The Next Chapter

Good Morning. Oh, the font has changed this morning. Cool. The sky is clear blue and I can see the sunrise reflecting off the buildings and trees out of my office window. Last night after work I went for a walk with my friends Jeanette, Alejandro and Eddie & Bruno. I brought out some treats (freeze dried liver) for them. They both gobbled them up and I was most pleased that Bruno was happy with the treat. He is not doing great but some days better than others. Last night was a good night. It was almost two hours from the time that I left my house to the time I returned for the night. Now part of that time was spent visiting outside with a neighbour who had been out mowing her lawn. I also came to realize just how loose my glasses are as when I bent over to give the boys their treats, they slid off my face. They are so much heavier with the sunglass clips. Perhaps I should have gone with transition lenses. If I put my head down they slide down. Not sure if going to the Optometrist to have fit better will help or not but I guess I need to try. I usually look down watching the sidewalk a fair amount or at least half of the time. I like to keep my head on a swivel. In this day and age, you have to be super aware of your surroundings. After the long weekend at our work site, more than ever this is important. Back to the walk. When we first left the sky was dark with big rain clouds and I thought that for sure we were going to get wet but after a few minutes into our walk the sky is cleared and we had the most beautiful evening. From time to time the wind would start to blow and the temperature would dip and then it would pass and life was good. I so enjoyed our walk last night. The grass had been freshly cut from the previous day. Most of the trees are almost fully out in leaves. We had a great walk including seeing some Robins. I love those birds. Little Robin Red Breast.

The time was almost 8 p.m. when I walked into the house after the walk and the visit but I felt like a million dollars. Nothing like spending time with friends and being outside in the fresh air and sunlight. After what feels like weeks of days filled with smoky skies – the clear blue sky was a gift. One that was so appreciated. I could have walked all night long or at least been outside till dark.

I snapped a few photos of the blue sky from my porch last night. Perhaps I should have walked about with my phone and taken some better ones but you will see the brightness. It is hard to take photos from your porch without getting cars and houses in the shots. Oh well. I also noticed just how dusty my front room blinds are at this time. Remember I was sidetracked from my spring cleaning! I will be washing the blinds this weekend for sure. YIKES. No one wants to see dusty blinds in a photo. Not me!

Photos and then time to head downstairs as I am catching the bus this morning to work.

That fresh blue sky and the sun! Great end to a wonderful evening.

May 23, 2023

Try not to inspect the photos of the blinds to hard although I can see the dust on the last photo, argh. Oh well. I am human.

Have a wonderful day! Be safe and aware and enjoy and remember to laugh.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin, My Forever Angel

The Next Chapter

Good Morning. Well what an evening we had here in my neighbourhood. The photos will say it all.

We started out with pouring rain a few minutes before I was scheduled to go for a walk with Jeanette and the pups. It came down hard and then started to hail. The sky was so dark and foreboding. Thunder and lightning. These small round balls kept falling and falling and falling. Making lots of noise as they hit the deck, the roof, the windows, the cars. Hopefully they did not cause too much damage. Anyone who planted their flowers and gardens early might have to restart. Depends on progress. In the end it looked like we had two or three inches of snow covering everything. We took the pups for a walk once the hail stopped. We were lucky to get a one hour walk in with the pups with no rain or additional hail. Definitely the temperature had dropped during that time. There was evidence of damage to the new leaves from the trees as pieces were scattered all over the sidewalks and streets. I was attempting to capture with my phone the fog that appeared low to the ground by the trees. It looked ultra cool but did not really come to be in the shots that I snapped. I guess you can see a bit of it in the last two photos.

I hope that you have a great day. Just had to hit the snooze button a couple of times this morning and I definitely need some caffeine this morning before I head out to work. We are out on site this morning noting different things and picking up trash. Another crazy busy week. Thankfully today is Wednesday. Already hard to believe.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning All! How are you this morning? We have had some rain off and on since early yesterday. I pray that the areas affected by the wildfires are getting some of this moisture without the lightning. To all those folks that were able to go back home, I pray that the damages were minimal. On the news last night I saw a farmer speaking of the loss of his beloved animals. They were saved from the first evacuation and then the fire started up again and they were trapped in the barn. My heart bleeds for the loss of them and all of the dear animal life lost.

