The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! I hope that this post finds you doing very well. Both Alvin and I are good. I think that Alvin has had a turnaround in how he has been feeling. Part of how I can tell is from his “poop.” Argh, yuck, you might say but poop is important for animals and humans alike. It can tell a lot about your current state of health. Al was having some loose stuff happening, I will skip the details. This morning it was more firm and that is a good thing. Yesterday was an odd day. I had BIG plans but then they completely changed. OH well, I say, Oh well. I did some laundry in the morning, cleaned bathrooms and reorganizing a bit. By the afternoon, after being up so often Friday night, that I laid down beside Mr. Alvin on the sofa and ended up falling the asleep. Yes, I had a nap. I woke when something happened in a dream. This is what I remember: I happen to see our old neighbour Sherry outside looking around as if she did not remember she used to live in the other half of our duplex so I opened the door to check on her. I was so caught up in what was happening with her that I did not notice that Mr. Alvin slipped out quietly through the open door and was gone. When I realized he was not there, I happened to look down the street and there he was walking down the sidewalk toward the park. That is when I screamed and woke up. I really did scream. Poor Alvin in real life. I hope that my now neighbours did not hear me, I don’t think I had the window open at that time. Anyway, no one came over or called. So all good. But when I woke up to find myself drooling and Alvin right beside me on the sofa, I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed so very real. Yup, drooling, I was. I had fallen asleep sitting up with my legs up on the sofa and head back on the back cushion of the sofa. Very comfy. Anyway, I still have that scared feeling running through my veins.

The sun shone for most of the day and it was nice out. After I woke up I checked on the laundry and then decided it was time to go for a walk. We had a great walk to the park and did our usual walk. When we first got into the park we came across this woman and a little white dog. So cute. Anyway, Alvin decided he wanted to say hello. We, humans decided to chat. I found out that her dog’s name was Bailey and Bailey is 16 years old. She has a heart condition but is on medicine. Bailey’s Mom’s name is Gail (not sure if this is how she spells her name or not). So they are going to be moving into our neighbourhood in June and she was just bringing Bailey here to get her used to the new place. What a good Momma. We had the nicest chat and I learned so much. I happen to mention to Gail about my concerns about Alvin, about how I thought that perhaps he may have the onset of dementia. She said that one day a while ago, Bailey would get lost (at home), starr into nowhere and have accidents. She took her to her vet and found she did have the onset of dementia. There is a human drug for Parkinson patients called “selegiline” (not sure of the spelling, I forgot to look it up) and you can buy it at Safeway. So she gave her the medicine and after 5 weeks, she was much better. The vet said if you catch it in time, you can stop or greatly reduce the effects. So I will keep an eye on Alvin and take him to the vet if required. I had no idea that there was a drug out there – that helped with dementia to that degree. If you catch it soon enough. All about the timing. We had a great chat. I am so happy that I fell asleep and that the dream woke me up when it did and that we met Gail and Bailey. After our walk, I worked on the laundry, cleaned up my plants and watered them. Baked a banana loaf. I checked a basic recipe and then decided to have some fun so I added pumpkin instead of oil or butter and orange zest. OMG, it turned out so good. I cannot wait for the girls to try it this morning. This morning is coffee visit with my pals Gillian and Signe. In less than one hour.

Considering we had a quiet day yesterday, I am going to clean out the office closet. I have things neatly put away in there and I think that there are items that I can sell or give away or even toss. Better to see if someone can use them. Remember spring is the time to go through closets, things stored away and decide if those items bring you JOY. Do they make you happy? How often do you look at them? Do you really need or use them? We in North America get so stuck on keeping things. Hoarding is getting to be a problem for a lot of people. That is a whole other topic for another day.

Time to get Mr. Alvin downstairs as he is patiently waiting. I will make myself a cup of coffee before putting on the pot for Gillian. Signe is not a coffee drinker she likes a specific kind of tea and she always bringings her own. I have the banana surprise loaf and some oranges for a snack. Which will be breakfast for us all.

I have decided to hold off and plant my flowers, tomatoes and oregano next weekend. If it gets colder after that, I will have to put them in the garage overnight. I do love having the plants filling the kitchen table.

