a tribute to Toonces

A dear friend and co-worker of mine has had to say good-bye to his cat of some 17 years, Toonces. She was a beloved family pet and will be dearly missed. Since I'm such an animal-lover, I can never hear about something like this without grieving a little bit myself, and wanted to commemorate her life here.

Alan, Barbie, and family: Toonces was lucky to have such a loving and supportive family that took care of her and made the right decisions for her - especially the hardest one. I'm sorry for your loss, but rejoice that she's in a pain-free place now and shared such a long, happy life with you while she was here. Thank you for loving and caring for one of the little kitties in this world, especially a Tortie, because we all know how special they are!

You're all in my thoughts.

A Bridge Called Love

It takes us back to brighter years,to
happier sunlit days, and to precious moments that will be with us always.

And these fond recollections are treasured in the heart to bring us always close to those from whom we had to part.

There is a bridge of memories from earth to Heaven above... It keeps our dear ones near us

It's the bridge that we call love.

- Author Unknown

the mea culpa begins

Remember in an earlier post where I said I thought "Trebuchet" (the name of the font I'm using here) secretly meant "adds excess line breaks when you're not looking"? I found out, thanks to my French-speaking coworker, that it means, "I trip you", or something to that effect. Heh. So I was close, kind of.

Anyway, back to our irregularly scheduled post. I was going to write about the progess I'm finally making outside, re-greening my yard after the mass destruction I invoked last month.

This little beauty is a Brugmansia, commonly known as an "Angel Trumpet". The flowers open at night, but stay open the following day. This is a photo from the second day of blooming. The flowers are quite strong-smelling when they first bloom. In a pleasant way of course.

If you look closely at this photo below, you'll see my new gardening assistant, Otis. Or, the way he pronounces it, Otissssssssss.

He's the skinny green and yellow guy weaving his way amongst the twigs I'm trying to get rid of. He was quite friendly and curious, he didn't seem to be afraid of me at all nor agressive. He'd wind his way up a branch near me and stick his head out in my direction and kind of sniff the air while moving back and forth. I bet that if I wasn't squeamish about holding squirmy things, and I held out my hand, he probably would have crawled right on and hung out for a while. But sorry, while I won't torment, kill, bother, or otherwise molest most critters, I won't really touch 'em either. Ick.

So I've been working on the landscape (more photos to follow) every free moment I have, and waking up with pain all over, especially in the carpal tunnel/hand region. I seem to just keep aggravating it more, but I can't stop landscaping - not while I have plants living in pots that I have to water every day. Once it's all in the ground, I'll take a break. Promise.

Right now, off to the chiropractor for some more adjustments and acupuncture.