Good Morning ALL – Fall is upon us as the leaves turn colour and the air begins to crisp. Although this week our temperatures are anything but normal as they are into the mid 20’s.
There is something warm and inviting about fall.
A time to take a breath after the excitement of summer.
Good Morning ALL! How are you on this bright and beautiful Thursday morning? We are great. Second morning in a row where we have slept until a semi-reasonable hour. This morning first time up was 4:15 and then up for him to eat at 6:07. I am so excited. Of course, I had to go back to the sofa for some extra cuddles and zzz’s with Mr. Alvin before getting up to stay up. YAY. I can hear birds chirping outside even with the window closed. Our trees even though they are all different surprisingly are all covered with these little white flowers. It seems strange to me. One of these days I will have to do some research on all of our trees. I also will need to find someone tall that can help me trim some of the higher branches. My neighbours in the other half of the duplex – their tree and mine out front are almost touching and even though they are both different trees they both have little white flowers – looking like a canopy developing. Pretty.
I am very excited as I booked tomorrow off as a day of vacation. My friend Pauline and I are going to spend the afternoon at the nearby botanical gardens. We are hoping that the “lilacs” are now blooming. Everything is late this year due to the cold temperatures. My plants and flowers are okay but nowhere near they were this time last year. Perhaps we will have more comfortable summer temperatures this year. I like in the lower +20’s celsius range. Warm enough without a jacket or sweater but not too hot for walking and being outside. I need to download/upload the photos from my phone to the computer before we go tomorrow as I know that I will be snapping photos. Maybe I can figure out why I am not able to upload photos from my computer to this blog. Might be that I need to delete some.
We decided to change the garage sale from June 17/18 to June 25 and possibly 26. We will be joining the mass community sale and maps will be accessible through the Community Association. Hopefully this will bring in more people. Depending on how many items we have left, we may or may not continue onto the Sunday. Should be fun hanging out with my friends and my daughter (if she is able to come).
Well time to fly once again. Coffee smells good.
Have a wonderful Thursday.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus and possibilties.
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.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Both Alvin and I are well, very well. We are happy to be in good health. Alvin had a good 13th birthday yesterday. It was quiet but he had fun. I did not have an actual gift for him and I know how much he enjoys opening them so I wrapped up some of his food in a little tupperware container and with a card set it in front of him. I took a video of him opening his gift from beginning to end it was just short of two minutes which is pretty quick. When you consider that he uses his mouth to open it and goes back and forth between his two front paws to hold the package and to stabilize himself. He is so darn cute. Always brings a smile to my face when opening a gift. I can thank my friend Val who for many years has sent us gifts a few times each year with always a special parcel for Alvin. That is where he learned to do this. Yes, I have a pup who can open presents. He is certainly talented.
I am so happy to report that our temperatures are warming up and perhaps over the next couple of days we may even get outside for a walk. Sure would be great. We both miss those daily walks. Our bodies miss them, as well.
This morning I was wrote in my journal and realized that I have been doing for 4692 days. If memory serves me correctly, that is the day that I am on. I write down Day ….., then the date, record what is happening in my life and list what I am grateful for …. I believe it is so important to verbalize and write these down. If you are in a constant state of gratitude then you are living a good life. I am so grateful that both Alvin and I are in good health, for our beautiful home, for family and friends, for me working from home, for good food, for clean drinking water, for each day that we can get out of bed and have our toes/paws reach the floor. The list is endless. Try it!
To my cousin J, I have been trying to reply to your comment from the other day about the hair cut and cannot find it to reply to. I remember that you did a great job cutting my hair when we were kids (teenagers). We had some pretty great adventures you and me. Pretty great. Definitely ones for the journal.
Well time to start signing off as almost time to start work, a few minutes away.
I wish you a wonderful day. Hopefully nice weather so that we all can go for a walk.
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus and possibilities.
Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are well. Ready, to begin a new week. The temperatures are warming up and that is so exciting. The possibility of walks at noon break and after work are making me feel wonderful. It has been weeks or likely over a month now since we went for a walk outside. Both Alvin and I are feeling the effects of not much exercise. So this will be good for the both of us, for our bodies and for our minds and souls. What do you do for exercise in the coldest months of the year? Perhaps you live in a place where the coldest months just mean switching sweatpants or some full length pant and a light jacket for going outside OR do you live somewhere with no changes in your weather or very little OR do you live in the Northern Hemisphere where we need to have several different types of outerwear. In Canada, in Western Canada where I live, we actually need multiple winter coats and even sometimes need to wear snowpants (lined outer pants that go on top of your regular pants). We need warm toques to cover our heads with a hood on our coats, warm scarves and warm mitts or gloves in addition to the coats and pants. During our winter months our temperatures can range from plus 10 celsius (not normal but happens) to minus 50 degrees celsius and then there can be the windchill factor. So sometimes the actual temperature outside is minus 20 celsius with the windchill it can feel like minus 30 celsius. We are going from minus 30 temperatures to minus 4 to plus 2-4 this week and into the next week. Now those figures may change. But you see the difference. So obviously you need different outerwear / apparel. I have found that it is a good idea to have your coat a size larger so that when it is so cold outside you can layer sweaters underneath. Not everyone in this country has the means to have so many different pieces of outside clothing so sometimes you have to use common sense or even your imagination. Also winter boots are very important. You have to keep your feet warm. Again, sometimes better that your boots are a little loose to add another layer or socks. Most people have a pair for those cold days and then another pair for those REALLY bitterly cold days. Everything should be waterproof if possible – especially your boots. I have several kinds of mitts and gloves. Another important part of the body to keep warm. The elements in Canada can be brutal in winter and it is easy to get frostbite if you are not careful. Listening to the weather reports before you go outside is also very important. I hope that this does not frighten those folks who read this and are not living in Canada. We have the best country on the planet. Of course, it is not perfect here but pretty darn close. One thing I heard on the weather channel last night that kind of did frighten me a bit was climate change and how much it is affecting Canada. They said two times more than any other country on the planet. I do believe that we are doing serious damage and perhaps even irreparable damage to our beautiful blue planet. On that note, I am going to sign off for today. Food for thought. Do what you can. It is time. If we all work together there is hope that we can save our home, our planet. It is worth the extra work, don’t you think?
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus and possibilities.
Good Morning ALL! We are up a bit later than usual for a weekday as this is my “last” late start work day. No more answering phones from 4:00 – 7:00 twice per month and no more working from 11:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. I am so grateful that is over. Well we ended up sleeping on the sofa as on our walk after work last night we ran into friends. Bailey is still basically a pup and full of energy. Alvin is not. We met up with them at the entrance to the park and chatted for quite awhile. I had plans to walk to our friend Pauline’s house and then back home but with a lengthy chat, I decided that we would just walk with them home as we live only a few doors apart. When we got to our house, we were on the front porch visit. Bailey really wanted to go inside and so did Alvin. So in we went. Ali let Bailey off her leash while we chatted. Bailey was up one side of the room and down the other. I have never seen her so full of energy. She almost climbed up onto the half wall that divides the kitchen from the living room. Then she got between the opening and the baby gate and was upstairs. She did not want to come down. I went up and brought her down. Ali and I chatted and then it was time to go home. The pups both needed supper. It was not right away that I noticed that Alvin was not quite himself. Looks like he strained his neck muscle once again. So back onto the Robaxin. Thank goodness I still have some. So that was why I did not want to carry him upstairs to bed. He is walking fine but he sat up on the sofa most of the evening while I massaged his neck. Poor guy. He just cannot win. We were up once about 2:00 I think and then up about 5:00 to eat and then slept until almost 8:00 a.m., so we both got some rest. He seems to be not too bad this morning. I gave him another portion of Robaxin before my shower. Once I am finished this post, we will go for a walk. It is well after 9:00 a.m. and I haven’t even made coffee yet and then have to have breakfast. So the morning is zipping along.
The sky is partially overcast but the sun is trying to burst through. One thing I have to mention when we were outside about 8:00 a.m., I could actually see my breath. This seemed odd considering it was nowhere near freezing temperatures. Very odd. Maybe I have extra hot breath. LOL.
Well I am going to keep this short. Next weekend is Thanksgiving already and we are looking forward to seeing the kids in their new home. I hope that Alvin has recovered and stays that way.
Tomorrow we get the furnace cleaned and the vents, so excited to have that done. It has been awhile.
Every time I look out of the windows the trees are more and more glorious in their shades of yellow, gold, orange, red and green. There is a nice blanket of leaves covering the lawn. I love fall. The smells and the sights are glorious.
Happy Tuesday Everyone!
Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, patience, compassion, understanding, love, laughter and gratitude.
Good Morning ALL! How are you doing this fine Wednesday morning? Alvin and I are well and had a good night’s sleep. The sun is shining most brightly this morning and I imagine that the birds are singing happily as well. Mr. Alvin is chirping away and staring at me from his little bed in my office. Life is good. Today is the birthday of one of my little friend’s from down the street, he will be “11.” I cannot believe how big him and his two little brothers are getting. Time flies. We were invited to stop by for an outdoor “Happy Birthday” driveway event.