Have an awesome Sunday. Thank you so much for reading my posts, this blog. I love to write, share stories about my life with Alvin and my thoughts.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. do what makes you feel good ….. you can clean the toilet tomorrow…..enjoy the sunshine!

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you doing this Sunday morning? Both Al and I are fine and happy to have had a great night sleep. Bed in good time and up at 3:45 which is great and then I managed to coax him to stay on the sofa until later and that ended up being 6:20 a.m.. Of course, he had his breakfast then and we headed back to the sofa because why in the world would someone get up at 6:20 on a Sunday morning when they did not have to? Why? I suppose to enjoy the quietness of the early morning. But not this gal. I had done all the chores that I had planned and even a couple of more things yesterday so today will be chilling and we might have a visit from my daughter/Alvin’s sister. She mentioned about coming by today. That would be great. We love our visits. Yesterday was great. First thing after breakfast yesterday morning I gave Mr. Alvin a haircut. For some unknown reason it went faster and I was done his hair cut in 1.5 hours (a new record) and then gave him a bath.

I used my new Bissell Crosswave to clean the main floor and the upstairs including the area rug in my bedroom and the carpet/rug in the hallway. One thing it not easy to do steps with, just saying. Next time I will be cleaning the carpet in the basement family room. I might have to borrow a hand held cleaner from someone to do the steps. I did them but not as well as I would have liked to. After doing a couple loads of laundry and as the weather seemed to be nice, I decided to go for a walk with Mr. Alvin. We were just at the park entrance when I noticed in the distance a dog and his owner that we have have got to know over the winter/spring. I had not seem them in a while so we started to walk toward them which happens to be the more direct route to Master Teddy’s house. Well Alvin caught on to my oversight and after we humans chatted for a minute or two we were on our way to Teddy’s house. Alvin literally dragged me there. I was thinking all the way that I had work to do at home and that I don’t like to just drop in but we did. He did drag me there making the turn onto their street and right up the driveway. I rang the doorbell and he was just going to bark when our friend opened the door with a happy greeting for these friends who always show up unplanned. She is the most gracious person on the planet for unexpected visitors. I apologized as I always do and I meant the apologies. I love visiting with them and like to advise when we are coming which I do when it is planned but Alvin always has other ideas. So into the house we went. I had tea while Alvin “visited” which for him is checking to see if there is any food left out. Teddy and Kobi are always happy to see us as well. My friend’s husband came downstairs to say hello. We always practice social distancing and be careful in these covid times. I do not see many folks in person. Any visits these days are all done with social distancing and being mindful. I have friends that are my age and some that are younger. We all are cognizant of the restrictions and of being careful during these times for each other. Once back home, I grabbed the rake from the garage and a bag for the leaves and went out to rake the front lawn. Yes, I had done this a couple of weeks ago but it really needed it again. The last time it was windy and two hours later it snowed. I just read on the weather report that we are to have snow showers. ARGH. After the front was done, I cleaned out the basement window well. It was filled with leaves. Not to the top of course but there again was a heavy bed of leaves. I had pulled out the garbage that had blown in there the last time I raked but decided this was a good time to dig out the leaves. Actually some had been there obviously for awhile as they were composting. I had taken my handy dandy garbage picker upper from the front porch through the house with the rake and then out to the back where I opened the gate. I grabbed the bag of leaves that I had raked from the front and had thrown over the back gate, opening the gate; I went to work pulling out dark clumps of dead leaves until I had it pretty much down to the rocks that line the window well. Then I took the almost full bag of leaves inside the gate, closed the gate and went to work raking the backyard again. I have raked the back several times and the grass is beginning to turn green. Finally have all the leaves picked up. I hope that no more blow in back there from other neighbours yards. I don’t even have a tree in my backyard. Anyway all raked and looks great for that “snow shower.” Once done with the yard work, I gave Mr. Alvin his supper and then headed to the basement to start some more laundry. After that, I cleaned the toilets and did some dusting before deciding to order pizza from my favorite pizza place “Royal Pizza.” I decided that while it is expensive compared to picking up groceries that may last longer – it was a well deserved treat. So that is what I did. I also chopped some vegetables which is my favourite thing to have with pizza. I cleaned and chopped some carrots, red peppers, broccoli and cauliflower. Supper was divine. So good. After supper and cleanup and back and forth doing laundry. I decided to watch a movie or two. After watching some familiar ones I decided to watch a recent movie, one that was nominated for an Academy Award tonight and that was “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” I definitely see why Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman were nominated for awards. I hope that they both win. That was my Saturday night.

