The New Year 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are doing great. I had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday. My daughter picked me up in the late morning so that we could arrive at Creekside Nursery & Garden when it opened. Wow, did it ever get busy fast. Initially we both thought that we would just look and pick up maybe the odd flower as it is too early to plant. Well that did not last long. By the time we got to the check-out our cart was filled to the brim, no room left for even the smallest container. I also picked up a cream coloured ceramic flower pot, three bags of potting soil, gardening gloves, fertilizer, and some plants which included tomatoes, greek oregano ( I did not know there was such a thing), begonias, violas, pansies and impatiens and lavender.

The photos are all from home except for the first two and the stock photo.

Photo by George Dolgikh @ Giftpundits.com on Pexels.com

My kitchen looks amazing. I will keep the plants inside until it is warmer to plant them. What a gorgeous workspace. My happy place. I apologize for the slightly blurry photos as they looked clear when I snapped them.

I hope that your Mother’s Day was awesome.

Well it is almost time to head downstairs. Get this Monday started.

Alvin and I had a quiet Mother’s Day evening which suited me fine.

The sun is shining this morning, there is a breeze, buds on the trees and even small small leaves on some of the trees.

Feels like almost summer now that I have my flowers.

Happy Days ahead.

Have a fantastic day.

Happy Monday.

I am so grateful for such a great Mother’s Day with my daughter, grateful for all the beautiful plants I was able to purchase, grateful to be alive, grateful for my darling Alvin and my son-in-law and my grandpups. Thank you for this great life.

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

Always, Carol & AL

Living … One day at a time.

Good Morning,

It is quiet in the house and in the neighbourhood at this hour.

We had a lovely visit and supper with Teddy and Aunt J.

Supper was in honour of her visits to Mexico.

Soft tacos.

Nothing like tomatoes, onions, lime, avocado, refried beans, cheese and more.

I love the smell of LIME.

One of my favourite things.

Reminder to pick up some limes on my next grocery shop.

I always enjoy our visits and our conversations.

Always learning something new.

I did not know that she became a certified SCUBA DIVER after the age of 50.

How cool is that for a prairie girl!

Not like there are oceans close by for diving.

It was a great story how that came to be.

Quite by accident.

Won a contest with a trip to a tropical climate.

The forecast was rain during the time that she was to be on the island.

She did not wish to sit around all week in her room; so she booked scuba diving lessons and the rest is history.

You never know what can happen.

Nothing planned.

 

Well today is organizing a book party for Steeped Tea.

With Christmas coming …. my customers will be wanting to pick up some items.

Great gift ideas as well.

I love our Hot Chocolate.

MMMMMM

 

I also see lots of shovelling in my future.

We have almost as much as the first time we shovelled.

The third time now ……

 

If the temperature is okay we might head out for a walk.

Likely will be short as they have not plowed the path around the park.

Not everyone gets out and shovels.

So many folks just leave the sidewalks covered in snow all winter long.

I am fortunate most of my neighbours do shovel.

Some may take a bit longer than others but it gets done.

 

I snapped some photos last night at bed and this morning.

Love taking photos of the SNOW.

Especially the fresh stuff.

 

 

Well I guess it is time to hit the shower.

Might be important to “smell good,” just in case someone comes to visit.

Oh, I am kidding.

I always smell good.

Just freshen up.

Don’t you find that a showers gives you energy?

I do.

Then coffee and breakfast

and

then

SHOVELLING.

Exercise.

Perfect order.

 

Happy Sunday.

With kindness and respect I shall live this day and my life.

 

Always, Carol & Al

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 27th day of October, 2018.

Wow, I could have slept longer or at least stayed laying down if Mr. Alvin had not kept at me to get my butt up.

We have been up and down since about 3:00 a.m. hence the reason for me being a sleepy head.

Anyway all is well …. we are both up and the day has started.

I snapped some photos as another beautiful day on the way.

I am happily shocked and surprised that my SNAPDRAGONS are still blooming.

It is almost the end of October, 2018.

WOW.

So I have some photos for you to check out.

The sky looks like an artist’s canvas with streaks of white, yellow, dark blue and grey.

The sun is piercing with it’s brightness.

What a glorious sky.

So beautiful.

