The Next Chapter

Good Morning. Went to bed with clear blue skies and warm temperatures and woke up to the smell of smoke earlier. I immediately closed my bedroom window. The skies are filled with smoke this morning. This is the first time that it has been really smoky here in my neighbourhood. There may have been other days with the wind that other parts of the City of Edmonton were smoky from the wildfires but this is the worse. The wind is so strong and is blowing the trees with their young leaves from side to side. To all my fellow Albertans, I wish you to be safe. I pray that all the wildlife and domestic animals are safe from the fires. My heart hurts as I know that there has been so much loss of life when it comes to animals, insects and birds. The loss of trees. We, humans have to be better. Stop being careless! Please.

So different between yesterday morning and this morning. One morning bright with blue skies and the next grey and the smell of smoke in the air burns my eyes and hurts my nose. The smoke from our wildfires as I have mentioned previously has been blown by strong spring winds to other parts of Canada and even into the U.S. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to breathe if you are surrounded by smoke.

This post is short. My mind is foggy with thoughts of smoke and fires. I am grateful that the temperature has decreased today and for a few days.

Please be safe and strong. Look after your animals and yourself.

Time for coffee and I should go and put the cushions from my patio furniture into the garage although they will smell like smoke now. Maybe I should just leave them. Not sure. I am grateful to be working from home.

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)

Photos of my flowers from last spring waiting to be planted. I cannot wait to pick up some this year.

Flowers to plant

A New YEAR 2023

Good Morning ALL! How are you this winter morning? It was snowing outside earlier. So nice to have these warmer temperatures but with them comes moisture, meaning freezing rain or SNOW! Well this has been a trying morning thus far. It took me 40 minutes to get likely about 1/2 of Alvin’s medication into him and the rest landed on the sofa or in his fur. So always cleanup after the medicine. This was the least amount that he has ever taken. What a guy! Not sure what else I can do? Thankfully he does not have much left to take. Hopefully there is enough to at least coat his stomach. I don’t know. He will be eating breakfast in a few minutes which is 30 minutes after he had the medication. I am praying to whomever may listen to please make him well. Between the demands to go into the office and Alvin’s health, I am super frustrated. Not the best way to start the work week. Okay, I have vented time too “let it go.” Best line ever and from an animated movie, no less. I know the words were from the song in the movie “Frozen.”

On this Monday, I am grateful to be working from home. I am grateful that we have good food to eat. I am grateful to be surrounded by supportive family and friends. I am grateful to be employed. I am grateful to be living this life.

Is my life perfect? Well, no. Is it pretty great for the most part, well YES! So I will get over these moments this morning and get on with the day. Alvin needs to have breakfast. I will need to finish this post first. I will work and do the best job that I can. I will be a good human being. The best that I can be in any given moment.

This will be short. We did have a great weekend in between the medication episodes. I wonder what he is doing downstairs as I left him. Just needed to put some space and time between him. Yesterday, my friend Signe came for coffee & visit in the morning. It was nice to see her – feels like a long time.

Take a deep breath and have a great day. That is what I am doing.

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

Looking forward to the coffee this morning.

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. even though we have our moments, I love Alvin with all my heart. Always trying to do the best for him. Just in case you had other thoughts!

Last Half 2022 – October

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? We are okay! How are you really? Did you wake up on the good side or the other side of the bed this morning? I will be very honest and tell you that I woke up somewhere in between. Alvin was restless and woke me up at 1:30 but I coaxed him to go back to sleep. Then we were up about 4:45 which was okay. So I gave him his glucosamine chew followed by his breakfast. Then outside and then to the sofa where I reset the alarm to 6:45, that is where I went wrong. We should have stayed up but I just could not. I have to get my poop in a group as for the rest of the week I have to work from the office. So getting up extra early is not an option. I had a shower this morning so at least I am good for a couple of days. But still. Even though I do most of the prep work before bed, everything still takes time in the morning. Plus Alvin likes to dilly dally – like this morning. Outside at 6:45, he was sniffing at the fence (there was no one there) and just walk around and we did not have time. I raised my voice and I feel like crap now. I hope he knows that I love him and just did not have patience this morning but it was not his fault. I so wished that I could retire, I am not an early morning person and as I get older, it is getting more difficult to get mobile. Not that I am not able – just do not have the mindset to do so. Sorry for this negative stuff this morning. But it is the truth. I am sure that I am not alone. I just wish that they could have left me to work from home until I am able to retire. What would it have hurt? Okay that is enough of wa-wa-wa for this day.