I am sitting at the computer with my charcoal mask on (multi-tasking) while Mr. Alvin is sitting in the hallway just staring at me. Not sure if he is checking out the charcoal mask or if he is trying to get my attention. Anyway time to get this mask off and get dressed and get this day really going.

Wishing you a great day. Also something to mention. While we were chatting at our friend’s house yesterday – I mentioned about having the furnace vents etc cleaned and he said that he was going to as well but would do so in the fall just before winter. He said if you clean them in the spring before the summer (when there is dust/dirt flying) they will just get dirty again. It has been a long time since I had this done but I will wait. The furnace will be off as soon as it warms up so I will wait. What great advice. I never thought of the dust/dirt of summer. Going point. Just wanted to share.

Continuing on this path we call life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.

Have an awesome Sunday.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time.

Hello, welcome to a wet Saturday morning here in Edmonton, I guess that it is almost noon.

We were invited out last night but due to weather Alvin stayed at home.

I was home later than usual, so bed much later than usual.

We slept in this morning and then had company, so I apologize for the lateness of this post.

 

For the last Friday of the summer worked allowed us to leave at 3:00 p.m.

I walked over to the Motor Vehicle Registry to renew my licence.

It would appear that everyone else had a similar idea.

Also I did not really think about the Friday before the long weekend.

So it was busy.

Luckily the line went quickly and I was in front of the Customer Service Attendant advising the purpose for my visit.

She asked me about eye colour, hair colour (laughing) and weight.

So the weight question.

Did your weight change?

Yes, of course it changed.

How much do you weigh?

Me, I have no idea as I do not have a scale at home.

Attendant … giggled, agreeing with my statement.

Can you take a guess?

She said 10 pounds more than what was on the licence from five years ago and I went with that.

I did not tell a tall tale or a lie.

I simply do not have any idea.

I did tell her that really if something happened they would need to know my face more than my “exact weight.”

She asked me if my vision had changed and I told her no and that I was wearing glasses that were an older prescription as they had sunglass clips.

Which is true.

Likely more information than necessary but that is how I roll.

My eyes have not significantly changed over the past several years.

We laughed.

Signed the document.

Then the dreaded photo.

Please remove your glasses looking at the camera with no expression.

Yikes.

Then she asked me to move my bangs as they covered my eyebrows.

Which I did.

Too bad that I did not check out what I had done in the mirror.

CLICK.

The damage was done.

She asked me to sign the electronic signature for my licence and then showed me the photo.

ARGH, gasp….

Not great, I will say that.

Thankfully no one really looks at my licence anyway, thank goodness for that.

After I was done, I walked over to the DOLLARAMA and processed to pick up some cards and miscellaneous paper items.

I had texted my daughter advising of my progress and location.

Finishing there I stopped at the SAFEWAY gas station and picked up the winning LOTTO TICKETS (have not checked the ticket that was drawn last night).

So there remains hope!

Then I was waiting outside the SAFEWAY store and realized that perhaps I should pick up some broccoli, cauliflower, avocados and bananas.

This would mean not necessary to go out on the weekend.

Done.

Then texted my daughter to advise my status.

She was on her way and picked me up a few minutes later.

It was interesting to see all of the folks going in and out of Safeway, the folks hanging in the parking lot etc.

Then we were on our way to my house.

We had a great chat on the way.

Once home, my daughter assured Mr. Alvin that he was not going home with her.

I think he was nervous thinking he was leaving again.

After she had left, I fed him supper and then we went for a nice walk.

This time by ourselves.

Cute story:  as we neared home we were at Humphrey’s house.  

