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

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday, March 13, 2022! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are well. Adapting to this recent time change. Spring FALL and all of that! My clocks in the house all show the previous time and my phone tells me that it is 9:30 a.m. We were up according to my phone at 5:30 which was 4:30 (until we get used to the difference, I am always converting). So Alvin had his glucosamine chew, his breakfast and went outside. Then we were snuggling on the sofa for a couple of hours. It was 7:30 when we next awoke and it just did not feel like time to get up so we came upstairs, I made the bed and then we laid down and covered up with the blanket from the foot of the bed. For the longest time I just laid there and looked out the window at the sky and the street lamp. Alvin snuggled in and fell asleep. It was so nice. Relaxing. I know yes we should have got up and stayed up. But we do not have anywhere to go and although there is always something to do around the house, I just felt like staying in bed snuggling with my favourite guy “Alvin.” So that is how we started our first day of the spring forward, clock changing time.

The sky is slightly overcast and I think that Mother Nature still thinks that it is 8:30 not 9:30. I do. Alvin does. I wished that our clocks would stay the same all of the time. Changing them is a pain and takes our minds and bodies at least 2-3 weeks to adjust. Now we are losing an hour. But perhaps that means that we are one hour closer to spring. This next day and week to follow are supposed to be all plus temperatures so I hope that is the case. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I have to go to the office, which honestly I am not looking forward to, in the least. Not in the least. I would be okay with going to do our mail outs as we have had to do them for the past two years but for an all staff meeting, team building and such, not really! Any person (not just from my work) that I have communicated in the last while whether in person or by text or on the phone, they all say the same thing – “they love working from home and have no desire to go back to the office.” The world has been talking about working from home since the 1970/1980’s and it took a pandemic to lead us to this place. Perhaps it is time to rethink the whole work environment. If people can successfully do their jobs from home and want to work from home, let them work from home. I get the social aspect but seriously work is work. I do not go to work for the social part of it, I go to work to do a job and get paid for said job so that I can pay for the bills. I have friends and family for my social needs. Somewhere along the way – people got thinking that because we spend so much of our waking hours at work that we needed to make time to be social. Perhaps I am sounding like an old shoe but really I like my coworkers but I do not need to see them. Just me. Well how did I just go from time change to going to the office for two days this week. I do know that it makes me anxious just thinking about it. I am concerned for Alvin, too. He will have someone checking on him but it is not the same.

Off the above topic and onto something else. With spring right around the corner, I was thinking of the traditional “spring cleaning.” Have you started cleaning closets, basements, pantries, kitchen cupboards and drawers? I have done a bit but the one thing that I was thinking of is the “spice pantry.” I have a built in pantry that houses spices, Alvin’s food and dishes and odds and ends. I also have a cabinet that I got when we renovated the old work office and they were selling off office furniture. The cabinet is great, heavy duty and well made. It houses dry goods, small appliances etc. I clean it on a regular basis. The other pantry I need to reorganize and go through the SPICES. I think most of us hang onto spices for way too long – definitely long after we should. A lot of time we purchase spices for one dish and then never use them again or we but too much or we just forget to use them. I am going to go through mine and only keep the ones that I know that I should. It is likely a good idea to only keep what you are going to use. I don’t think it is necessary for one person to have 50-70 different spices. I am guessing on the amount that I have but I do have a great many. Perhaps this spring clean up should involved only keeping things that you at least use once a year or more often. How many of you have things that you are keeping for sentimental reasons? Raise your hands! Mine is up? I know that I have so much “stuff” and I know for a fact that my one and only daughter has no desire to keep my stuff. Oh, there might be the odd little item that she may be interested but they downsized and bought a smaller house so why would she take my stuff. So this spring I am going to get a lot more strict in my what to keep policy. If someone likes an item and I do not use it, it is going to have a new home. I no longer find the need to bring much other than food into the house. One thought for so many people, stop online shopping! I think it is addictive. Everyday I see delivery trucks on my street, yes every single day of the every week. Think of all of the packing that ends up in the landfills. Think of all the crap cause really no one really needs all of that stuff. We don’t. I don’t and you don’t. Tough love. Yup. We have to face facts that we are consuming ourselves to the end, yes I mean “consuming.” Not to rain on your parade and certainly I am not trying to tell you how to live your life but we need to seriously think about our buying practices. Especially with the costs of everything on the rise daily. So many people can barely afford to buy good food and pay for the utilities much less ordering daily from Amazon. Okay, I am done. That totally went from spring cleaning off the rails to buying practices. But it all ties in together. Just think about how much you consume. Do you really need 20 pairs of jeans? Do you need three different coffee pots? Do you need another throw pillow? Did you need to replace your living room furniture? Just because you can do something does not mean that you should. I hope that this has given food for thought, I know it has for me. Although I do not currently buy a lot of things other than food and that is the honest truth, at one time, I was one of those over the top consumers. We did not have online shopping at the time but I went to the stores and the shopping channel and bought more than I really needed and then ended up in financial distress. So there are multiple reasons for my “rant” this morning.