I just had to get things off my shoulders. The sun is beginning to rise. It is 7:38 so I need to get this show on the road. The air was somewhere in between warm and cool this morning. The grass was wet with dew. What a lovely October we are having thus far. I am excited to have another long weekend.

So I have some things to work out. The only thing no matter what time I go to bed and set the alarm for, the one factor that I can not count on to be consistent is Mr. Alvin. Sometimes he wakes up at midnight, other times at 1:00 or 2:00 or sometimes he may sleep through until 4-5 a.m. That is definitely the hard part. Now I know that I sometimes get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom but I can do that with my eyes closed (no lights even come on) but when he needs to go – we need to go outside and that requires sweater or jacket and shoes and flashlight. I need to be fully awake when this happens. I am fully awake when we go outside.

Oh well, what can you do. I can apologize to Mr. Alvin. I am off work this afternoon as Mr. Alvin has a vet appointment.

I am glad that we are able to walk to the appointment. Never know how many of them that will be. Between weather and Mr. Alvin.

I hope that you have an awesome day.

I managed to get a few more bags of apples chopped and frozen while waiting for my supper to cook last night.

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

I am very grateful that both Mr. Alvin and I are in good health.

Always, Carol & Alvin

PS: loving the colours of autumn. I wonder when the time will change, our clocks go back one hour……… argh.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! Welcome to Sunday, April 10, 2022. I hope that this finds you well. We were up early and then back to the sofa until later. Seems funny that we were up and about at 6:00 a.m. yesterday morning and much later up to stay up this morning. I am not feeling guilty that is for sure. Sometimes you just need to do what feels right in the moment. At those moments one was getting up early and the other was not. It is WINDY. I am not sure what makes it so WINDY in certain places over others. But now that it is almost dried up out front and in the backyard I would most certainly love it to be calm. Yesterday we didn’t go for a walk because it was so windy – you could not walk without eating dust and getting dirt in your eyes. Then thinking about poor Alvin who was even closer to the ground. Thankfully last week we walked twice each day. It was windy then but not as bad as yesterday. Unfortunately by the wind the wind subsided it was after 8:00 p.m. and starting to get dark and we will not walk then. It is bright and sunny this morning. Hopefully by mid afternoon and I get all of my chores done it will be good for a walk. Fingers crossed. Keeping that in mind, calm and enjoyable for a walk, calm and enjoyable for a walk, calm and enjoyable for a walk …..

We had a good day yesterday. I even repotted some plants. I had to say goodbye to my poinsettia plants. They were kind of spindly and not doing super great. I find it hard to throw out living things like plants. They were alive and I mourn their loss. But I needed to do that. I had some other plants that had outgrown their pots so they were repotted. Cleaned up my plants and they all look so good. Getting ready for spring. Once the temperatures are consistently warm and do not freeze overnight – I shall take out my geraniums and put them on the deck. I am still trying to get things sorted out with getting flowers and vegetables. It is too late to start anything from seed so I shall have to see what plants I can buy that have been started and that would mean getting to a nursery. Hopefully that will happen when the time is right. I would love to have a few vegetables and herbs on the deck. With my grandpups coming to stay for a week coming this Wednesday and now that the backyard is pretty much free from ice, I want to rake up the many leaves that have blown from elsewhere. I spent so much time raking last fall and only to have so many leaves from other neighbour’s yards that did not rake. This coming up week is not to be too warm, in fact, the temperatures appear to be just over the minus celsius mark. Not much fun but at least it is dry. I will be going for many walks with the three pups. I can only walk Aspen by herself and then take Alvin and Milo together. Another reason for taking vacation days. Plus I really need a break from the chaos, I call my job. I was also thinking that I may move my workstation back downstairs and perhaps I may do that today. Will see how things go. Lots to do.