Humphrey, the cat was in the window on his cat tree.

Alvin walked over to the living room window looking in – I saw Humphrey jump down and run in the direction of the door.

My boy beelined for the front door dragging me behind…. up the steps whining at their door.

Door opened and there were my neighbour and Humphrey.

Both were excited to see each other ….. My neighbour said that Humphrey whined all the way to the door …. excited to see his friend.

Friends come in all forms.

This melted my heart …. a cat so excited to see a dog.

Only in my world or perhaps in yours as well.

Once home I had supper and then went to our friend’s house.

Alvin stayed home.

I had froze some of my birthday cake so that I share it with them.

I had a great visit with our friends down the street.

Such great conversation ….

So much so that it was 10:30 p.m. when I arrived home.

Then bed.

Alvin had a bit too much cauliflower etc. after his supper and had gas.

Definitely not feeling well.

Also I think my leaving him for that long …. put him out of sorts.

My neighbour and Mr. Humphrey came earlier as I had invited him to spend the day with us while she is out.

We had coffee together ….

His friend Humphrey is here now and we are back to normal.

Definitely Alvin is a homebody and somebody who needs this body with him.

Well time to get this day really going.

Alvin is resting on his blue blanket beside me.

Laundry is waiting for me.

 

Life goes on…..

 

I will share more vacation stories and photos tomorrow.

Have an awesome Saturday.

Super moon tonight?

 

Always be willing to be respectful of all creatures big and small and treat all with kindness.

 

Always, Carol, Alvin and Humphrey.

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Friday the 29th day of March, 2019.

WOW, almost the end of March, 2019.

Crazy.

Our weather has been quite nice.

It was beautiful when Alvin and I went for a walk last night.

We took a longer walk and enjoyed it immensely.

Still getting muddy and thankfully I remembered to have a wet towel at the front door.

Need more exercise we do.

Alvin will be having a bath and hair cut this weekend, likely Sunday.

 

Master Teddy joins us tomorrow for the day.

Alvin sure perked up when I told him last night.

He will be happy to have him with us again.

I was wondering last night why Alvin wanted to be outside on the deck so much.

The reason.

Mr. Humphrey was out on his deck.

Humphrey was telling him quite the story.

Alvin sure loves his friends.

We are so lucky to be surrounded by lovely creatures four-legged and two.

 

I am debating on whether I should go to the grocery store at lunchtime or go after work.

About the same distance to carry and walk.

Maybe at noon a bit further but not much.

I am out of ideas for lunch and do not wish to have a sandwich again.

Out of vegetables.

So likely will trod on over at lunchtime.

I am nearing the end of my toothpaste and completely out of dish soap.

So decision at lunchtime or after work?

I am catching the bus as my carpool took the afternoon off …..

I guess by the time I have to take lunch – I will have made a decision.

ARGH.

Somedays.

You know if that is the hardest decision that I have to make today – I will consider myself more than lucky.

 

I see 3.3 million dollars in my future.

Sharing the Lotto Max Jackpot with 14 of my coworkers.

Perfect beginning to the weekend.

YAY.

 

Well perfect sight …. listening to Alvin breathing as he rests on his blue blanket.

Oh, how I love that guy.

 

Well I guess it is time to go.

Time to go to work.

 

Special Hello to:  all those folks who have a four-legged friend in their family.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

Thought for the day……

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 12th day of May, 2015.

Sun coming up …..

Great start to this wonderful Tuesday morning.

Last night I raked the front lawn and gathered up the hundreds of cork size bits of soil from the aeration.

I thought it would never end.

There literally were hundreds of them.

Also just saying ….. THEY WERE HEAVY when placed in the recycling bag.

Followed by a good watering.

The ground is so dry that watering is likely in the future if we want green grass unless Mother Nature decides to help us out.

Mr. Alvin was out with me for a bit until he was so excited by something that I could not see that I let him back into the house.

It was so relaxing and so much fun being outside doing this small amount of yard work.

No matter what our days are filled with …. work …. school whatever …. we have our homes.

Most of us are so blessed to have our own homes.

I know that I cannot speak for everyone.

