakfast (pups did, me not) and then back to the sofa to have a nap.

These photos are from 5 minutes ago.

They have their chew treats and are trying to get comfortable in the office as I write my blog and do some quick computer stuff.

This is the infamous BLUE BLANKET that I always refer to.

 

Each time I thought I had a photo of Teddy’s face, he turned about.

OMG, these boys, these crazy little guys.

Last night Teddy ran around like crazy on the deck, ducking in and around the flower pots and patio furniture.

Now he is investigating the office.

I have two additional charges for the weekend “Humphrey the Cat” and “Cinder the Gecko.”

Lots of babies to watch over ……

Needless to say this weekend is all about laundry and a bit of housework and THE BABIES.

They require my full attention.

 

I have been invited to an OPEN HOUSE for a friend who is selling FIFTH AVENUE JEWELLERY.

Mr. Teddy is now sitting on my lap.

Interesting keying and holding a doggie, thankfully he fits nicely on my lap.

I also have some STEEPED TEA ORDERS to submit – today.

 

So happy to see the sun shining this morning.

The house was 65 degrees this morning so I opened all of the blinds to let in the sunshine.

There was little smell of smoke this morning.

Everything got a nice watering – so one less item on my list.

I will however mow the grass in the back.

Hopefully the sun stays out so it dries.

That grass grows like crazy.

 

Well I should go and get this day going.

Already went to see Humphrey and Cinder.

They need TLC as well.

There is a breeze this morning.

 

I hope that you all have a great Saturday and weekend.

I am so ENJOYING being surrounded by these babies.

What a nice way to spend a weekend.

 

Happy Saturday.

Special Hello to: all those lovers of animals…..isn’t it wonderful.

Always, Carol, Alvin and Master Teddy.

 

PS: my sunflowers are now well over my head.  Getting big.

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 22nd day of July, 2018.

Happy Birthday to my younger brother’s youngest “Z.”

WOW, another beautiful morning with a BREEZE.

Perhaps more than a breeze but it is keeping it cooler.

Hopefully cooler at least until I have a shower and get out for a morning stroll with the boy.

What a busy weekend.

We, rather I cleaned all the blinds in the house (10 sets of them).

How often do you clean out the window wells in your garage?

Likely not often.

Figured good time to vacuum the bugs and then give them a good washing.

WOW, they look amazing.

So when I decided to that, I first had to move some things around so that I could get into the window properly.

The garage got cleaned up, once again and a good sweeping.

GARAGE done.

PULLED WEEDS, with all this rain they are everywhere.

Weeds between the garage and the fence.

Weeds in with my flowers in the front flower bed and the back.

Weeds beside the driveway in the back.

Now this is more than weeds as some of the neighbours chose not to take care of them.

Now there is grass of all sorts.

I do my best to pull them out but they take hold quickly.

We will have to use some WEED/GRASS control agent to ourselves of them.

ARGH

In between LAUNDRY ( always ).

Just as we were about to finish the garage, I saw that these LARGE rain clouds were looming in the sky so I turned down the umbrellas and moved my tomato plant into the protection

of the garage ….. then back inside to put away my cleaning stuff.

Only it started to RAIN, no time, turned off the light and yelled at ALVIN to run just as the HEAVENS opened WIDE.

We were soaked by the time that we reached the HOUSE – which is not far.

In the house we dried off.

 

I made a big pot of what I will call a CHILLI TOMATO SOUP (a mix mash of things but oh, it tastes so good).

USED up all of the bags of tomatoes left in the freezer.

They were from my friend’s garden last year.

Enough to freeze and to eat.

I have red tomatoes on my one lone plant.

The sunflowers are growing as well.

 

Finally after supper we crashed and watched a movie.

THE Agatha Christie movie “MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS” was to rent for $1.00.

Cannot beat that so that is what we watched before retiring at 9:30 p.m.

 

Good old fashioned “cleaning” can sure play one out.

Good exercise and good for the soul.

So today just odds and ends before back to work tomorrow.

I am making PANCAKES for breakfast.

Just have to shower, walk and then EAT.

PANCAKES with MAPLE SYRUP and raspberries & blueberries on top.

MMMMM

Well better get this show on the road.

I hope that you enjoy your Sunday.

Take some time for yourself.

 

Rainclouds are coming back in ……

ARGH, hopefully we get our walk in …..

Otherwise will have to try later.

 

Special Hello to: my siblings ……

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 8th day of June, 2018.

I almost keep wanting to type May, I guess that month is not quite over for me.

Another gorgeous day on the way for Edmonton.

We had a warm one yesterday about 28 degrees celsius and the same today.

Thunderstorm in forecast.

I wish for a nice easy rain.

Last night I planted the sunflowers that my friend gave me the other night with Alvin’s help.

We also planted the snapdragons that she us as well.

I am so excited for the sunflowers.

First time that I have ever planted sunflowers.

They are already tall but kind of spindly so hopefully they make it.

 

Last night was too warm for Alvin and I to warm so we opted for garden work and watering.

Our front lawn looks pretty good.

 

So grateful that today is Friday.

We, I can get caught up with housework and such.

 

What are you thinking at this moment in time?

Are you curious about something?

Are you excited about something?

Are you nervous about an event or appointment?

Are you getting ready to begin a new chapter in your life?

Are you setting things up for retirement?

Are you just going to start college or university?

A new career, perhaps?

Maybe met a new guy or gal?

Whatever is going on in your life at this moment.

I hope that you are on your way to making all of your dreams come true.

I hope that life is good.

 

Time to hit the trail for the bus.

Another tea order arrived last night so am taking the orders to work to the ladies there.

 

Enjoy this day.

Special Hello to: all those hardworking folks out there ….. great job.

Always, Carol & Alvin