I did get lots of things accomplished yesterday with the exception of cleaning so that is on the plate for today. Now it is late and I need to pop into the shower although likely would be better to wait until tomorrow. Will have to think about that …… or maybe before bed.

I need that hit of caffeine this morning for sure. Coffee is ready but not plugged in just yet as I wasn’t sure how long before I was ready to drink some and don’t like it to sit for too long. Always better to drink freshly brewed coffee.

You know the more I toss around moving the workstation back downstairs for tomorrow, the more I like it. Time will tell.

Okay, time to get going here. There be floors to clean and bathrooms and more.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. we had a change of venue for coffee as one of the girls woke up with a bad cold yesterday morning. My other friend then asked me over. It was nice to have a visit with at least one of the girls.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Alvin and I are well. He missed me yesterday and I missed him. I am so grateful to my neighbour for taking such great care of him and she will pop in and check on him again today. I am off to the office for the second time this week. I am so grateful that this is only once in awhile. It is great working from home. No commute, not having to spend money on transportation especially when the costs of utilities and food and almost everything else has skyrocketed. I love being home for my Alvin as well, he needs someone here to ensure he is well hydrated and then can get outside to go pee. Yesterday at the office was okay. There were parts that were enjoyable and others that were not. The first session was not. That is all that I am going to say.

We were “let” go early as they felt our day had been long enough and that was unexpected and wonderful. I think more people even though most enjoyed seeing their coworkers – they were not comfortable to be in large groups at the office in confined spaces. There are some people that have had to work throughout these past two years at our office but they were in groups of 3-4 people. Easier to ensure safety during he pandemic.

Today we do our large mailout. Folding papers and stuffing envelopes.

Yesterday when I got home, Mr. Alvin was so happy to see me that he even jumped up when I bent down to give him a little pat that he kissed him. So sweet. Once I had my computer (laptop) hooked up once again and did a couple of things in the house, we got ready and went for a walk. I wore my Sketchers and all went well until our return home when we went down the wrong side of the sidewalk. We had walked down to the next corner and crossed the street where the sidewalk is more dry. Coming home we had made the loop in the crescent and should have crossed back but we did not and it looked like snow but was really partially melted and more wet than dry, more thawed than frozen and my feet got soaked. I laughed it off because what else can you do. We just carried on. Luckily for Alvin he can just get dried off with a towel and me, sock change. It was so warm outside. So beautiful and sunny. This whole week is supposed to be nice and I believe it is supposed to carry on next week as well. Time is chugging on here and it is now about twenty minutes until Amanda is coming to pick me up. My daughter is dropping me off at the office this morning. It will be nice to visit with her on the way to work. I enjoyed my chat with my coworker Michelle who picked me up yesterday morning. I am blessed. So glad that spring is close at hand.

Well other than that, life is rolling along and life is good. I hope that you are well and Happy Wednesday.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. I managed to score some Girl Guide cookies from a coworker yesterday. She is doing a fundraiser for her children. I also bought some coffee beans which are on order. Nice to be able to help out some children with their fundraisers and for their extra-curricular activities. I guess I spelled that correctly as spellcheck did not tell me anything different. Bye for now.