If you are blessed enough to have your own yard or even a balcony or patio space ….. go OUTSIDE.

Use it.

Plant some flowers ….. maybe some herbs or veggies …. put a chair out there.

It is so great to be outside ….. most of us do not fully utilize our green space.

Even if you do not have your own ….. there are parks usually not far away …..

Have fun, enjoy.

We also enjoyed a beautiful walk last night.

Well time to finish getting ready to go to the office.

Have a great Tuesday ……

Deep breath … you can do it.

Special Hello to: my cousin “J” in Saskatoon ….. miss you cousin.

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 25th day of December, 2014.

Today is Christmas.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve except for our Alvin was feeling under the weather.

I am happy to report that he is back to his old self this morning.

We slept on the sofa just in case he needed to go outside during the night.

It would appear that he requires his daily filling of vegetables.

Even animals need veggies.

We ate way too much last night; and even managed to play a bit of “Trivial Pursuit” before retiring to the living room because we were concerned about Alvin.

We all received beautiful and thoughtful gifts.

The best part of all was that we were together under my roof.

Couple of my favourite gifts were a new book by Sophie Kinsella …. ( I love her writing ) and also a book to write ideas (also journals and pens).

Mother Nature even decided to drop some snow on our city ….. just a bit … so we could sing “White Christmas

 

I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Safe travels throughout this day and the rest of the holiday season.

May you be in good health so that you can enjoy this time.

 

I am off to feed Miss Aussie (a neighbour’s cat).

Also clean the house and get the turkey into the oven in preparation of our Christmas company.

There will be nine people for supper and four puppies.

So we will have a house full…. the first in many a year.

So we are grateful to share our bounty.

 

Special Hello and Merry Christmas to Everyone.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 7th day of May, 2014.

WOW, it is Wednesday.

Mid week.

Are you excited?

I am.

Why?

I do not know.

Just feel excited.

Perhaps it is due in part to the fact that the SUN IS SHINING.

It has not been this bright and shining this early in the morning for awhile.

Oh, bright sun how I love thee.

This could be an ODE to the SUN or perhaps Sonnet of Sunshine.

I think that most of us have had a long dreary winter and spring and we just want SUNSHINE.

Sunshine …. sun rays…… warm days …….. to be able to wear flip flops and a tee-shirt and shorts or capris ….. just summer gear.

We have been wearing a combination of winter, spring and summer clothing for weeks now.

I have been patient biding my time.

But please ….. pretty please …. let this be the beginning of beautiful weather.

Yes, Mother Nature I am aware that according to the calendar “summer” does not officially start until June 21 or 22nd …… whenever that magic date is …. ???

The grand-puppies will be spending the day with Alvin so that is always nice.

He is anxiously awaiting their arrival.

I hope that wherever you are that the sun is shining and that your day is all bright and happy.

Feel the smile and feel the joy in your heart.

The time has come to shake those winter blues and get ready ……

Get ready to have fun and be outside …..

Special Hello to: all those people who are planning their gardens ….. I love vegetables and flowers ….

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 28th day of August 2013.

It is a great day.  The southern sky from my office window is glowing in purples and pinks with a pale blue background as the reflection from the sunrise passes over.

I just want to say that it is positively and most definitely true that when you give something it comes back to you abundantly.

My brother gave me a crazy amount of things from his garden.  I had one of the crisper compartments in my fridge full of cucumbers.

As I don’t really eat a lot of pickles anymore I have been eating them daily and gave some to my daughter and husband.

But still I had a crisper full of cucumbers.

So one of my neighbour does the juicing and is also a vegetarian so I asked her and she accepted.

So tonight I took over a bag of them.

Then another one of my friends called to say that her sister had given her an abundance of vegetables from her garden and also some crabapples.

So I gratefully accepted them.

When she brought them over I had no idea how much it would be …

A huge bag full of potatoes, yellow beans, carrots, squash and crabapples.

Oh my goodness I hit the lottery …. how wonderful and thoughtful.

So I gave one modestly sized bag and received a huge bag in return.

Anyway, always good to give and then again it is always a pleasure to receive.

Special Hello to: all those gardeners out there …. thank you for the produce.