The fluff

Our trees

Our trees

Our trees

Our trees

Our trees

Signs of life

Last night at the park

Cloudy skies

Fruit bush in park

New life

My fav tree

Beautiful

overcast

Eddie & Bruno

Photos taken recently. The “Our Trees” were taken in the morning of my tree and the neighbours. The park photos were taken on my walk after supper. I had a lovely walk. This time I took my phone so that I could take some photos of our world coming back to life after the winter. The lovely pups in the last photo are neighbours. Eddie & Bruno. Eddie is social like Mr. Alvin and Bruno does not like the lime light so much. I saw them at the park across the lake and called out to their Mom who was taking them for a walk. After saying hello from a distance, we carried on our way. Who would have guessed that I would have walked all the round and they were just coming out of the park on that side. We chatted and started to walk together. Another pup Bailey and her Dad were coming. All the dogs know each other. Eddie and Bailey were playing. Bruno was just watching and trying to say out of their way. We had a great visit. Bailey is the pup that with her Dad were here one night when the kids and my grand pups were leaving. Bailey wanted to play with Aspen. So cute.

Time to go. I hope that you have an awesome Tuesday. Prayers going out to the areas affected by the wildfires, I hope that they are under control and no further damage to life or property.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

The Next Chapter

Good Morning! I was up in good time just before 7:30. Changed bedding, gathered laundry and then got ready to go for a walk. According to my phone when I checked the temperature it said “10+” so I pulled on a light sweatshirt and my jean shorts and running/walking shoes and was on my way. I will say that one of the best inventions is the little socks that barely cover your foot and that have that non-slip material on the heel. No more having your feet so hot. No more going barefoot and getting blisters and no more wearing shorter socks that fall down. So win/win. I actually bought a few more pairs yesterday at Shoppers Drug Mart when I was taking a stroll on my lunch break. I had to pick up the office winning lotto tickets. I have not checked them but I am feeling good about them. One draw was last night and one is for tonight. Will check later.

The wind is quite strong and there are wind warnings out for later on. My heart goes out to the areas of Alberta and close to Edmonton that have wildfires burning. Most of these fires are caused from careless humans. When will we learn. The loss of wildlife can not be calculated. Insects, birds, small animals and even the large ones. Being spring the babies are at risk. Parents will not leave their babies. Can you imagine? Breaks my heart. If you happen to be a person who smokes, please extinguish your butt into a container that has water in it not on the ground. One spark when it is dry and you have people evacuated from their homes. What about all the domestic farm animals? People have to leave and cannot get all of their animals out? We have to be better. My children are close but not close enough to be evacuated. I have relatives in one of the areas that was recently evacuated. If you ever have to be evacuated from your home for any reason – please take your pets. When people were evacuated from the wildfires in Fort McMurray eight years ago, many of them left their pets behind. They are as important as family. Be prepared. Every life is important. Some of the pets were rescued by different organizations but many died because they were left behind. Another good reason not to leave your cat roaming the neighbourhood. I sure hope that these winds die down soon as this will not help the situation. I pray they calm down, the winds.

I made a detour from my story about the morning walk. It was a brisk walk and was a solid 35 minutes. I feel great. Nature was in her glory. The leaves are starting to come out looking shiny & new. My tree is a bit slow and is just budding. The sunshine glistened off of the water in the park close to my house. So beautiful. The ducks were swimming about and every once in a second one would tip over into the water to grab some food. I love watching them. When Alvin was a puppy he loved just sitting with me on the water’s edge watching the ducks and geese in the water. I remember taking him for walks by the big park/pond and he would stop to look at the water and birds. So I would just sit down on a patch of grass (this was before all of the foliage lined the pond) and he would sit on my lap and watch them swimming back and forth. No barking just intently watching them. We would do this for long periods of time and on many of our walks over the years but mostly when he was young. There were people out riding bikes, walking with and without their beloved pups. I spoke to a couple of people in passing. I saw for the first time a long-haired German Shepherd. Absolutely gorgeous. Glad he was having a walk while it is cooler out. Another gal had a little pup who is 8 and they just found out she has diabetes. My heart goes out to them. I wished the pup a long healthy life. I saw Robins. A male and a female. So great to be outside in nature. A good way to start the day, to start the weekend. Last night after work I went for a walk as well.

