The Next Chapter

Good Morning! Today is the Dentist day. My appointment is for this morning. Fingers crossed that all goes well. The house is warm this morning. I am going to run downstairs and open the windows to cool the main floor before the pups arrive in less than one hour. Change to plans as they have to come earlier today which worked out okay.

Last night after work I had planned to go for a walk but was having some groceries delivered so had to wait. I ended up going for a walk after supper. The Universe is also watching and guiding. I decided to take the cards for my friend Sara down the street. Yes the thank you card and memory card for Alvin. We just did not seem to connect and I thought I may be able to catch them at home. We had a nice catch up visit and then I continued on my walk. I did not get far at all, one house away when I saw my friend Jaime, her daughter and dog Sadie and then I heard in response to my “hello” to them on a porch another friend “Ada” and would find out in few minutes her sister. Of course, I had not seen these neighbours since before Alvin passed away. We had some tears and hugs and a nice visit. Ada’s sister told me when her pup passed and how she just could not go for walks anymore. I find myself going but feeling very alone when I am out, like someone is missing. He is missing, of course. My Alvin was an important part of my life for a long time, 13 years plus. I miss him. The next few months will be hard as I am sure we will see more people that I had not had the opportunity to tell them. It was funny, not haha funny, that both Jaime & Ada seem to know when they did not see Mr. Alvin with me. I guess we were always together. I don’t think that I ever went for a walk without him. Jaime had her phone with her so she took my phone number for a planned future walk. I seldom take my phone with me and sometimes miss out catching photos and numbers. When plans change there are reasons why! Had I gone right after work, I would have missed seeing Ada, meeting her sister and Jaime & Sadie and meeting her daughter. Just as I was about to continue on my way more friends showed up to the party “Allie & Bailey.” Bailey saw me first and I could hear her squealing with delight. They were on their way home from a walk so I joined them.

I decided that I would work from home for a little bit this morning before heading out to the Dentist appointment.

I have a bit of a headache this morning. Perhaps from being hot. Supper did not sit well with me last night. Maybe a bit of worry about the dentist. I know it will be okay but there is always the unknown.

Time to head downstairs and prepare for the pups arrival. I set up my computer last night so it is ready for me to work for a bit before I leave for the appointment.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

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! What a beautiful clear blue sky (there are a few wispy white clouds but mainly blue). The air was warm when I was out earlier cleaning up after Mr. Alvin’s early packages left in the snow. I am so grateful to have this last day at home with Alvin before back to work tomorrow. I am grateful that I am working from home tomorrow. YAY.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. In the morning my friend Gillian came over and we had a great conversation and visit and coffee. She told me that her in-laws also had a memory/storage problem with photos and so they bought external hard drives (extra memory) and store all of their photos off the computer. When they need to access them – simply plus in the external hard drive. Great idea. I think that Amanda may have mentioned that as well. I love when my friend(s) came come for a visit. YAY, for friends.

I putzed doing a few things before taking Mr. Alvin for a walk not long after Gillian left for home. The air was warm and it was so nice outside. Alvin did not get cold at all.

Did I mention that I managed to figure out how to set up my iTunes on the new computer? I am more tech savvy that I first thought. I texted Amanda and before I knew it she had ordered an external hard drive with 5 terabytes of memory. That should do the trick. No running out of memory in the near future. It will be delivered today (talk about fast) and then I will wait until Amanda can help me as they will need to be formatted or something. I still have to download or upload the WORD package that I purchased when I bought this new computer. This all is happening so fast. YAY.

My coffee has just finished perking so I will see if I can access the photos that I uploaded yesterday. I even went through most of them and deleted a bunch that were poor shots or duplicates. Time to get in the habit of doing that right away.

Well looks like no photos for this post. The computer is putting the photos in some kind of special order or something. This is not going to be a quick thing, I suspect. I hope that you are doing well. I will post the photos from the walk on New Year’s Eve as the sights are absolutely breathtaking. I would love for you to see them.

Time to go and clean Mr. Alvin’s ears and then have some coffee. I will work on the photos after that.

I am grateful for this mild weather and will be even more grateful if I can figure out “photos.” ARGH.