I hope that we all think carefully about our choices. What do we “need” versus what we “want.”

Please have an awesome Sunday. Thinking about our fellow human beings in Ukraine and Russia. Just trying to stay alive in a war that they did not choose. I hope that it the war is over today. Peace to all.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Time for a refreshing shower. Get rid of the cobwebs and off the rant track. Honestly I am a happy person. One would not think that from the above post. Sometimes we just have to say what is on our minds. I apologize if I have offended anyone, that was not my intent. Just to bring my thoughts to light.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! While it is not a good morning for everyone on the planet, I want to remain as positive as I am able to during this time. My heart goes out to the peoples of Ukraine and also the peoples of Russia who do not wish to be at war with their neighbours. Why is it that after two World Wars and many devastating conflicts the world over we have not learned anything? I know that most people living outside of a democracy have little or no control over who leads their country. Why can’t we do something before there is bloodshed and destruction? My heart aches for the people and my mind cannot turn off the many thoughts that are racing through it. I will say that last night in bed, thinking about the world, I was hoping and wishing that Putin would just quietly disappear. I still hope this will happen today. Sooner than later. To the Russian people who are valiantly protesting the war despite their safety and well being, I thank you for standing up to him. I am not sure that sanctions made by the “west and other countries” are going to stop this war. He doesn’t care. It is all about keeping Russia’s borders safe. With each passing day – his mind and resolve grows strong. He is likely thinking that he is untouchable. That is dangerous. We have seen this before and look what happened!

I was going to write about other things but after this, it just seems flimsy and not worth mentioning at this time.

All I can say is I believe that most of the everyday people on the planet are with Ukraine. We do not wish war. We want to live in peace. We want to have a home for our families. Enough food in our bellies. To be able to live without fear of tanks driving down our streets or bombs going off in the middle of the night. To have our biggest complaint be to shovel the snow from our sidewalks and perhaps not to be able to walk due to the ice. For me, I am grateful for my quiet life with my dog Alvin.

Peace and Safety to ALL.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you today? Alvin and I are well. Wishing my special nephew Taylor a Happy Birthday. Last year on Remembrance Day I wrote the following and thought that I would share it again. Let us remember.

REMEMBRANCE

An old woman sits alone in a small room,

Quietly weeping as she remembers,

The lives lost because of wars fought on this earth.

The first person she remembers losing was her Uncle Jack, she was only a small girl at the time, age four.

Uncle Jack used to bring a bag of sweets when he visited her family.

He was her Father’s oldest brother,

He fought in the first World War.

She remembers her grandparents receiving a telegram briefly stating that Uncle Jack was killed in action and thanking them for his service to his country.

She was married when World War II started and had a family of her own.

She remembers two of her four brothers enlisting at the beginning of the war.

She remembers her Mother’s quiet screams when they received notification that they were killed in action in some country far far away.