Time to head downstairs with my laundry baskets and start that laundry. I can smell the aroma of the freshly perked coffee as I put it on before I came upstairs to write this post.

I hope that you are safe and are having a wonderful day. Remember to go outside and take a walk in nature. Hopefully you have a green space close to your house. Take Care. Thanks for reading my posts. Very appreciated.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin (My Forever Angel)

A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! I am cheating a bit here as I was playing around with the computer and trying to figure out how to get some photos onto my blog. Not sure what I did but I was able to upload some. These photos are from my New Year’s Eve walk near the North Saskatchewan River Valley in Edmonton, Alberta. Remember the story about me and my friend Lucy? Well that is me all bundled up in my winter coat, boots, warm pants, scarf, mitts and hat. The view was amazing. What a great way to start the week. Pictures of Mother Nature. I so badly wanted to share these with you and here they are.

Well I am going to stop here and then continue in the morning ……. we are having a last Sunday afternoon……

Well that was disappointing – just after I wrote two paragraphs and decided to cut them out of their place and move them below the photos, they are not there. Did something change with the new iMac that you cannot cut and then paste? Now I am running late. In summary, our friend Gillian came for coffee and a visit yesterday morning. We chatted about so much leaving work out of the conversation for the most part. We had taken a vow to keep conversation about work to a minimum. We cannot believe that her eldest son will be getting his driver’s license in April and the youngest son will get his Learner’s license in March. Other than that, I mentioned that we had a good sleep last night. I did have an odd dream or was it a dream. Felt like I was being kicked in the stomach until I turned onto the other side. Weird. Alvin is improving with each passing day and we are both wanting to get out for a walk. I am reluctant to walk until he is better and has taken all of his medicine. Just in case.

Time to fly downstairs. Get that coffee on and start my computer.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – December 24th

Good Morning ALL! Merry Christmas Eve 2022. I am up and have changed bedding, trash cans in bedrooms, giving upstairs bathrooms a quick clean up and writing this post before I head downstairs where I will put on a big pot of coffee. After that I will wash some bedding and get to my final TO DO LIST before the kids and pups arrive about 2:30 p.m. There will be shovelling, baking some mincemeat tarts (lazy way, I purchased a ready made jar of mincemeat and tart shells), some tidying up and that final dust and vacuum and then have a shower and get “dressed up” before they arrive. I cannot wait to see Alvin, Aspen, Milo, Steven and Amanda. Today marks three weeks since I last saw Alvin and I sure miss him. He will be surprised to be home. Will have to fill up water dishes and put some of his wet food into the fridge. Exciting!

COUNTDOWN: We are here! Christmas Eve 2022.

Yesterday we were off at noon. I did a few things around the house and then went to the grocery store. One of my friends and her daughter dropped me off at Save-On-Foods while they went to Dollar Tree and then picked me up when they were done. The parking lot was full and the store was busy but not too bad. Once back home, a bit later, another friend and her Mom popped by for coffee and she picked up the folding chairs that I had borrowed for the Christmas party last weekend. We had a last coffee with some Christmas cookies before the big day! Last night I did a few more things, had supper and then watched a bit of the new Netflix movie: Pinocchio. I was tired so left part way through to watch later and then off to bed.

Merry Christmas 2022

May you be surrounded by the people that you love!

May you have more than enough good food to eat!

May you be in good health!

May your worries be small!

May your house be warm!

May your love be strong!

May your mood be jolly!

May you enjoy the time!

May this Christmas be memorable for all the right reasons!

Merry Christmas to ALL!

Wishing you safe and easy travels wherever you may go.

Merry Christmas 2022.

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Photos from Christmases past.

Christmas 2010 – Alvin’s first Christmas with me, with us. Playing tug with a new toy with Elton.

Christmas 2012 – colourful packages and our tree

Christmas 2014 – Alvin, Elton and Penny ………. toys, toys and more toys.

Christmas 2016 – Aspen and Milo (Mi-Mi) join our family.

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

From Our House to Yours – Merry Christmas Everyone!