Have a wonderful Monday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – December

Good Morning All! How are you doing this morning? I am doing great. Happy that today is Thursday and almost the weekend. Countdown to Christmas: we are at 16 days to Christmas Eve. I am so excited as this Saturday is my “friends” Christmas party. Well two friends. My dear young friends. I think it is a good idea to have friends of all ages. If you should be so lucky and I am. I love all of my friends. I have girl friends, boy friends, young friends, old friends, four legged and three legged friends, friends of all nationalities and backgrounds. A very diverse group. I grow from every moment that I spend with each of them. Every day I say to the Universe “how grateful I am for all my friends.”

My eye appointment went well. My Doctor said that I have very healthy eyes. Did you know that every person in their lifetime will get cataracts? I had no idea. The average age is 74. I learn so much from my eye Doctor. He is so interesting. I learned about eye pressure. Did you know that coffee can affect your eye pressure? Not me. Anyway, it was a good appointment and that is all that matters. I was very early to the appointment so while waiting I checked out the displays of frames and was immediately drawn to this red patterned pair. Subtle but not! One of the staff came over and even took pictures for me so that I could send to my daughter and one of my friends. My daughter was busy and did not get back to me right away but my friend was able to, so next frames are a red design. They are so cool. Likely the coolest pair that I have ever owned. Unfortunately because of the way the last appointment went two years ago, I have to wait until December 28, 2022 before ordering them. Waiting is good in this case as then my coverage from my employment eye plan will cover a portion of the almost $1000.00 bill. Yes, for one pair of progressive lens with a nice frame and sunglass clips. They are worth it. The glasses were over $850.00 and the clips were about $130.00 or so, I think. On the upside my eye exam is covered by the Alberta Government Health Care system. Whoot Whoot! I paid $25.00 for an extra exam which I also get. It will be covered by my Health Spending Account as will the rest of my glasses costs. Don’t feel bad for me. I am covered. So grateful for our great benefits.

Well time is slipping away. First time at the office with Alvin not being at home. Feels strange. I am sleeping better which is a good thing.

Last night I packed up cookies, fudge, and Christmas cards making several deliveries to friends in the neighbourhood. So much fun. It was so beautiful out. What a change from Tuesday. I walked over to the vet and dropped off some treats and cards to Dr. Karen and the staff and picked up some supplies for Alvin. His sister is stopping by tonight on her way home to pick them up. I overdressed for the walk as I was very warm when I arrived at my eye appointment, lol.

Have an awesome day.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: off to the office …… lol

Last Half 2022 – November

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are feeling and doing GREAT this Wednesday morning. Today I work from the office so I am trying to keep my energy levels high and positive. To be honest I love working from home and being with Alvin and going to the office well it is okay but there is no comparison. The air is warm outside this morning. Hard to believe it is going into the last week of November. Although I did hear on the weather channel last night something about “our temperatures being close to normal,” I guess they should know as they keep track of these things and I do not. Alvin and I went for a lovely walk during my lunch break. So nice outside. I love my ice tracks.

I made my list, well sort of all how much baking I need to do to cover Christmas 2022. There are three parties of various sizes, friends and neighbours and family on the list and of course some for Christmas. Trying to keep it down to a dull roar this year. We really do not need that much “sugar.”

I learned that a fellow coworker from my SGI days passed away and her funeral was yesterday. She was the age of my sister. How incredibly sad! Always a reminder when someone passes away – that we need to live and love our lives each and every day. You never know. Be kind and have fun.

Still pretty dark outside at 6:09 a.m. – we are running ahead of time this morning. We will have time to do some cuddling before my ride arrives.

Well I suppose we will head back downstairs. I do want to ensure that Mr. Alvin goes outside again before I leave and that he drinks some water.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: just a tad over one month until Christmas Eve!

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! Well we made it, today is Friday, October 14, 2022. So excited for the weekend. What a great way to start with last night my good friend Gillian came over for a visit. We always have such great conversations. I always feel so much better about life in general after we are together. She has good energy. Thank you Gillian. Mr. Alvin was excited to see her…..

We also went for a walk after work. Alvin’s “caregiver” was outside her house with her daughter and a friend as we were going by. Mr. Alvin made a beeline across the grass to see her, tail just a wagging. Safe to say that he loves her very much. Yesterday she brought her pup Cookie for a visit one of the times she came to check on Mr. Alvin. He, we are so blessed to be surrounded by loving, caring and supportive friends and neighbours. My neighbours do not just beside me – they are my friends. I am very grateful for each and every one of them. Alvin had some love and attention while we chatted and then we were on our way. Down the street a little bit we saw other friends out cleaning out their motorhome. We stopped for a quick visit and then headed out to the park. It was such an absolute lovely walk. There was no wind and the temperature was about 21 degrees celsius, perfection. We didn’t make it quite to Pauline’s house before turning around to come home. I always have Alvin decide how far to go and he was ready to go home.