On the day when her husband decided he could no longer sit back and hear of the stories of lost family and friends and the possibility of the world being lost to a mad man, he hugged her and enlisted in the armed forces. A trained pilot was badly needed. She felt in her heart that he would not return. She hugged him tightly and kisses him hard on the mouth so that she would have that memory for the rest of her life.

In 1943, she received the yellow paper stating that her husband John and his crew were shot down and presumed killed in action. She wept quietly as she held the paper in her hands. Now she was truly alone and would continue to raise her six children on her own.

Years later when her second eldest son, also a pilot like his father joined the Armed Forces and went to fly in the Korean War, her heart skipped a beat. How could she go through this again but there was no stopping Edward, he was much like his Father when he made up his mind. Only a few short months after he left his plane was shot down by the enemy. Another letter, another life lost to these terrible wars. When would they end?

In the Vietnam War, her youngest daughter Katherine who was a nurse signed up, as a sign of the times to go and provide aid to the wounded. Also a short time later another son Mark decided to follow his sister, he was a Doctor. Medical personnel were greatly needed.

She remembers listening to the television and watching news clips of the war and missing her children so much not knowing if they would return. Occasionally receiving a letter from them.

On a summer day a black car pulled up to her home and two men in uniforms came to the door. Her daughter Katherine had been killed by enemy fire when she was tending to the wounded. Her son Mark returned home at Christmas in 1974 he had been wounded but he was alive. He was the first family member in all those decades to return home alive from a war. She was grateful.

The last war that involved her family was the Persian Gulf War in 1990. Two of her great grandchildren were enlisted in the Army at this time but thankfully they returned home, uninjured.

At 107, she had lost so many members of her family to War. The memories still front and centre in her mind. That was her cross to bear having a good sense of recollection.

Now, too old to participate in Remembrance Day Ceremonies, she sits quietly in her room …….

Written by C.Lewis on November 11, 2020

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 31st day of December, 2018.

The last day of December and the last day of the year 2018.

 

WOW, what a year – 2018.

Right.

The world has struggled to come up with a game plan regarding the environment or at least one that ALL countries will join.

Wars, struggles and strife continue all over the world.

We have listened to the rants and raves of leaders.

Weather has been off the charts this past year between fires, floods, hurricanes and tsunamis.

Even at home there has been peaceful conflict between those who want the pipeline built and those who do not.

There have been advances and disadvantages.

We have lost dear ones.

Babies have been born.

 

For me, I continue to work, to be employed.

At a time where jobs are held dear.

I am most grateful to be employed.

I am grateful to have supportive family and friends.

I am grateful that despite the recent political atmosphere I/We live in a peaceful country.

I am grateful to have clean drinking water.

I am grateful that I can write and am not shut down for voicing my opinions.

I am grateful that Alvin and I are in good health.

I am grateful that I am able to live in a home/house that I can call my own.

I am grateful that I can see, hear, smell, taste and touch.

I am grateful for books, music and nature.

I am grateful that I can make a difference – should I choose.

I am grateful to be me.

I am grateful that during the last eleven days of this year that I was able to visit with my cousins and many friends.

To be surrounded by good people is the best feeling ever.

A great way to end the year.

 

For the New Year, I simply wish that all nations would come together peacefully to solve or at least begin to resolve the damage done to our beloved environment.

Let us hope that it is not too late.

Our environment is like our own personal good health; without it, we will perish or at least live very restricted lives.

 

I know that this sounds like a doom and gloom post but sometimes we have to dig our heads out of the sand and speak up.

There is a break in the clouds this morning.

The sky is no longer white.

The sky is filled with dark blue clouds which I can see clear blue sky.

There is hope that we will have sunshine today.

I wish HOPE for everyone – everywhere.

I wish SUNSHINE for everyone – everywhere.

 

Happy New Year.

Happy 2019.

 

Special Hello to: all of my family and friends, wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 23rd day of September, 2017.

So grateful for the sunny blue skies of this morning.

What a great sight after several days of cloud and rain.

 

How can the rest of the world quietly stand by and listen to two “powerful” leaders bully and demean each other, and threaten nuclear war.