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! I am very happy to say that Mr. Alvin did not wake up until 5:00 a.m. (we were in bed lights out just after 10:00 p.m. last night). The air outside just after 5:00 was not as cold as I thought that it may be – we are experiencing a very beautiful, sunny for the most part, October. My screensaver came up with photos from a recent winter since my move to Edmonton where I had to shovel the snow about six or so feet high along the front sidewalk and the backyard looked like somewhere in the country. Yikes, that was not a great memory.

We are slowly and surely making our way into this new normal for us. Our friend came over twice to check on Mr. Alvin. I am so thankful to have such great friends and neighbours. After I got home, I went outside with Alvin, then gave him his supper while I ran upstairs to get changed and then called our friend Pauline. The call went to voicemail where I left a message. Shortly thereafter we were on our way outside for a lovely walk. We saw so many people that we knew and had not seen for a while so that was great. Met new people and who do you think we saw (just like out of a movie)? Our friend Pauline with Georgie in tow coming around the bend at the park. She had got the message and was coming to meet us. We walked back to her house and had a visit in the backyard. The pups got to run around. No matter the time of year – her yard – is my “happy place.”

Our conversation was chalked full of information. She had been recently to the grocery store where a container of margarine was anywhere from $8.99 to $9.99 and she noticed that some items had increased again and was told they would increase over the winter as well. All thanks to Mr. Putin. Jackass. There I said it. This is 2022. Why is this happening? Why are the peoples of Ukraine and Russia at war? I know why but really this is complete crap. Mr. Putin, you are a disgrace to humanity. So meanwhile the world suffers because of him. She also mentioned that she had been watching a Canadian news program that spoke about how England is buying “wood pellets” for heat from Canada, namely our neighbour to the west, British Columbia. Apparently they are cutting down forests and making these pellets to send abroad as Putin has cut off sending fuel to the U.K. Bye bye forests in B.C. I know that I am missing some “info” here but you get the picture. If you are interested, please google for more details. The long and short of it is: we, meaning the government is allowing forests to be destroyed without replanting from what I understand. How quickly we forget that once the forests and the jungles of the world disappear – goodbye human race for they are the lungs of the planet. We cannot survive without them.

Okay, I am truly sorry about the negative aspect of my blog but sometimes we just have to say things aloud and hope for change.

With the price of food soaring, the war continuing and the supply chain slowing down and in some cases stopping altogether, it will be a long winter. I worry about that. Shortages.

We have to remember that each of us can make a difference. There is a way.

I hope that your day is good.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding, gratitude, focus, possibilities and coffee. Man, do I need some coffee this morning.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

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.

Preparing for the next season.

Who shall remain nameless.

In the meantime, we have:

FALL

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Kadri Vu00f5sumu00e4e on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Soon the leaves will be an array of colour.

I cannot wait.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! Another beautiful day on the way. The sky is partially overcast but I am hoping that it remains dry for the day. I am so grateful to my daughter for spending overnight on Friday with me and Alvin. She stayed until about noon on Saturday. I had a list of things that I required an extra set of hands for so she helped me out. We hauled the dresser in from the garage and it is all set up and most of the drawers are filled already. Moved things about. One of my downstairs plants has a new home atop of the dresser. She helped me trim a bit more fur/hair from Mr. Alvin’s front paws. He was squirmy so we did not get much but a bit and that is great. There was an ear cleaning (he sure sat a lot better for her than for me). We moved the heavier plant pots that had been emptied into the garage along with the base of the umbrella stand that she gave me. Well actually the base is sitting on the upper deck drying out from the last rain. I do not want wet sand sitting in the garage. The big thing was TRIMMING THE TRIM. I was amazed that with girl power how much we were able to do. We even brought out the 5 foot step ladder and got some of the higher branches, not the highest ones but enough that I feel better. We were so proud and even had fun doing it. Amanda likes to trim trees, I found out. We also found out that if we both hold onto the tree trimmer together and one pulls the rope it worked a lot better. The tree trimmer is about 8 or so feet long and has a hard core blade system at the end. It is very heavy for one person. She was amazed that I had done it by myself the past years. Well, I always say “you do what needs to be done, one way or the other.” We tossed the branches over the back gate as I needed to borrow my neighbours shorter handle tree trimmer tool to cut up the branches so that they can be taken by our garage people. So it was a great morning.