The New YEAR 2022

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? It is extremely windy here in my neighbourhood and likely in the rest of Edmonton and surrounding areas. Feels like the vents are going to be pulled right out of the house. I was happily surprised when I opened the front door that my shovels and little tree had not blown over. But the force of the gust when I opened the door covered me in snow. Wasn’t that a lovely blast at 4:30 a.m. this morning. Anyway, not very nice outside. I would imagine that outside of the city and on the highways that visibility is not great. Looks like we have fresh snow but I cannot see it snowing. I cleaned the backdoor area at 4:30 for Alvin and then there was even more snow a few minutes ago. The wind actually woke me up I think somewhere around 3:00 or even earlier. Very strong. Be careful out there. My daughter is bringing the grand pups in for a vet appointment at 2:00 p.m. – hopefully things have calmed down by then otherwise they may have to cancel again. They cancelled the other time due to ice and snow. What a winter this has been. I have asked to take the afternoon off if they make it into the city. I sure hope so but only if it is safe. Certainly do not wish my family to be driving in less than safe conditions. I guess time will tell when it becomes light outside. I am so grateful that Alvin and I spent some time outside yesterday. We went for a walk and found our friends out chipping away at the ice and snow. They live on the corner and have the long sidewalk. Bless their hearts in their 70’s they are out clearing the ice away so that people would not fall and the other folks on the corner lots, not out doing anything. Very sad. Anyway, it was so nice that Alvin and I walked the length of their property and then down the street north of them which happened to be pretty clear and dry. So we did that about four times which is about the length of going to the park. So it was some fresh air and safe walk and a visit to boot. We had a great day.

I put away most of the last of my Christmas decorations including the Christmas cards. Now I have to finish packing everything away in the basement. I have a few things waiting to be reorganized. I also went to make a pitcher of fruit tea with ginger ale and I must have hit the sink as the picture shattered with ginger ale and fruit tea flying in every direction. It took me about 30 minutes to wash down the counter, cupboards, the floor and baseboards. There was ginger ale everywhere. Inside the cupboards, too. What a waste of a big bottle of ginger ale. But stuff happens. There was just a big hole in the side of the picture. Luckily the only thing on me that was sticky were my socks.

In between the ginger ale incident and the walk and taking down the remainder of Christmas decorations, I managed to watch three Star Trek movies (give or take a few minutes here and there). I love those movies.

Well that is all that is new from our house. I really had to coax Alvin to go outside. I cannot blame him. It is not fit outside for man or beast. Mom or Alvin.

I hope that you have a good day. Keep safe and warm. If you have to be out driving – make sure that you leave the house early, make sure that you have an emergency kit in the vehicle and drive carefully and do not speed. I want you to be safe.

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

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. so grateful to be working from home. I have to thank two of my neighbours for putting the rubber weather stripping back on the bottom of the garage door. So grateful for that family and every family surrounding me. I am surrounded by good people.

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this morning? Well it is pretty chilly out there. I haven’t dared check out the temperature but I could see my breath for sure. The sun is starting to rise slowly as it becomes light outside. Yesterday was a productive Saturday. I did several loads of laundry, chipped and cleaned all of the ice from the public sidewalk out front of our house, washed all of the containers for Christmas baking, made three batches of fudge, watched a Fifth Avenue Jewelry LIVE, had a nice chat with a friend on the phone, did some cleaning and feels like I am missing something as I was busy from the time that I got up until bedtime. Anyway, lots to do at this time of year. What were you doing yesterday?

I am going to pop into the shower to get refreshed after this post and then put on the coffee and pull out all of the baking supplies to make the SUGAR COOKIES. I have already put away all of the laundry that was drying in the basement and brought up the towels out of the dryer. I made the bed. Do you make your bed everyday? That always seems to be something that people differ on along with the toilet paper roll up or down. But if we agreed on everything it would be a pretty boring world. I plan to bake all of the sugar cookies today and then ice them tomorrow. Likely make 3 or 4 batches which translates to about 216 – 288 cookies. If time allows, I may make more. I have decided this year to make individual packages for the people on my baking distribution list. Oh, that sounds pretty formal. I mean the folks that I give Christmas baking to each year. I usually add people to the list. I have some of the food wrap you know the cello stuff, and ribbon so just have to figure out how large the square has to be. That will likely be the hardest part, lol. I will wrap as I give them away. Not sure if it is feasible to do them all at once. Will see how time allows.

