2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you today? Another Wednesday morning, how lucky are we? I have not checked the news with respect to how the rest of the world is managing with the Covid Pandemic but I hope that it is going closer to our old normal. Perhaps a new normal would be okay. I think that people have learned so much during the Pandemic. Maybe we respect our fellow human beings more? I hope so. I sure wished that this would cover all living creatures. If we could just be good to all living beings. Can you imagine? I dream of a place where we respect each other, are kind to all creatures and live our lives with compassion, goodness and gratitude. A girl can dream!

Alvin and I have been enjoying our walks. Yesterday at my lunch break we walked to our friend Pauline’s house and back. We were blessed that both Pauline and her husband were outside so we had a quick chat before resuming our walk. Alvin seems to sniff the grass more on our walks so it takes us considerably longer. Perhaps as he is getting older he is appreciating our time outside and together. Maybe I should listen to him more. “Stopping to smell the roses.” Not a bad idea. In fact, yesterday I swear that I could smell the roses by the entrance to the park. It was glorious. Perhaps just a figment of my imagination but I loved it. I just stopped for a moment following Alvin’s lead and sniffed away. We also made plans with Pauline to meet her at the entrance to the park after work and go for a nice long walk which we did. We walked over by the “big pond” and enjoyed that park. We are so blessed to have so many parks with water in our area. The ponds were made to help with spring run-off and in event of flooding from heavy rains. We just enjoy them. We always have such good conversations and I learn so much and love them.

Well it would appear that I am running behind ….. that seems to be a “running theme” with me the past few months. Eventually I will catch up. I also hope that you enjoy reading my stories about my life with Alvin. My life would be so different without him. I cannot imagine.

Enjoy the day and I hope that you have a friend whether two or four legged that you can go for a walk with.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

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  We needed to smile this morning – this photo of my boy will just do that!

Second Half of the NEW YEAR – last quarter.

Good Monday Morning All. Well this morning I head to the office. My daughter is picking me up as she has to work at her office downtown, as well. I absolutely refuse to take public transportation at this time. With the new active COVID19 cases in Edmonton and in Alberta, on the rise, the less people that I am around the safer I will be. At the end of the day who wants to be one of the statistics if they have a choice. No one really wants to be sick. I would like to remain in good health. Everyday I choose those thoughts, I am in good health, Alvin is in good health and all our family and friends. Trying to stay safe and healthy should be our number one priority these days. These are my thoughts on the subject for better or worse. It will be nice to see some of the folks that I work with ….. only a handful of staff are in our office everyday. Thank goodness for our support services staff who go to the office each and everyday of the week. I am so grateful that I am able to work from home. Full of gratitude.

Yesterday I had coffee with the girls in the morning. We had a blast. Chatting about world events (ie U.S. Election, oh my goodness), stats about COVID19, Christmas, baking, shopping for Christmas status, mail deliveries, Amazon, and so much more. In between the very serious chatter we did have some smiles and laughs. Not as much as we usual but that is okay. I am grateful that I am able to spend time with these two ladies. I am full of gratitude to have them in my life. They are the epitome of friendship, love and support. Truly I would not be able to keep any level of sanity if it were not for my friends. I have the best ones, some of which live next door and down the street and others live abroad and others a province or two away. Also my best friend on the planet is my daughter, she is the greatest. When you are surrounded by all this love and support how can you be anything but joyful and successful. It takes a village, they say and it takes a village to keep me where I am. To the UNIVERSE, thank you for bringing each and every ONE of these dear, loving, compassionate, supportive, kind souls in my direction. Then there is Mr. Alvin….. there are no words. Not only did I have coffee with the girls, Alvin and I bumped into Pauline and her grandpup Georgie on their last leg of their walk, so we continued with them, walking and chatting. I feel so blessed. The weather another blessing ….. so beautiful.

I had told myself that I was going to cut my hair. Even mentioned it to the girls. So when I do this …. there is no turning back. I have cut my hair dozens of times over the years but this time I was a tad bit nervous. For no real reason. So I watched several videos which made me more nervous until I saw this girl with different shades of blue hair. She had multiple piercings and was very young (well everyone is young compared to me at 63). Anyway she parted her hair at the back and placed the hair in two ponytails to the side with elastics. She pulled out “electric clippers,” the kind that I use to cut Mr. Alvin’s hair. Immediately I thought, I can do this and that I did. My hair turned out so GREAT. I love it. Once I sort the tea order tonight, I will call my friend “G” and she will come for her tea and I will ask her to give me a quick lookover. Unless it is bad (which to my eyes looks pretty good but my eyes are old and frankly everything looks good to me, these days, lol), I will leave it alone, if she needs to trim a tad, well that is okay with me.

So off to get this Monday underway. Poor Mr. Alvin, on these days, which has only been twice now since March, I feel badly to leave him home for so long. I have asked Humphrey’s Mom Sonja to come about noon and let him out for a pee and give him one of his cookies. Sometimes he won’t go outside for anyone but me. I hope that he goes out as I know he will have to pee. Mind you perhaps he won’t drink as much water when I am not at home. Fingers crossed.

Wishing you a great Monday. Keep spreading that kindness with love and respect. The world needs it now more than ever. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my words, my thoughts ….. I appreciate you. Hopefully I brought a smile to your face or even a bout of laughter. That would be so great. Happy Monday Everyone, Happy Monday.

Yes, I have multiple masks with me…… one for the car ride, one for work, one for after work and one for Shoppers – Post Office…….

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. I think that I am going to use the electric clippers from now on.