Last Half 2022 – December

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? I am doing great. Up early so that I do not need to rush to finish the preparations for the second Christmas party that I am hosting tonight. Still really dark outside and I feel like it is still night. Not many lights on in the neighborhood but that is okay. I have lots to do and I would like to have some downtime before the guests start to arrive around 6ots to do and I would like to have some downtime before the guests start to arrive around 6:30 p.m. There are seven of my coworkers who have said that they are coming for sure. I guess time will tell. That number includes me. So a good number. We will have fun.

Countdown to Christmas: Saturday, December 17, 2022 which is exactly 7 sleeps till Christmas Eve Day. That is when my Alvin is coming home as well. Aspen and Milo will stay with us while Mom & Dad go to the Hobb’s side of the family for their Christmas celebration. I cannot wait. Alvin continues to surprise me with the updates from my daughter. He sure seems to have settled in – oh, dear, maybe he has forgotten me, possible?

I have changed my bedding, dusted the wall pictures/paintings upstairs, sprayed the toilets to clean when I am finished this post, and a couple of other little things. Might as well clean upstairs first and then it is done. Not much to do – a quick vacuum after cleaning the bathroom toilets and sinks and a bit of dusting and upstairs is done. Helps to keep on top of things for sure. Last night after work I took all of my winter coats out of the front closet and brought them upstairs to the office closet and moved my winter boots to the far right side leaving lots of room for all the coats and boots. I don’t like having a lot of boots sitting at the entranceway. I am shuffling and putting away all of my gadgets from the top of the kitchen counter (most of them, not all) so that we have room for food and refreshments and dishes and glasses. Garbage already emptied last night. I did quite a lot after work last night as I worked until almost 8:00 p.m. Whew!

We had some snow last night so I went out to shovel the deck and out front. Once back in the house, I was just taking a minute before going to shovel the driveway when the wind got up and the visibility was very low. It all happened so quickly. So I left the driveway until today. When I shovelled the deck I was just in a long cardigan and was not cold. The air felt so warm. It was strange. Weather!

Time to go and finish up here and then I can go and put on some coffee and have a little coffee break once the coffee has perked.

Have an awesome day.

I may not be posting early tomorrow! Depends on how late my guests stay!

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! I hope that you are well this morning. We are doing very well. Alvin slept great. It is raining here in Edmonton with strong gusts of wind. When we were out earlier I could hear something blowing in the wind. Sounded like a fence board on neighbour’s fence. YIKES.

Today we have our “team building all staff meeting” at West Edmonton Mall at the Fantasyland Hotel. I thought last time going to the office with everyone was bad but this is really making me anxious. At least in the office we were in smaller groups and had places to go and eat away from the masses. Not at an hotel, I am afraid. Fingers crossed it goes well. I hope that they have taken the spacing in account to some degree.

My friend Gillian will come over to check on Mr. Alvin. I am running late of course, as had to click on that darn snooze button. Whoever invented that should be kicked in the butt, lol.

I hope that you have a great day and that perhaps the sun is shining wherever you are …..

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: only 55 days until my 65th birthday.

2021

Good Morning ALL. How are you doing today? It is Thursday, January 21, 2021. I almost wrote 2025. Don’t want to rush the years. What a day yesterday. The winds howled pretty much most of the day and with the icy sidewalks we decided to stay close to home and did not go for our usual lunchtime walk. Fingers crossed today will be better. I don’t hear the wind at this time so perhaps we shall be able to go at noon.

What a Wednesday, January 20, 2021! The Inauguration of the United States 46th President and I believe 48th Vice-President. Now we have President Biden and Vice-President Harris in the White House. I think that everyone or mostly everyone all over the world was waiting and watching on pins and needles during the actual inauguration. After Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in, there was a worldly collective sigh of relief. No matter who or where you are, we all are well aware the state of affairs in the United States. I will admit that I was teary eyed during the ceremony and very relieved when everything was official. A very historic day for the United States in many ways. Congratulations Vice-President Harris. There was even a fun spot in the day, when Al Roker from the Today show called the President over during the parade. President Biden ran over, said hello, fist bumped and then was back to the parade with his family. I would have like to have watched the evening – virtual “gala” but I had to get to bed so I could get up this morning for work. I did record the event and will watch today. Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks all gave very special performances but I think that the young poet laureate Amanda Gorman stole the show at the inauguration. A busy day for all. I guess there will be no rest for the new President and Vice-President.

Well Mr. Alvin is calling me and he is the boss in this house. Or so he thinks.

I wish you all a great Thursday. May your day be filled with much love, laughter and abundance. Continuing to live our lives with kindness, respect and compassion for ALL.