The Fifth Avenue Jewelry LIVES on FB have been fun. Who would have thought two years ago that we would not be having home parties and that everything could be more easily done on the computer on FACEBOOK, of all places. You never know where life is going to take us!

Oh, we had some snow sometime between bed and 3:00 a.m. – just enough to give things a nice little blanket and help cover any ice that was left. Grateful for that bit of snow.

Well time to fly and get some things done. Sometimes I am very good at procrastinating. Very good at it. When it is cold outside – I like to snuggle with Mr. Alvin under our favourite red blanket on the sofa sipping on a mug of coffee and watching “our” favourite Christmas show or movie. Maybe tonight, if I get those cookies all baked in time. We have the last Fifth Avenue Jewelry Live this afternoon at 4 p.m. Mountain time or 5 p.m. for you my sister in Saskatchewan.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, love, laughter, understanding and gratitude. So much gratitude for this life and each and every day of it.

Always, Carol & Alvin

P.S. last night we were or rather I was waiting for the LIVE to begin when I heard a crash. I was temporarily frozen on the sofa. Finally after a few seconds, I got up to investigate. Guess what I found? The broom and dustpan had fallen over onto the floor from his spot in between the pantry and wall by the back door. OMG, scared the hair right off my head. It did. Even Alvin jumped.

2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you doing this Thursday morning? Alvin and I are well. We had a good sleep. Aiming for another early morning walk right after I have finished this post. YAY. Two for two as it were, as it is. The sky is overcast but the sun was shining earlier. So grateful for some cool air this morning. Our walk will be divine. I just heard some noise and noticed that Humphrey is out in his backyard enjoying the cool morning air. Life is good. Can you believe that were are in the month of June already? Where does time go? We put the measurements on time. That is a whole other conversation. Always food for thought. I had read something about time and Einstein’s theories. All so interesting.

Earlier when Alvin was outside the air was filled with birds singing. Now I can hear dogs barking. Are they speaking to each other or simply barking to be allowed into the house? Alvin is quiet sitting on his bed in the office with me. He has his own little bed to lay on when he is in this room as the floor is laminate. I suppose it is likely more cool at the moment than the bed but he is okay. He has water on each level and even out on the deck. Lots of dishes to check and keep full. But hydration is just as important for him as it is for me. Most creatures require hydration, in fact I do not know of any off the top of my head that do not require hydration. There may be some but I don’t know. Anyway by in large, we all need hydration. So please remember during the hot summer months when you are outside with your pets, with your children and for yourself to have water. I always carry water with us – mainly for Alvin but if I needed a sip I have it with us. I have recently changed back to my tupperware water bottle that I used to have at the office and I have found that I am drinking more than with my other glass. Bonus for me.

Life is good. I am so grateful that we are able to work from home. I love working from home. Works for both me and Alvin. He needs me to be here for him especially now that he is older and since his surgery. He needs to drink lots of water and he would not do that if I were working from the office. So I am grateful to be at home. Oh, I just felt a wee bit of cool air flutter in through the open window.

Well time to hit the trail. Get some exercise and enjoy the cool morning air before it gets hot.

We wish you a great day. May you be surrounded by love and laughter. May you be in good health and have abundance. Take Care.

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

Always, Love Carol & Alvin

2021

Good Morning All! How are you doing this Friday morning? We are well. Third day in a row that we were up and stayed up at 6:30 a.m. – no turning on the snooze button.

FRIDAY THOUGHTS

Up we are,

Listening to the hum,

of cars in the distance.

As I write these words.

Looking around,

this room,

I see hints of my life,

Photos, cards, books, plants, art and stuff.