A few minutes ago when I snapped the above photos the sky had more pinks and light blues but now is as described above.

Funny how the sky had change in mere minutes.

I am sad that I will be digging up the rest of my flowers but wanted to enjoy them as long as possible.

There should be lots of seed pods for me to pick for spring.

You would never know it is almost the end of October from the above photos other than the scarecrow and a few less flowers in my back yard.

Isn’t life grand.

 

Last night my daughter picked me up after work and we made a trip to COSTCO.

I still have lots of fruits and veggies so I only needed a couple of items.

Bananas and tomatoes.

A staple in our kitchen.

My daughter stayed for supper and I shared some homemade chilli with her.

We had a visit which was pleasantly interrupted by my friend who popped by to grab the chair to fix in his garage.

After she went home I received a phone call from my youngest brother who lives in Calgary.

We had a great chat.

He is starting his own blog and asked for some tips.

 

Well I guess it is getting late here and there is lots to do.

Next weekend on Friday my daughter is sleeping over and we are putting up … wait for it ….

the CHRISTMAS TREE.

I am over the moon excited for that as it always gives me extra energy and makes me smile.

 

Have a great Saturday.

Happy Birthday to one of my friends “S” who celebrates a birthday today.

 

Special Hello to: my brother T …… enjoy blogging.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 25th day of July, 2018.

The sky is a pale blue with no clouds in sight (not rain ones).

Sun is shining brightly now in the morning sky.

YAY, today is Wednesday.

Not that I am in a hurry for vacation time but I have including today six days left to work.

It has been an extremely busy time at work and I am ready to have some down time.

 

The carpool is back for today and I am most grateful.

Riding the bus is not FUN.

In the morning they dropped the bus from the schedule that I used to take and ended up waiting 30 minutes for the next one.

At night the bus was 15 minutes late and I got home almost one hour later than riding in the car.

1.5 hours from the time that I got off work until walking in my house.

I am so happy that all is well and my ride is back today.

 

Our walk last night was wonderful.

A time to just be with me Alvin.

We saw Alvin’s girl friend “Miss ABI” and her Mom.

Had a nice chat and the pups played.

We saw another friend along the way.

 

In response to my tomatoes …. they taste amazing.

So much different than the ones you buy in the stores.

Taste more like the tomatoes we had growing up on the farm.

 

Our weather is starting to warm up again.

So back to closing blinds and opening windows in the early morning to ensure the house stays as cool as possible for Mr. Alvin.

 

Countdown is on until my sister arrives.

Seven sleeps …. OMG.

Alvin will be so excited to spend next Wednesday with her as I have to work that day.

But I will be here for the rest of her time with us.

Always great to have my sister visiting.

She brings that something special …. herself.

 

Well almost time to go.

Grab lunch and shoes.

Looking out the window there is NO breeze.

A bit of a breeze in the morning is always nice.

 

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

You and I will do our best to remain calm, cool and collected this day.

I will do my best – somedays it is not easy.

Remember to be KIND and treat others as you would have them treat you.

I work on that everyday.

 

Happy Wednesday.

Special Hello to: my sister, my longest friend in the whole world.

Always, Carol & Alvin

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 Wednesday the 2nd day of August, 2017.

After a raining Tuesday – forecast is for sunny skies.

The next few days are to be lower twenties which will be nice.

The temperature has fallen substantially for Friday as was supposed to be 29, now 23.

You never know ….. weather changes frequently.

 

Alvin and I enjoyed our walk last night – just the two of us.

Not many people out walking.

 

Just a couple more sleeps and three days to work until VACATION.

I am so excited to have TWO WEEKS off ……

Time to relax, reflect and ENJOY my company.

Alvin is excited to see everyone ……

 

I am hoping that shortly I will have some tomatoes to eat from my plant.

It has grown so big.

My first tomatoes …….

 

Flowers, most especially the Snap Dragons are growing my mad.

The colours are so pretty ….. hues of yellow, pinks, purples and corals.

We love sitting on the patio admiring the beautiful flowers and gazing up into the sky.

 

Well time to get this show on the road.

Have a wonderful day.

Remember to take some time to breathe …. just sit, close your eyes and breathe.

 

Special Hello to:  my sister ….. soon …..

Always, Carol & Alvin