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. this Sunday is the big 12th birthday party for Mr. Alvin. I cannot wait.

Second Half of the NEW YEAR.

Good Morning and that it is ….

The sun is shining and there is a nice cool breeze.

We survived a HUGE storm last night …

It has been awhile since I have heard thunder booming like a massive drum held up to your ear.

The light show was nothing to sneeze at either.

Lighting up the entire room when it flashed.

I looked out of the bedroom window at one point when the lightning flashed and it lit up the whole street in my view.

I must have fallen asleep shortly after I put my book down because the storm woke me up before 10:30 p.m.

Poor Alvin was a little stressed by it all but likely didn’t help when I was startled by the start of it all.

I heard that extra cracking and thud of hail as it hit the house and ground.

So happy that I had moved my precious flower pots out of harm’s way.

We were lucky as I surveyed the damage this morning.

Oh and the wind …. it was scary.

There were moments when I thought the roof was going to blow off.

My mind wandered briefly to the thought of a “tornado” but again we were lucky.

Just a huge wind.

It was the whole package …. one of those out of this world summer storms.

The rain was coming down so hard at one point that I could not see the other side of the street.

I have not got to the basement to check things but our drain system seems to function well.

I can hear the slight mews or it sounds like a cat but then as it got closer it was a crow.

Well as you can imagine after last night it was most difficult getting out of bed this morning.

Alvin did not want to lay down.

We were up and down a few times before finally settling on the sofa.

That seems to be his safe place.

 

Well as I am running extra late this morning …..

Will have to cut this short, I am sorry.

We are doing well.

Had two awesome walks in yesterday.

Which we so badly needed.

 

Supposed to be hot tomorrow so likely another storm tomorrow night.

Take care.

Be safe.

Live your life with kindness and respect.

Time for that first cup of coffee.

I/We shall remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Welcome to Saturday, June 6, 2020.

 

A Saturday morning in June.

 

The skies are grey with tips of white on the horizon.

The trees are swaying back and forth as the wind gusts.

Grass is green and gleaming with the moisture from the overnight and continuing morning rain.

A sleepiness fills my brain.

 

The birds are huddled beneath the leaves on the branches of the nearby trees.

Our neighborhood rabbits are not anywhere to be seen.

The sidewalks and pavement of the streets are wet with rain.

Sounds of only the wind and the rain filling the air.

 

The quietness does not give my body and brain the desire to move about.

We, my body and brain just want to lie back down on the sofa or bed and sleep.

Alvin on the other hand wants to get up and go.

Where I do not know.

 

Push myself during this grey morning, I must.

Otherwise clothes will remain in the laundry basket not clean.

Floor will remain unwashed.

This blog would not get posted.

 

Grateful that our grass is cut and the weeds are pulled.

Outdoor chores all done.

Perhaps it okay to just slow down.

Quiet Saturday?

 

Dreams of zzz’s on the sofa.

Not this day.

Chores to do.

I will say.

 

Not to follow a pattern this poem has done.

Just the words as they come.

I hope you enjoy.

This was fun to do.

Have a great day.

 

 

Living with kindness and respect.

I/We, remain

As Always, Carol & Alvin

 

P.S. truly did complete my outdoor chores last night after work.  We also met up with Georgie and his Grandma P and had a great walk.

Georgie is the cutest chocolate brown doggie and another of Alvin’s friends.

 

 

 

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning All,

A bright beautiful sunny breezy Monday morning here in Edmonton.

What a great weekend we had despite my tumble down the stairs on Friday morning.

My daughter dropped by on Saturday to help her Momma give her little brother Alvin a haircut.

I still cannot believe we cut 1/3 of the time off the time it normally takes me.

Teamwork.

I was slowed down a bit on Saturday and even early on Sunday but now I can walk okay.

I will say that the bruising is still ugly but that likely takes a few days to fade away.

We hosted a great birthday party for our friend “G” yesterday morning.

Most of the party was held out on our deck in the bright warm sunshine.

We ate the birthday cake in the house as it was hot and I feared that the cream on the strawberry shortcake would melt.

 

A great time was had by all.

G’s Mom came as well as she was visiting.

The four of us ladies and Alvin had a great time.

The rest of the day was beautiful until it was not.

Well into the afternoon the sky clouded over.

By late afternoon/early evening it was very windy and raining.

I put away all of the cushions away.

I even put the umbrella in the garage as it was forecasting 100 km wind gusts.

 

I took these photos from my bedroom window last night during the wind.

The flowers are so pretty and the first two photos how can you tell it was kind of breezy.

 

Well time to get to work.

Running late ….. one would think with no commute that a person would be early.

Well I am not late for work as I start at 8:00 a.m. but I like to be starting before that time.