P.S. thank you to my brother for starting all this and for the absolutely yummy vegetables (potatoes, onions, cucumbers, squash, peas and dill).

By the way my brother’s peas were about four to five inches long.  They were huge.

Always, Carol and Alvin (Alvin was pretty excited about the vegetables, too)   🙂

Thought for the day…..

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday, the 13th day of August 2013.

Today is my last day off before heading back to work.

I have had a wonderful few days away from the office.

Started by celebrating my 56th birthday which was last Friday.

On Sunday my daughter and I drove to see the oldest of my brothers who is younger than me.

We had a great visit.  I only wished that I would see him more often.

It has always seemed to be that way with my family.

We truly love each other but for the  most of our lives we have lived several hours apart.

With children and jobs and sometimes not much money those trips to see one another just did not happen.

I want to make the best effort I can in the last half century of my life to see my remaining siblings as often as I can.

Family is important.

So on this last day of my mini vacation I must get the things completed that I had planned to do when I booked these days off.

“THE OFFICE” …… here it is the last day and I have not started in here.

Oh well, I did have the most lovely visit with my brother and the road trip with my daughter that we had wanted to have….

We did have an interesting trip to see him.

On the way down part-way there it poured and poured and even some hail.

We had to pull over to the side of the road three times before reaching his acreage.

But we did arrive safe and sound in the pouring rain about 40 minutes later than we had planned.

On the way home the sun was shining and it was a beautiful evening.

We decided to stop at a small town and have supper …. over one hour later we were on the road again.

We hit rain just about at Edmonton and then in the City it hadn’t rained.

We stopped at her house to pick up Alvin and then just a few minutes after getting everything in the house and moving my flowers.

The heavens opened and it poured.  Lots of thunder and lightning.

I am thankful to my brother for his hospitality and all of the vegetables from his garden.

My brother has a green thumb.

His garden is amazing.

He is just a great guy.  Warm-hearted and generous.

I am so grateful that I had an opportunity to spend time with him.

Well time to go and pick up some food for Mr. Alvin ….. he did love the peas I brought home.

The sky is overcast.  A bit cooler but still a lovely day.

Thank you for reading my blog and today I plan to read more of yours.

Special Hello: to all those August birthdays …..

 

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day…..

Good Wednesday Morning and Welcome to the 5th day of June, 2013.

It is a gloriously beautiful morning here in Edmonton.

Earlier when Alvin and I were out for our morning stroll the air was filled with the smell of slightly fresh cut grass and there was a crispness surrounding us.

The birds chirped and sang their songs ….. a bunny hopped by and disappeared into a neighbourhood on the other side of the lake.

As we walked the sun rose higher and higher those brilliant colours filling the morning sky.

Truly the early morning is so great.

 

So my thought for this day is this:  if your pet could talk …. so that you could understand him/her…..what do you think they would be saying?

I can only guess about the words and thoughts that would be flowing from Mr. Alvin.

Somedays it would be “Ah, come on.  Please play with me.”  or maybe “quit being so chintzy with the vegetables” and of course I am more than generous.

He is quite spoiled…..which is likely not a great thing but I look at it this way.  My daughter was spoiled with whatever I could give and do for her (which wasn’t lots by today’s standards).

Oh well, I can only imagine what he would say.

Likely somedays he would just be laughing ……

I know that his sneezes are when he’s not getting his way ….. or he wants something faster than I can deliver.

Maybe if we pay closer attention to what is going on we could figure out what they are thinking.

I love my Alvin no matter what he thinks or does.

He is so cute.  One quick story.  Several weeks ago I slipped on some ice ….. sprained my knee …. I went to physiotherapy and was given exercises to do which I have been doing ….. anyway some of them I do on my (our) bed ….. every time I move the pillows to lay down and do them …. he jumps up … walks over to my face …. licks it …. and then snuggles right close…… same thing every time.  So cute.  Ah, my boy.  He loves his Momma.

 

Well time to fly here.  Work, you know.

Have a great day.

Special Hello to:  pet owners ….. love them as they unconditional love you …..

 

Always, Carol and Alvin