I heard a couple of great tips for folks. If you have old blankets and towels (of course in good condition) – you can donate them to an animal shelter. That totally makes sense. I wished that I had thought of that sooner. Also if you have old luggage (of course good condition) – you can donate to foster care. The wee children when they go into foster care and if they move around …. lots of times they do not have a suitcase ….. only a garbage bag. If this is for real, that is terrible. We all have an extra suitcase that we are not using ….. how about making a donation. My tips for the day. Also one from my heart ….. if you see trash on your driveway, on the street or in the gutter by your home please pick it up and put in your garbage bin, please.
Yesterday I worked the late shift. Alvin and I enjoyed a wonderful walk at 3:00 p.m. on my “lunch” break. The shift went pretty well as that shift goes.
Today the temperature is going to be another +18 celsius ….. summertime, summertime, summertime. I cannot wait to plant flowers. Speaking of flowers. I brought my “Canna” Lily up from the basement to put her outside to enjoy the sunlight and “bad” momma I forgot to bring her in last night. When I thought of it as I rose this morning, I ran outside to check on her at 4:00 (that is when Alvin got up) and she was okay. Thank goodness. So I brought her in and will put Canna out for the sunshine a bit later this morning. So grateful that she did not freeze. So grateful.
Photo Shoot
My Flowers
Wishing you all a great Wednesday. Go out and enjoy the sunshine.
Continuing to live with kindness, respect, compassion and patience. Always working on the patience!
Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are doing well. Had a fairly good sleep and even slept in this morning. No reason to get out of bed and stay up at 5:00 a.m. or even at 6:00 a.m. other than I guess it is better for one to keep the same sleep schedule which includes going to bed and rising. I will admit that I am trying to find the best times and it appears to be a work in progress for us although we usually go to bed within an hour. At this very moment the view out of my office window reminds me of a snow globe. The snow is accumulating as it is below zero. I can see more shovelling in my future. Just when there was only a small amount on the deck and in the backyard. We still have a fair amount on the front yard but that is due to us facing north. All about the shade in the front which is nice as the living room faces in that direction. On those hot summer days when it is +27 or so degrees celsius that shade does not keep the living room cool …… we have fans for that…. The sky is completely overcast with no breaks so looks like this is set in for the day although the temperature is to be plus double digits today so if that happens we will end up with rain and the snow will melt quickly. Tomorrow’s forecast is for plus double digits tomorrow and rain. I am so glad that we had an extra long walk yesterday as we may not make it out today. I don’t mind walking when it is snowing or raining but for Alvin not so good. He runs the risks of moisture getting into his ears (even though I dry them when we get home) and getting a yeast infection. Not much fun for either of us.
What is going on the in world today? I have literally no idea. I only know what is going on in my house. With Alvin I have no idea what he is thinking. I can only react to his physical appearance which makes it hard. It would be nice perhaps to know what he is thinking although between the just moments ago shaking his head and sneezing, I am willing to place a bet that he is not so happy with me at this moment. Clearly he wants something. Now he is whimpering. Perhaps he has to go outside. When we arose from the sofa, he drank quite a lot of water and I coaxed him to go outside but he would not so likely now he has to go for a pee. Well we went down and outside and we are back. Guess you did not miss us as you did not know we were gone, lol.
The house is quiet as always other than Mr. Alvin running across the room. I like quiet but sometimes you need the company of other humans, right?
This is a good time for me to do some further writing.
Do you notice that when it is snowing or raining or the skies are just plain overcast and there is no sunshine that you somehow lose your get up and go? I sometimes do, okay actually lots of times I do. But sometimes when it is snowing or raining – I have the urge to clean out a closet or rearrange furniture. Always a good thing to do. Go through those closets and the pantry. Cupboards and drawers. I will say that one advantage about living with no other humans is when I put something down it stays in that spot until I move it. When I put something away – it stays away until I move it. So there are advantages of being the only human in the house but then sometimes it is just lonely. I would not say that I am lonely often as I usually find a way to entertain myself and after all, I have Mr. Alvin and he keeps me busy. I would think when you are part of a busy household filled with humans and perhaps a pet or two that sometimes you just would like to be alone. I guess for us humans it always remains something to find a happy medium. Like the work life/home life balance.
Well I guess it is time for me to get dressed, take the laundry down to the basement and get that started. There will be vacuuming to do and dusting as well. Bed has been stripped and made already so one thing off my list. I look forward to a cup of coffee on a Saturday ….. it does seem different than during the week. Mainly because I actually can drink it while it is hot/warm. Very enjoyable.
I hope that you are doing well amidst all that is going on in our world and in your life. If we remember to live with kindness, respect, compassion and patience then we are doing our very best. I think that I could add love and passion to that list as well. If we love ourselves and live our lives with passion in addition to living with kindness, respect, compassion and patience ….. we truly have all of the bases covered for a well lived life. Food for thought.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to read my words. I see and know that some of you read this post faithfully everyday and I am truly grateful.