There is lots of things to do as one signs into the computer.

 

I hope that you have an awesome Monday.

With kindness and respect,

I/We shall remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR.

Good Morning Everyone,

Welcome to a sunshiny Sunday Morning.

I am invited to one of my friend’s house well actually to her driveway for us to have coffee and a visit.

It might be a tad on the cool side to be sitting outside drinking coffee but we shall see.

Depends on the breeze and it appears to be windy.

Actually at one point last night during the night it was gusting so much it woke me up.

Crazy.

I will just dress warmly.

Warm sweats, sock and shoes with sweater and jacket with hood.

Perhaps take my mini gloves as well.

Curious as to what the temperature is to be at 10:00 a.m. – I checked and without the wind +9 celsius and with the windchill +6.

Not too bad but not great to be sitting outside.

I miss my girls.

We have not had a proper visit since I do not know when.

Well for sure since we were told to practice the social distancing.

So it has been awhile.

I have seen the girls as they pick up and drop off groceries.

But together not.

 

I gave Mr. Alvin a haircut and bath yesterday morning/afternoon.

Finally was able to trim his front paws somewhat.

He fusses so much making it almost impossible and tries my patience to the 9th degree.

I managed to maintain patience and he looks good.

I think this is the first time in a long time that I can actually see his nails on his front paws.

Likely needing a trim.

I would have thought two walks each day except for yesterday would be helping.

Definitely have to take a closer look and determine just how long they actually are getting to be.

I just was so happy to get the fur/hair trimmed that I did not really measure or study the length to any detail.

Oh my boy.

I think that this is the first time since March 19th that I have been out without Alvin.

For us that is a long time.

No complaints though either way.

I am enjoying this time at home with my boy.

Our date to return to work is scheduled for June 30th, 2020 and with Alvin in mind, I hope that it stays that way.

 

Well I managed to get the front lawn raked (not a big time consumer), did all of the laundry and gave Alvin a haircut and bath.

In between did some tidying up and vacuuming.

I will have to quickly clean the bathrooms today as somehow they got forgotten.

With only me and Alvin …. and yes, only me using them, they do not get really dirty.

I have three bathrooms.

Oh, I did clean the tub after Alvin’s bath, does that count?

Okay, sure why not.

Why does it seem that I should have done more?

Why?

 

I am so grateful for this to be Sunday.

I do love the weekends.

 

Oh, yesterday afternoon I video chatted with my daughter.

We had many a giggle.

I miss seeing her on a regular basis so video chatting is the next best thing.

After seeing some of the recent artwork that she has displayed in her office and around their home, it gave me ideas for hanging some in my house.

I also still would like to paint the largest wall in the living room, the same green as the office.

It may be bright but I think it would go with everything and give us some extra cheer.

Food for thought.

I have lots of that colour so might as well use it.

Perhaps even in the basement.

I think it would be nice to have one or two walls on every floor in that colour.

Is that called colour blocking.

Laughing aloud.

My wind is wondering to silly places.

We have to go there sometimes.

I can hear the wind howling which is definitely not a great sign for visiting on a driveway.

Winter coat?

 

We are managing to survive with the heat turned off.

Some mornings it has been as low as 64 degrees fahrenheit.

I just googled to see what the conversion is and it is 17.8 degrees celsius.

Which is what our outside temperatures have been the past week or so give or take.

Why does it feel so cool in the house then?

Anyway, the heat is staying off.

I even covered Alvin with a blanket last night in bed as with his new haircut I thought he may be cold.

 

Well I guess time to hit the shower.

Perhaps will be a bit on the warm side …..

I hope that you are enjoying your weekend thus far.

Remembering to get some exercise while practising social distancing.

Remembering to get lots of rest and to hydrate.

Remembering to eat lots of fruit and veggies.

But most of all and this is not usually on any of the lists that go around.

LAUGH.

Laugh until you think you will pee your pants.

Laughter is what gets us all through any tough and trying times.

We will prevail.

 

Happy Sunday.

I am going for a nice warm shower.

 

With kindness and respect,

I/We remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 12th day of June, 2018.

Another dreary day although it has stopped raining since late yesterday afternoon.

The wind is howling and strong.

Yesterday late afternoon Alvin and I were upstairs in the office when we heard a LOUD crash.

I looked out of the window to see that my neighbour’s patio table umbrella had been launched.

The wind had grabbed the umbrella pulled it up and out of the table bringing the table crashing to the deck.

The glass top was shattered into a million pieces.

Luckily no one was hurt.

She just arrived home from work a few minutes after it happened.

After that incident I went out to my deck and pulled up both umbrellas and placed them into the garage.

