And the answer is......

   










Halle is THRILLED!

Is Miss Hope a Canine Good Citizen??

So after starting the blog with the intent to keep it up, and after getting "Hope" and thinking I would have so much fodder for the blog, I find that I have done a miserable job of posting.

Hope is finishing her first dog obedience class (Beginners) and has done quite well.   Tomorrow they are having an AKC Canine Good Citizen test, which was originally supposed to be next Saturday after her test for her class which is this coming Monday.  But there was a scheduling conflict, and now her CGC test is tomorrow.

I'm glad, actually, because it will be a good pretest for her 'real' test on Monday.  The CGC is a preliminary step for becoming certified as a therapy dog.  She will need to complete one more obedience class (Novice 1) and if she does that and has passed the CGC, she can get a little vest and start making visits.

There are many opportunities in Ttown for therapy dogs.  They have a new program using them to provide support to children who are testifying in court, plus there are the more typical visits to hospitals, and nursing homes.

I was particularly touched to read that there were 14 therapy dogs walking through the crowd at a memorial vigil after a recent mass murder in California.

One of the funnier things about Hope, is that she has little kitty friends who visit her.  There are now 3 of them.  Two are feral siblings, who were born last summer, and one is a cat that seems to belong to the neighbor behind me.

Two of them actively play with her, the silver long haired (neighbor's) tabby, and the grey tabby.   The brown tabby is a little more shy, but she has decided that it is OK to hang out, and let me take her picture from close range today.

However, Halle is not amused at the trespassers, and alienators of Hope's affections.

 Hope just wonders where and when it was made clear that her herding skills were to be honed by practicing the herding of cats.......

Tenting Tonight......Godspeed the 45th......

So the lyrics that have been on my mind for awhile now, come from an 1864 song, that I learned in music class in elementary school (thanks Carnegie Elementary)........It is perhaps amazing that on the eve of my 60th birthday,  I remember so well the lyrics from this song.  At the time I learned it, the Vietnam War had not started, we were at 'peace', yet the lyrics and sentiment stayed with me.   In fifth grade we made pillows with symbols on them for Camp Fire Girls.  I still have mine, the one symbol that has remained in place, and which I know well the meaning, is a dove of peace.   Again, we were not at war at this point in this country; war protesting had not become 'trendy', and then as now my heart breaks for those touched by war.  Those who bravely, and not so bravely answer the call, the loved ones left behind, the 'collateral damage' along the way.....but the lyrics of this song written so long ago, say it better than I....

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground....

"We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground,

Give us a song to cheer

Our weary hearts, a song of home,

And friends we love so dear.

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,

Wishing for the war to cease;

Many are the hearts that are looking for the right

To see the dawn of peace.

Tenting tonight, tenting tonight, tenting on the old camp ground

We've been tenting tonight on the old camp ground,

Thinking of days gone by,

Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand

And the tear that said "Goodbye!"

We are tired of war on the old camp ground,

Many are dead and gone,

Of the brave and true who've left their homes,

Others been wounded long.

We've been fighting today on the old camp ground,

Many are lying near;

Some are dead and some are dying,

Many are in tears.

Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,

Wishing for the war to cease;

Many are the hearts that are looking for the right

To see the dawn of peace

Dying tonight, dying tonight, dying on the old camp ground"

Let us send up prayers for safety of our Thunderbirds, the Oklahoma 45th,  and all in harms way, and comfort for those left behind......How can anyone tolerate the loss of 7 of our own since deployment the end of June, or in truth in the past 3 weeks?

Chain saw massacre part deux

I realize that many of you have been waiting breathlessly for the next installment of the great chainsaw adventure......so the Ryobi one+ items came and hmmm not to quote one of my heros, but not enough power.....so all of them went back....and I became determined to fix my corded chainsaw without the proper size wrench (wrenches we don't need no stinkin wrenches), or hex key....(the hex key wasn't returned to me by someone who borrowed the chainsaw)....anyhoo.....I fixed it.....got the chain back on and tight (also without benefit of the 'manual'.....)....Yay.....I always wondered when my dad and granddad's mechanical skill genes would show up.....proving once again...it's never to late to turn out like your parent(s).....!!!!

Unexpected....

I didn't plan this evening to be shooting pictures of  fireworks through barbed wire, in fact I didn't plan to take pictures of  the fireworks from this show at all.  In fact I even forgot that there would be fireworks at the Country Club not far from my new house.

It did bring back memories of many years in many different houses being able to see the fireworks from this same Country Club.

We were not members, of course, that is a privilege for the rich and famous in our town.   The picture with the barbed wire made me stop and think more than I had already on the meaning of freedom.   How many people have seen similar sights from behind barbed wire......what is the cost of freedom, and why do so many choose to do things that ultimately lead to the loss of their personal freedom......

Those musings also seem to fit with the irony of this shot.....

What a month

So as I look at my blog I see that I so far have written one post in June, and that was on the 3rd.....and here it is June 29......clearly after the unexpected death of a dear friend on June 3, the subsequent working with others to support the family, culminating with singing with the choir at his memorial service, I have been at a loss for words.

The fact that I started this blog after buying his used camera, so that I would have pictures to tell my stories (since as we all know a picture is worth a thousand words...)....hasn't made it easier.

I found myself doing many things to cope, and learned a great deal about myself in the process.   I helped a friend move on 3 different days, have spent much time in the yard pulling weeds, and Johnson Grass, mowing, moving (one more time) the 10 Holly bushes, digging up the landscape evergreens that I killed.......

So much of my life I have dealt with emotional pain by doing hard physical work, usually working at a stable, doing the things that make one's muscles tired, and cause much sweat and the dirt to cling...yesterday while attacking the unwanted grass in the yard, I realized that there was no way to tell if I was sweating or crying; I had water flowing down my face in rivers.

A friend said of our friend's death that he and someone else had been trying to make sense of it. They had commented that he was a person who did the things that he loved, and threw himself into those things, and that our lesson should be to do the same.

I pondered that in confusion for a moment and then realized that exactly 1 week after his death, I got HOPE.
The wonderfulness of her name (she was the second of 3 sister puppies, FAITH, HOPE and LOVE), is second only to the wonderfulness of her.

She is a good, potentially great dog, especially for a puppy, and Halle absolutely loves her.

So in losing my friend, I have gained a new reason to blog.....and it's the Story of HOPE.......

We are heartbroken......

We lost one of the great ones today, a man of many talents, a man with much love for his wife, children, step-children, and grandchildren.  A man quick with a smile, and love for his friends and of life.....An Edison grad, a music maker extraordinaire, a man dedicated to preserving memories for others through video, through pictures, through recording....

A man who became my friend, my mentor in preserving music for others, the person from whom I got my camera which has allowed me to take pictures, for my blog, to share with others, for therapy for me, and through this who allowed me to be closer to my dad, who was in so many ways like him, a photographer, a man who knew so much about so many things....

My heart breaks for his family, for our music family, and for the myriads of friends who loved him.

With each picture I post, my heart will say...thank you Moby for being my friend.