Are we not taking this seriously?

Perhaps we should.

It is the actions of mad men that truly scares me.

The stark reality of this is nuclear war if other countries do not intervene.

At the very least much unrepairable damage to the environment.

How can reports say this will not happen?

Are you kidding me?

Kim Jong Un  just wants a reason, and he will not step down on his own.

Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump are taking “leadership” to a whole other level.

I would be so incredibly embarrassed if my Prime Minister spoke or acted in this manner.

Maybe, everyone on this planet needs to step up and put an end to this craziness.

It is hard to believe that in 2017 we still have mad men leading countries and wars killing millions.

I guess nothing has been learned over the last thousands of years.

Feeling disappointed …..

 

Back to my current reality of doing laundry, cleaning the house, grocery shopping and such.

But I do think about the status of the planet and the human beings that inhabit it.

Feeling sorry that we are in this state of affairs.

 

Special Hello to: every creature on this planet and I wished that I had a way to stop the madness.

Always, Carol & Alvin

 

 

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Wednesday the 10th day of February, 2016.

Yesterday was about + 10 degrees celsius ….. crazy.

WOW, how did that happen?

I am pretty sure it was February 1st the day before yesterday ….

Oh well ….. winter is passing and with it comes the arrival of spring.

My favourite season.

I did note the other day that the bunnies are starting to turn brown.

How lovely …..

Sure have not seen as many of them as we used to when I first moved here from Regina.

That being said ….. there has been so much construction in this area I can see why.

All of the poor animals displaced because we keeping encroaching on their homes.

Sure wished that we could live together without displacing them.

Everyday you hear of another species that is now extinct.

I feel for all of these creatures.

 

Perhaps it is a dream of mine and some others that PEACE will reign someday over this planet.

Is it possible to happen in my lifetime?

I do not know.

Sure would be nice.

 

When you hear of people starving and living in absolute poverty and then the billions countries spend on war ….. what is wrong with that?

If all of the money was put into finding cures for diseases, spent on the environment and such ….. well that would be great.

 

We can make a difference …. one person at a time.

Be good to your environment ….. small things make a big difference.

Turn off the lights …… walk instead of driving ….. don’t toss that coffee cup…

Please ….

 

Well it is time to put the finishing touches on before I head out to work.

I hope that you have an awesome day.

 

Thought for the day….

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 7th day of June, 2014.

It is a beautiful quiet sunny morning here at my house.

Alvin spent the night at his sister’s house as per usual, as I worked at the store.

We are very blessed that Alvin can go to their house so that he is not alone.

I think of him and all of the other fuzzy loved ones that are alone while their parent(s) are at work.

I think that we take for granted their feelings.

They miss us as much as we miss them.  Likely more.

It always amazes me about how happy he is to see me when I return home.

It is 20 seconds of pure bliss.

He runs to me as though I have been gone for days.

Now part of that is he has to “pee” and is hungry.

But nevertheless he is as happy to see me as I am him.

He is my ground zero of joy ….. of course, my daughter is there as well.

My number one wish is that I could stay home with him all of the time.

Now for most of us parent(s) that is not always possible.

But I will continue to work on that aspect.

I wished that all of the furry ones that we deem as pets ( I really do not care for that word ) would have loving parents and safe, happy homes.

So on this beautiful, quiet Saturday morning I miss “me Alvin” but I know that I will see him soon.

Busy Saturday ….. will be shovelling dirt, having coffee with one of my neighbours and going out to find beads and supplies to make wedding jewellery (custom order).

So much fun.

Always great to have some physical activity along with visiting and shopping.

Now of course there will be laundry and housework in their somewhere and hopefully a chat with my sister.

So Happy Saturday everyone.

Remember to be the best Mom/Dad you can to your furry one ….. we all should be treating them with love and respect.

We should treat every living creature/being on this planet with love and respect.

If we all did that …. bye-bye war and conflict …. hello joy and peace.

Just imagine……….

Special Hello to: my sister …. time to chat …..

Always, Carol and Alvin