All things that one would collect over time.

Alvin moans, then whines,

afraid to cross the floor.

Words of encouragement to help him,

cross to the hallway.

Silly boy …. but that’s okay.

Life has always been interesting,

full of surprises and not,

Mostly just the regular everyday.

Living each day as best that I can,

What else is my lot?

I fill my days with work,

happy to be employed,

working from home these days,

So happy about that.

Writing each day makes me happy.

Perhaps one day I will get my ducks,

in a row,

maybe they will fly and soar,

I will get to those heights.

As I put together my words, the writings into a book.

That is my dream.

What is yours?

Does everyone dream of something better?

Of a passion?

Of a different life?

I guess so, we are human,

of that I am certain.

Well as the minutes pass away,

it comes closer to the time,

to start work for the last day this week.

Then my work at home begins,

you know laundry and cleaning.

In between we shall enjoy our walks,

me and Alvin,

our time together.

We do not know how long it will be,

so enjoying each moment, each minute,

each day is important.

Have a wonderful Friday.

Do something that you love?

Something that you love with your whole heart?

Take that chance,

take it now.

We will continue to live each day,

with kindness, respect, compassion

and of course patience,

always working on patience.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Written this day Friday, March 19, 2021

2021

Good Morning ALL. How are you doing today? Another partially sleepless night in Edmonton at our house. I gave Mr. Alvin his very last meds prescribed after his surgery and was hopefully that we could get back to a somewhat routine but alas it did not happen last night. We went to bed about the same time as pre surgery and we were up and down for the next two hours or so. I guess it is possible that his body is now missing the drugs that he was given. Likely similar to when we come off some kinds of prescriptions. I do remember one of the nurses saying when I mixed up the dose schedule remarking that the dosage is not high, is very low. So is this even a thing that he may or may not be going through. Perhaps it is just that his schedule has been all over the place during the last couple of weeks. He is still healing and I need to be patient. It is more than difficult to be patient when you are sleep deprived. Guess what first thing this morning and for the week – I am training a coworker. This will be fun for sure. Perhaps tonight will be different. When we came downstairs last night the first time we just stayed downstairs – on the sofa. Sometime between 11:00 and midnight, when he was up and down and wandering around the main floor, I decided that we would go back upstairs to bed. Hopeful that he would settle down on the bed with more room to spread out than the sofa and he DID. We slept until 4:35 a.m. which was good and then it was up and down every hour until I just stayed up. But some sleep as broken up as it was – is always better than nothing.

The sky is slightly overcast this morning. Even without the sun shining it is light earlier now and that makes it easier to stay up.

I cannot believe it is Monday morning already. Where did the weekend go? Yup, it evaporated as always. I did get most things done like laundry, household and almost finished my taxes. Just a bit to do and I will finish them this week. That will be a big job done.

The weather channel shows plus temperatures for this week and I am grateful. I booked Friday off as a vacation day long before I knew Alvin would need surgery. He is getting his stitches out in the morning. One thing that I did not quite figure out yet is how to get him there. We are not walking as it is muddy and wet. I do not wish to get his belly dirty before the stitches come out. I guess that I have a week to see if I can get us a ride. Hopefully if this weather – most of the ice and snow will have melted and the sidewalks will be dry.

Reminder to myself to be grateful to be alive. Grateful for our health and our home. Grateful for our family and friends. Grateful to be employed and so grateful that I am able to work from home. I would have had to use a minimum of two weeks with Alvin over his appointments and surgery. There is always a silver lining to every story. We often times, lose sight of that or at least last night I did for sure. Grateful for this life as it is all mine, no matter what.

Well time to go and plus in the coffee and get set up for work. Training is ahead of me. First time for me doing virtually with someone. Coffee will taste extra special this morning.

Remembering each moment of each day to be, to show kindness, respect, compassion and patience with gratitude.

Always, Carol & Alvin