almost as good for the soul

Like a buzzing bee, I can’t pass by a flower without deeply inhaling its scent, my nose an accidental bearer of pollen as it moves to the next petalled beauty. Do bees reel in delight at the feast for the senses as I do? Or are they merely mindless workers, intent on their task. I close my eyes and imagine hot buttered toast dripping with honey and pause in amazement at the bee’s sweet feat.

We’ve started Bella on the preznadone and the improvement has been marked. Her breathing is calmer and she has her old cheerful demeanour back. Her back legs are still weak from the terrible two days she spent. It’s been like a miracle. Our fingers are crossed that she’ll be with us for another few months, but the grim reality has been exposed… she’s an old dog and the future does not stretch out long for her. Sadly for Kabira, who is likely to follow her quickly as I’m sure her grief will be deep.

Perhaps I feel saddest for the dogs that will be left behind. They’ve been a close family, and even Spike, the little devil, is always with her when they are outside. The vet day, when Bella was doing so poorly, he lay beside her with his head resting on her - this is not a normal pose for him.

Yesterday I gave her a dose of the anti-anxiety drug and loaded the three dogs into the backseat of the truck for a ride. She was calm, more so than usual, with no panting, so we decided that she can come to the Titanium gathering.

I’ve been loading the camper, washing cupboards and closets as I go. On their trips outside today it has been difficult to pry them away from side of the truck. They suspect the upcoming camp!

“Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.”
~Dean Koontz

dancing shoes

Sunday was a beautiful day for a drive in the country. Destination? A heritage stone house property just outside a village 50 minutes from here. Kirsten is thinking about moving back to Canada so we are helping out by being her eyes and ears on this side of the world.

We left our house early, with plenty of time to stop for breakfast and to drive around the village nearest the farm before our appointment time. Breakfast was good; the village was plain with a lumber store and an LCBO - the important things! There must be a grocery store in the village in the other direction. It was fun seeing the property and the ancient outbuildings. A huge barn towered, a low grainery stretched out. The cute ice house was being turned into an adorable guest house. There were a few other buildings to see. I guess that over 160 years a person would tend to need more and more outbuildings… perhaps to store all the stuff that accumulates when you have a farm ;-)

Now I’ll backtrack to Wednesday when we had Pat over for supper, and then Thursday’s visit with Trudie & Leo. Friday I rushed to get ready for a trip to Montreal to see Freya’s dance recital. I met up with Mom & Dad at the highway and then we raced to meet Olaf & Tammy at a restaurant for supper. The recital wasn’t far away - it was an entertaining ballet version of Alice in Wonderland - so cute to see the little kids (seriously cute), and lovely to see the older, more accomplished dancers. Freya, of course, was as cute as can be and did a good job with her part. I was glad that I went.

Saturday we drove home and Carm picked me up around 2pm. Whew… I was exhausted and collapsed on the sofa to recover.

Monday night Trudie & Leo joined us for supper. It had been a beautiful day which almost tempted me to set the table outside, but alas, the mosquitos were out in full force.

Bella had a visit to the vet today… a month or so ago she was diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis, followed by bloodwork showing elevated liver enzymes. Bella has had periods of heavy, laboured breathing which pass, but last night she was really bad, scarily bad. Hence the vet visit. Dr. Cardi was thorough and very informative… we’ve decided to forego surgery and just continue with palliative care. She’s suddenly turned into an old dog… cue the tissue…

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”
~Milan Kundera

spit and polish

Even though my legs are aching (all those deep knee squats!), I can’t help but get up to check out the spare room. We did the trim today and by 12:30 I was starting to put the world back together.

I love how everything looks! It just needs the bed headboard/footboard to complete the look, which unfortunately isn’t scheduled to be delivered until the beginning of July, after Kirsten is here.  And we need another oriental style runner from Ikea.

The old ratty dog beds have been moved to the basement - hopefully we’ll have a few new ones by the time Pat is here pet sitting again.

The yellow isn’t the greatest colour for pine furniture, but I think it’s okay. My dad made the desk, shelf, and bedside tables so they are precious to me.

Space was made in the closet for a set of plastic drawers for Pat.

Once the bed is here I’ll figure out if I can get some underbed storage for the spare blankets. For now they are stuffed into the closet.

I wish I had taken a before photo… but before all our suitcases were obscuring the top of the bed, and was a general mess. Better that you just see the after :-)

The painting over the chair is a paint by number done by my step-grandmother when I was a little girl. The painting on the middle shelf was done by Marilyn, my Uncle Ken’s partner. The dumb yellow pot was painted by me when I was in my ‘paint anything that will stand still’ phase. The round wreath on the top shelf was made by my lovely sister Kirsten.

One problem with the room though is that there is no good place to open a suitcase, except on the bed, which isn’t very convenient if one was staying for a few days. It’s a small room so we have to make due.

I wish we were having sleepover company! Maybe Bjorn would like to come to visit!