The leaves are so gorgeous now. Reds, oranges, yellows and still a lot of green. My impatiens and other plant out front are still blooming but I will pull the impatiens this weekend. The other plant I will leave out as it is more of a fall plant and I believe is an annual so will wait till we have a good frost and then cut it back / pull the plant. November 7th is the second and last pickup of yard waste. Good to recycle.

This weekend I will put away the patio furniture although next week we are supposed to have temperatures well above seasonal values. But better to get done before something happens! You know what I mean. I really do not want to say the word before it happens. I know that yesterday I mentioned it in my blog.

I am also trying to stop the negative feelings and thoughts that I have been having during this return to the office. Getting used to the earlier rise, the noise levels, being around so many people and so on, has made me a bit cranky and a little anxious. Starting today that stops. I am so grateful to be employed, to have great people to help look after Alvin while I am at the office, I am grateful that we are both in great health, I am grateful for my life. So no complaints. My life is pretty blessed and I do that!

Happy Friday everyone.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to October 2022. The sun is shining brightly and the temperature for today is to be +22 celsius and 24+ for tomorrow and in the low 20’s for the following couple of days. Great weather for October and I love it. The sky is a great sunshiny blue. Is that a colour, well today it is!

Alvin and I had a quiet Friday. I was happy that he was able to go for a nice walk and did not appear to be in any obvious pain.

Today is the Birthday of a neighbour’s son who was 8 years old when I moved in back in 2009. Happy Birthday Kahlia. He is now a grown man. I cannot believe he is 21 years old. WOW, time flies. I have lived in this place, this house, this city for 13 years now and will be 14 next year.

Well I have been adding to my list with some final outdoor chores. I still do not want to put away the patio furniture but I do want to wash the deck and porch. Easier to do when they are bare. Perhaps I will look ahead to next weekend which will be another long weekend, Thanksgiving. Oooo, pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie.

I have lots of apples to prepare. Sounds like some apple crisps and apple muffins in the near future. Perhaps apple sauce? I need to go to the grocery store as I am totally out of brown sugar and a few other things some that are required to do this baking and others just need. On my TO DO LIST.

Alvin needs a bath. He has a vet visit on Tuesday afternoon so I will give him one tomorrow afternoon.

I love this time of year but I will admit that I have been a bit tired the past few days. Perhaps the years of getting up at random times during the night has caught up with me, maybe. Sometimes, I find that in the fall, when the weather starts to cool, that I feel the need to “hibernate,” to sleep more. So I am going to chalk sleepiness up to just that.

Photos out of our bedroom window this morning. The leaves are turning. Not as crisp photos as if I went outside but it is was a last minute idea.

Time to head downstairs and get this day going. I need coffee. Alvlin is bored.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

Second Half of the NEW YEAR – last Quarter

Good Morning All, wow Thursday already. That is what happens when you take Monday off as a vacation day, the week passes by even more quickly. As I look out of my upstairs office window the sky is dark but lightening to the south (which is the direction this room faces) where I see patches of oranges and pinks pushing up on the darkness of the remaining of the night sky. How beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. As the sun rises the dark blue of the night transforms to light blue. Oh, how I love the morning sky. I am grateful that today is Thursday. Alvin has his follow-up appointment at his Doctor to check and make sure that his ears are healing. He has last night made some rubbing actions that make me leery that he made require another dose of the medication. He only had half in each ear as you may recall from a past post. They only had one dose left in the clinic so the decision was made to put half in each of Alvin’s ears. I will pray/hope that his action was not indicative of the real situation. Fingers crossed as well.

So, I am nervous about checking the news to see if the election was called in the United States. I have been watching anxiousness to see who is the next President. Fingers crossed again. Looks like lots of finger crossing going on in this house by this Momma.

According to the weather people – we have another day of warm + double digit temperatures before it drops for tomorrow and the weekend. I am so grateful for this extra week of nice weather. Over the next couple of weeks our weather will be more on the normal side for this time of year.