Good Morning ALL. How are you today? We are doing well and still adjusting to the time change. Spring forward takes a bit more getting used to, for sure. But we will adjust in time (before the next change in late fall, lol). Last night it was after 7:30 p.m. and still light outside which was great. I cannot wait until the sun is already up at this time of morning. It is always easier for me to get up when it is light outside. How about you?
Yesterday at lunch we met up with friends Ali and Bailey from down the street and adorned with sweaters on the pups as it was cool at noon, masks on we girls and our lighter winter apparel we headed out for a 40 minute or so walk. We would come across folks with dogs or the pups especially Bailey were sniffing lots so did take all of 40 minutes. It was so nice to have a walking companion and we chatted the whole walk. I will say that walking and talking with a mask on is not the most comfortable thing in the world but I certainly am not going to complain as some folks have had to wear masks and work 12 hour shifts for days on end. I am grateful my mask wearing is not often as I do not go anywhere or see anyone. I have several masks on hand for those times when I must wear a mask and I will always wear one as instructed by our Health Care Professionals. Back to Bailey I cannot believe how long and gangly she is ….. he has such long legs even though she will not get much bigger and eventually will fill in, I would think. Again, nice to have a friend to walk with …. another human being. It was great.
Teddy and Kobi will be coming over at noon for the rest of the day while their parents go out to the farm to tend to some business.
I was wondering about some things. I will be 64 this summer and how I view the world is likely much different than an 18 year old or even a 30 year old. Do you ask yourself questions all day long? What kind of questions? Maybe we all ask this question “When is this going to end?” OR “Is this virus going to ever go away?” I often ask myself or tell myself “Why did you say that?” I have lots of questions swirling through my mind at any given time. Sometimes it is quiet but not often. Most times I cannot even stop the noise when I go to bed. I used to meditate and perhaps that is something that I should get into once again. I wouldn’t say that I am particularly worried or concerned most days ….. just have a busy mind. They say we have 60,000 thoughts each day. That is a lot. I was wondering how everyone feels about all of the social media platforms? How many YouTube Videos are there? How many singers have become world famous during the pandemic bia YouTube? How many organizers and designers? How many cooks? How many makeup artists? The list goes on and on. Now there is Tic Tok (not sure of the spelling as I have not been on there). Instagram and FaceBook and so many more. Food for thought. Maybe it is time to do a video? What do you think? I wonder if the Internet will ever crash? Sometimes it goes down but they always get it going again.
Anyway that is it for this morning. I need some coffee.
Wishing you a wonderful day. In Edmonton for the rest of the week supposed to have temperatures of +9-13 degrees celsius which is a far cry from yesterday’s +2. YAY, perhaps spring is really here. Hope so. Not a long winter but I really want spring and then summer.
Living with kindness, respect, compassion and patience (always working on patience and yesterday was one of those days for sure).
Always, Carol & Al
P.S. last night gave Mr. Alvin some of his new food. We have to, I have to introduce it gradually over two weeks. Now there is measuring 1/2 wet and 1/2 dry but ratio of 3/4 old to 1/4 new for first few days, then half and half and then 3/4 new to 1/4 new. Sure wished that I was better at math, lol.
Good Morning ALL. How are you this morning? I am, we are well. Or at least I think so. Mr. Alvin was up at 2:00 a.m. which was super early considering I stayed up until 10:00 p.m. watching THE SECRETS OF THE ROYALS. I enjoy learning not necessarily secrets but the historical references that are made along the way. Seeing the photos. I have always been a fan of Queen Elizabeth. She is one of a kind and none of the family will ever replace her, and I doubt that they will even try to mimic her style.
Well the temperatures for this week are still super cold. I think that I may have to pay a visit to the vet with the boy. I don’t think he will wait until next week, I am hopefully but don’t know. His nails are super long and he is dragging his butt which is a sign that his anal sacs need to be “cleaned.” Okay more information that we needed to hear on a Monday morning. He is barking and looking at me woefully. So this will be really short and I apologize in advance.
The sun is already starting to rise. Of course it is almost 7:45 and I am running quite late. Usually by now we are downstairs and I have the coffee perking and the work computer turned on. Not today.
We had a good weekend and I am happy for that. Teddy went home about 1:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Kobi and her Mom came to pick up Teddy. Always great to see Kobi. She is such a little dolly. I love how she stands on her hind legs and peers out the window. She always wants to look you straight on in the eyes like she is reading your soul and perhaps she is.
Well time to fly. I wish you a great Monday.
With kindness, respect, compassion and of course patience ….. life will be good.
My New Life @ 51 