In the afternoon, I did laundry, some cleaning and later in the afternoon, our friend Pauline stopped by with a plant and some seeds. Sunflower and Brown-Eyed Susan plants. We chatted for a few minutes and then we walked her home where we had a short visit as it was time for her to prepare supper and me to go home and ready mine. I fed Mr. Alvin before she arrived at our house.

So a great day all round. I rewound and watched LIGHTYEAR a few more times and even saw bits that I had missed from Friday night. That was in the afternoon. Just left the movie playing as I did some housework. Last night it was just watching some episodes of YOUNG SHELDON and BIG BANG THEORY. Some I had seen before but I enjoy these two shows so I watched them again.

Our tree is beginning to turn yellow. I noticed there are quite a few trees that are still very green.

The grass is a mix of green and yellow/brown. The north side of the street most of the lawns have gone yellow/brown but on our side, the south side, many remain green.

Well time to go and get dressed for the day. Have some coffee and then go and chop some branches. I have to retrieve the laundry that is drying in the basement and then do a couple of loads of laundry. Have a walk with Mr. Alvin somewhere along the way and then have a quiet one. We might use BOBI the robot vacuum cleaner to clean upstairs. My daughter is lending me BOBI as her floor space is small and she does not use much and my vacuum cleaner, my beautiful ELECTROLUX is not working. I think it is the sensor according to some troubleshooting research that I did on GOOGLE Search. Perhaps at some point I will find someone who can fix it.

Wishing you a great day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvlin

Last Half 2022 – September

Good Morning ALL! Thank goodness the smoke has dissipated and the sky was clear a few minutes ago. There are clouds in the sky so perhaps some rain is on the way. I sure hope that they are able to put out the fires in Saskatchewan. I am thinking of all the people, domestic and wildlife that are affected by the wildfires. Always a loss of life and is incredibly sad. We were up about 2:00 a.m. and then hit the sofa until 6:00 (up and Alvin had his last transitional meal with mix of his regular food and bland diet). He has not pooped since yesterday so perhaps everything is coming together. Gross thoughts but it is the truth. An important truth. My truth, my life.

We were up to stay up just after 8:00 a.m. as I thought there is no rush, resting is good. After that we spent a few minutes outside. Bogart and Humphrey were in the backyard, Alvin wanted to be outside sniffing and looking through the fence at them. I was following Mr. Alvin around the backyard waiting for him to poop when I noticed that Bogart, like an athlete in his prime, had jumped onto the top of the fence and was looking down upon us. I called out to this Mom and we had a quick chat.

So today with the cooler temperatures, it is time to get some housework done and some things outside. I will have to check the long range forecast and see when the overnight temperatures begin to dip so that I can bring in some plants. I need to winter my geraniums. Some I think I will put in the basement and others will put in the kitchen. I like the open kitchen window area so I will not fill it up with huge plants that block the light. Look beautiful but darken the kitchen.

I have already cleaned out most of the front flower bed so that is done. The back one can wait until it is almost time for frost and then I can clean it out.

Tomorrow is Mr. Alvin’s ultrasound and that will tell me what our future looks like. I will know what needs to be look for his care and for our future. Scary how one day can possibly change your life. I have ideas but cannot go ahead until I know what his prognosis is, no point in worrying ahead of time. I know that eventually things will change as no one lives forever but I need to figure out with our mandated return to work schedule how to care for him if I am back to work. I am grateful that I was able to spend everyday with him for the last 2.5 years and that would not have happened without COVID. Things may have been a whole lot different. At the end of it all, I have been blessed, we have been blessed. Just more changes to figure out a new plan A, likely a plan B and possibly even a plan C. It will be okay, I have faith and I will remain positive.

So time to head out for a walk. It may rain by the look of the sky. The windows are open to let in the fresh cool air. I had closed them all last night as it was getting so smoky in the house.

Head out and check out the park. Alvin will again sniff out each blade of grass and I will admire the trees, the flowers in the yards that back onto the park, the water that is flowing in the ponds and the sky and life.

Have a wonderful Monday. Today is Labour Day. We are grateful.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. if you have multiple emails and did have old emails – you should read them. I have found some treasures that make me realize how much my life has changed and not changed over the years.