Last night I received a message from Teddy’s Mom to see if the pups could come over on Saturday for the day as they are going to the farm. So we will have company on Saturday.

Yes, I must tell you a quick story before heading downstairs to plug in the coffee percolator ….. we walked at noon yesterday. I would say about half way we bumped into this pup and his/her Dad. The pup was a beautiful tan and light brown colour. We found out that he was young (now I cannot remember his age) and that his name was Hiccup. Oh, how I love that name. Hiccup is a cross between, wait for it …… Cocker Spaniel and Poodle. No wonder he looked similar to Alvin. We had a nice chat me and the Dad while we walked along. So cute. Hiccup even managed to get Alvin running about a bit. They liked each other. So nice, another friend.

Well time to head downstairs. I need some coffee.

Wishing you a wonderful Thursday. If we all continue to live our lives with kindness, respect and love for living creatures/beings …. what a wonderful world this would be.

I am / will you join me?

I/We, shall remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning Everyone!

Well it is a bright, sunny and beginning to warm morning here in Edmonton.

I can hear the geese honking in the distance.

Last night after work we took our second walk of the day.

Followed by the start of laundry and then the raking of the front lawn.

The neighbour that shares the front lawn with me did her own raking.

She has been feeding the bunnies which we have many all winter long.

So lots of bunny parcels mainly on her half but some transferred to mine.

We cleaned up most of it but I am sure that a little poop left behind would be great fertilizer.

At least it is natural.

 

I had been pondering the thought of having one of those landscaping / lawn companies, you know the ones, like GREEN DROP stop by.

Perhaps give the lawn a well deserved boost.

My neighbour gave her half some extra help and her lawn was so much healthier looking than mine.

I even watered mine some.

But after listening to Dr. Jane Goodall speak on Jimmy Fallon the other night and reading about bees and dandelions (which I usually have a few for sure).

I have decided to take the natural approach.

I will ensure that the lawn is properly hydrated (if no rain, then I will water).

I will leave the dandelions for the bees.

I will not put down any kind of “chemical” fertilizer on the lawn.

This is my pledge.

Now of course, it may be for naught if my neighbours surrounding me fertilize but I will do my best.

I am also planning a “trash/garbage” pick up day in the next couple of weeks.

This is where I take a day of vacation from work OR spend a good part of a Saturday or Sunday out in my neighbourhood picking up the trash.

Right now it is absolutely disgusting.

Might be sooner than later.

I use my own garbage bags (which reminds me I am almost out of the big ones that I usually purchase from COSTCO) and I have the garbage picker tools and disposable gloves.

So all of the necessary and safe equipment for the job.

I do this for my neighbours, for my neighbourhood, for my community and for the natural community most of all.

I constantly worry about birds and animals eating elastic bands that folks drop on the ground by the mailboxes.

I constantly worry about all the crap that people do not pick up.

So with the birds, animals and environment in mind, in my heart, I do this.

Unfortunately I do not go out as often as I used to.

Once upon a time I went out once a week now it is once or twice a season.

This is the time where it is the worst.

I would remind all of my humans out there, please pick up the trash when you see it on the ground.

You are out walking so much more now, why not slip a bag and gloves in your pocket.

Pick up that trash when you are out and about.

Why not?

Why is it that the majority of people just walk on by?

Please I am asking you.

Next time please pick up the trash no matter the size.

When you are packing up your trash to go out for pick up.

Be careful of how you pack it.

DO NOT THROW LOOSE PAPERS, CONTAINER in a BLUE BOX OR

WORSE leave BOXES stacked willy nilly to blow about.

Those are the boxes and styrofoam packing materials that I find on the street all of the time.

The styrofoam breaks down as it hits the curb and corners of the sidewalk breaking into much smaller pieces so of which are digested by birds and smaller animals.

These smaller pieces also end up going into the storm drains.

Easy to to.

PICK UP the trash.

Please.

 

I do apologize if this sounds like a rant as I would rather it sound like a public service announcement.

We all have to work together to make this planet a better place for all of the inhabitants.

We rely on the NATURAL WORLD.

Slowly and now so slowly we are disturbing, changing and destroying the natural world.

Let us come together and do some good.

There is good coming out of this pandemic.

The good is helping the natural world.

Marine life is returning in areas, the sky is clear from smog and pollution as people are staying home and some factories are closed.