I moved the table closer to the garage and placed all the little ornaments in the garage.

We do not need anything taking flight.

Still to be strong wind gusts today.

I moved flowers around again.

The sky has huge dark blue RAIN clouds hanging about.

There is supposed to be SUNSHINE in today’s forecast, I hope so.

As much as we did need the rain, it is time for the sun to shine.

Wind is to dissipate by late afternoon (hope so as it has been scary).

The house remains cool this morning but a sweater helps and luckily Alvin has a nice warm coat.

He has several blankets all over his favourite spots that will keep him toasty warm throughout the day.

Almost time to go back downstairs and finish getting ready.

I believe that today will be a jacket and sweater day.

It was so nice to have an extra long weekend.

Alvin and I had a nice visit with our girl.

Oh how those trees are swaying in the wind … can not help but to see them out of the office window.

YIKES…..hopefully they remain intact.

Thankfully our trees are relatively young in our neighbourhood and still somewhat pliable.

 

Special Hello to: my sister who is enjoying some well deserved vacation time.  Enjoy your time off.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Thursday the 12th day of January, 2017.

Although I thought it was warmer yesterday – the temperature was warmer – but there were huge wind gusts all day.

At some points while standing and walking to and from the bus I thought I may blow away.

Now I think that would be quite the feat but nevertheless it was a strong possibility yesterday.

Today the temperature has fallen again but seems to be calm.

I have secured another ride with my neighbour.

Thank goodness for her.

I am so blessed.

Otherwise I would be walking to the bus stop and catching the bus.

Do not get me wrong it is not a bad thing but as you get a bit older the cold seems to affect you more.

Anyway when I have a ride I am grateful.

When I do not have a ride I am grateful.

At the end of it all I have a ride whether by car or by public transportation.

Mr. Alvin is patiently waiting for some nicer weather so that we can go for some overdue walking.

I just have felt with his poor little legs and the fact that it is pretty clear that he has the onset of arthritis that staying in the house instead of being out in the cold is a much better course of action.

He is taking glucosamine (I think I have the spelling right as there are no red lines, yay me).

Sometimes trying to spell words this early in the morning is not easy.

I love to spell and use new words when I can.

I will tell you this that we have been enjoying quiet evenings.

Once I get home from work and do the shovelling …. I am pooped.

The snow was drifted in on my front walk and was hard as nails.

It was not easy to shovel but I managed.

We did a quick cleaning of the deck (did not do the driveway).

Actually I am hoping that the driveway did not collect as much with the wind.

Oh, winters in Canada.

Oh, winters in Western Canada.

Oh, winters in Alberta.

Oh, winters in Edmonton.

Well almost time to finish getting ready.

It is almost funny that most of our conversations in the winter in Canada revolve around weather.

Could be worse, I suppose.

Have an awesome day.

Keep warm – Stay safe.

Special Hello to: my friend “V” …….

Always, Carol and Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 11th day of September, 2016.

Wow, for a split second there I thought something was wrong with me or the computer as I was so certain it was the 12th.

Whew.

Until I took a gander across the room to the calendar and it said SEPTEMBER 11th.

Isn’t it funny how something can completely throw you off track and get you so worried in like a nanosecond?

I had one million thoughts going through my brain at the speed of light.

Back to reality.

The sky is overcast and we had another good soaking last night.

The wind is howling away making it seem like it is bitterly cold outside.

I am so happy that Alvin and I enjoyed two wonderful walks yesterday.

We went out in the morning and then again after supper.

It was glorious.

So nice to enjoy the weather while we can.

Last night I decided to make homemade black bean / vegetable burgers.

I pretty much followed the recipe and definitely know what I will do a bit different next time.

They may not look like much but they are so full of flavour once you get past the consistency.

First attempt definitely a pass …..

Next time will be a touchdown.

I am not a big football follower but figured the terms just fit perfectly.

Today is going to be a quiet maybe enjoy some television kind of day.

Perhaps a movie.

We will wait and see what the day brings before going for a walk.

Hopefully the wind will die down.

Today is a do things on the computer kind of day.

I did the laundry and tidied the house yesterday.

Just debating about putting the deck furniture away but think I will wait for another weekend.

Most of my flowers and shrubs are doing great.

The ones that were not I pulled or trimmed back depending on whether or not they were annuals or perennials.

We still have a good week of weather ahead of us according to the long rang forecast.

Might as well enjoy it while we can.

So on this quiet Sunday – I hope that you are unable to enjoy time with your family and friends.

Maybe just a day where you can sit and relax ….. enjoy some laughter, good company and good food.

Take care.

Special Hello to: my friends near and far.  Thank you “V” for you never ending support.

Always, Carol and Alvin