Daisy

My sweet Daisy deserves her very own post. We were able to realize a sweet dream for her....take her to the beach and let her run and play and oh how she loved that and loved her home. Once we got her to the states she never went into a kennel again, she never went to a Kennel so we could travel again, she was with us every moment.

My Mother got sick and needed nursing care October of 2012 and we took Daisy along then too, so Mom got to meet her at last. We moved over seas with her when she was 7 months old so Mom never got to meet her until she was 12 years old. We went back and forth many times to be with Mom, and also to the beach and to my daughters in Georgia. While at the beach we took her to a vet to "get acquainted", he told us she had a heart murmur and with or without treatment she would live two more months and she did just that. After burying my Mother (we had to wait two months for that due to a military cemetery issue), Daisy comforted me as I cried. Then the very next morning, our Daisy took one last stroll out to the daffodil bed in my Mother's back yard and elegantly sniffed the air in three directions as she sat down amongst the daffodils, she then laid down and sniffed in three directions again, then laid over and quiet peacefully and immediately died. I honestly thought my heart would explode. It's been a year ago now this past April, I can't believe it's been that long as I still miss her daily. (I miss my Mother too) Just before Daisy died, I knew I would have a very hard time accepting it, so I got a new puppy, Matilda, I call her my grief puppy, I knew I would need her and she truly did help with the transition. She at least knew her big sister for about two months. Daisy helped her learn a lot of things and she was ever so patient.

How I wish I could have them both with me. I don't think we ever forget the animals we've loved, nor the people. My Mom would've been absolutely crazy over Matilda, she loved Boston's and always had one. Mom did get to know Daisy and loved her, Daisy and I spent many many hours in the nursing home together with Mom. All the little old folks along Mom's hall loved her. I loved her most of all......she was my best friend, she saw me through so much for so long.

We took Daisy to my sisters vet for cremation and my sister picked up her ashes for me until I could get back to Illinois to get her myself. While we were gone our kids got together and made a lovely small garden in our rather large yard just for Daisy....they planted a white dogwood tree and daisies and put an iron dog there. We brought home from my Mother's the rock that Daisy laid down by and that has also gone there. We will eventually bury Daisy there under her rock amongst her plantings. Rest in peace my precious girl.

Life Lesson #18...Do not let life get in your way.

I see I have not posted in nearly two years. Yes life got in my way a bit. Not that I didn't have thoughts, recipes, projects and life to share, I just didn't seem to find the time for it. And quite honestly I do enjoy blogging, it's kind of like keeping a diary. I wish I knew how to do the pretty blogs that the sweet young things do, but I'm not that advanced on the computer. Remember the long ago post about Bali Tea? Well I've just made me a cup, hadn't done that in quite a long time. It's a hot summer day, but I'm on the porch with a fan and the setting seems perfect for this cup of tea. It takes me right back to that lovely hotel we stayed in in Bali, I remember I drank that tea every meal and kept making mental notes until I figured out how to make it for myself. I made some curtains this summer for a friend. They were made from painters drop cloths, the khaki colored ones. I cut some in half and hemmed them and added ties to the tops that I made from yellow thirties fabrics. My hubby and grandson, Morgan helped to hang them using coat hooks and pvc pipe.

I really enjoyed doing this, though it took me some time to do it and some time to figure out how to make everything work. Now I'm contemplating making pillows out of the same fabric, use the ties to close the backs, add old doilies and buttons to the front. I'm in a "I want to do everything frame of mind". I made a blueberry pound cake day before yesterday, I think the cakes stands and domes I ordered from Etsy just now arrived....how cool! I've always wanted one of those, now I will have two, a regular size one and a smaller one. This is what the cake looks like, later I will publish the recipe. I got it through a feed on facebook, it's fabulous.

I had a bumper crop of blueberries from my bushes at the beach house this summer so picked and used them daily, froze some and have made this cake twice.

We're going to attend our 50th class reunions later this summer,looking forward to that. I had thought we'd both diet and get in great shape....ha.....didn't happen. We went to different high schools but graduated the same year, and dated through most of high school. I'm eager to open the boxes that just arrived, see if it is the cake stands so will post again soon. I'll put that recipe on for the blueberry and lemon pound cake.