This should tell us something.

It is a good reminder.

We have to stop and get things straightened out.

The next time we have a pandemic we may not be so lucky.

I am not taking away from the loss of life globally from this horrible virus.

 

Please have a good safe and happy Saturday.

Given the chance to do something great for the environment in your neighbourhood, please do so.

Do not leave what you can do, for others to do.

 

With kindness and a deep respect for our planet.

I/We remain,

As Always,

Carol & Alvin

 

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning ALL,

A bright sunny morning.

As you may have noticed I am posting this a bit later than my usual.

That is because today is my shift to work from 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.

Our team shares the after hours phone line from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

But today I have been requested to attend a meeting that starts at 10:30 a.m. so I will sign on about 10:15 or perhaps a few minutes sooner.

Just to ensure that I get everything ready.

So this will be a mixed up day.

My first break won’t be until 1:00 and then “lunch” will be at 3:00 p.m. and final break about 5:00 p.m. so that I can feed Alvin.

The Hello Fresh food order is supposed to arrive today but I won’t be making that tonight or else I will be eating way too late.

Also UPS did not deliver my Steeped Tea order yesterday so I will have to look into that and see what happened.

My coffee is perking away and should be ready momentarily for me to enjoy.

Even this one day with different hours reminds me of my time in retail.

Working all sorts of shifts.

It does take some getting used to that is for certain.

I have the office window open a crack and can hear a goose honking.

Perhaps he or she got separated from the flock.

It sounded like a cry of desperation.

I hope the poor goose finds her/his flock.

Not great to be separated from the group for sure.

 

Yesterday was gorgeous.

We enjoyed another two walks.

One at lunch break and the other after work.

Although I did finish work a bit later than usual.

 

Last night I snapped some photos of my plants.

I am smitten with my pink geranium.

Actually all of my plants are doing quite well at this time.

The time is getting closer to transplanting the geranium outside.

I will likely place it in the biggest pot that I have …..

 

One lone goose just flew by …. honking away.

Perhaps the other may have been more than one as the honking was quite substantial.

 

Well friends time to get this day going.

We were able to sleep in, had breakfast, I had a shower, my post is almost complete -COFFEE TIME.

Hopefully my tea order will arrive today.

The Hello Fresh food order arrives today.

YAY.

 

In life, if we all practice daily, living with kindness and respect.

We shall manage to live our lives just fine.

There will always be ups and downs.

That is for sure.

 

Take care.

 

With kindness and respect to and for all,

I/We remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

 

It is a NEW YEAR.

Oh my how the wind is gusting this morning.

You can hear the vents clanging away.

The air is moderately warm for this time of day.

Alvin is resting on his blue blanket beside my computer chair.

I just entered the SURVEY from Save-on-foods.

It would be great to WIN a $1,000.00 gift card for groceries from there.

That would last me for months.

Keep positive thoughts flowing …. or how lovely ….. I won free groceries.

 

Back to work this morning.

The weekend zipped by as they so often do.

Yesterday the sun shone for most of the day and the air was warm.

However, it was so icy and messy that I elected for us to stay in the house.

I did go to the mailbox and mail a card to my Aunt in British Columbia.

With hopes it reaches her by her Birthday.

The sidewalks were so ugly that I did not dare to take Alvin out.

We both cannot afford to slip and fall.

He tends to pull a bit at times although he does seem to understand when it is icy out to be careful.

He usually walks until he sees ice and walk and then walks around on the edge of the street where there is snow.

After my one fall earlier this winter … he usually turns around to ensure that I am still there.

What a gentleman, my boy is.

 

Yesterday I spent some time going through this small trunk/toy chest.

Sorting through papers and things.

Also going through containers that have cards etc.

Every so often I go through to see if I can downsize a bit more.

Just trying to keep the most special ones.

I am just catching a glimpse of some cards that my daughter has given me over the years.

There are a handful that I have posted to my wall size bulletin board.

She always chooses the most beautiful ones with the best thoughts.

That daughter of mine turns 40 in a couple of weeks.

Hard to believe.

 

Well almost time to head on back downstairs.

I am catching a ride to work for the next couple of weeks with my neighbour.

Grateful for her.

 

I hope that you have an awesome day.

Filled with kindness and respect and fun and laughter.

We always have to have a bit of the latter.

No fun is no way to live your life.

 

Happy Monday.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin