When I am  old…
I will wear soft gray  sweatshirts…
and a bandana over my silver  hair…
and I will spend my social security  checks on wine and my dogs.

I will sit  in my house on my well-worn chair
and listen  to my dogs breathing.
I will sneak out in  the middle of a warm summer night
and take  my dogs for a run, if my old bones will  allow…

When people come to call, I  will smile and nod
as I show them my  dogs…
and talk of them and about  them…
…the ones so beloved of the  past;
and the ones so beloved of  today…

I will still work hard cleaning  after them,
mopping and feeding them and  whispering their names
in a soft loving  way.

I will wear the gleaming sweat on  my throat,
like a jewel, and I will be an  embarrassment to all…
especially my  family…
who have not yet found the peace  in being free
to have dogs as your best  friends…

These friends who always  wait, at any hour, for your footfall;  and eagerly
jump to their feet out  of a sound sleep,
to greet you as if you are  a God,
with warm eyes full of adoring love  and hope
that you will always  stay,

I’ll hug their big strong  necks…
I’ll kiss their dear sweet  heads…
and whisper in their very special  company….

I look in the mirror… and  see I am getting old….
this is the kind of  person I am…
and have always  been.

Loving dogs is easy, they are part  of me.

Please accept me for who I  am.
My dogs appreciate my presence in their  lives…
they love my presence in their  lives…

When I am old this will be  important to me…
you will understand when  you are old,
if you have dogs to love  too.

—-author  unknown

Fort Morgan AL "the beach" 2002 Luke and Gitte

 

Yep , she earned it. Might not have been as perfect as i wanted but minus a good bit of barking it wasnt bad, i have to say. 🙂  She earned her first leg at the American Brussels Griffon Association Specialty in Louisville Ky, with a first place and High in Trial.  She earned her second leg at a trial in Corydon In , with a  3rd place out of Novice B and her last leg at a trial in Simpsonville Ky.

For Luke,  who helped me see the beauty in the world and helped me rest in the grace of the world.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the World grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day – blind stars

waiting with their light.  For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

“Wendell Berry”

Frosty, frail faced, frontman

facing the one foe neither

he nor I can out-front.

Grown gaunt now, stone deaf, once,

whistled, he’d meet me, old

undergrowth – crasher, bursting

out, tougue lolling, teeth grinning

“Hah – hah” by the truck.

Once, when I’d say.  Walk?”

the room couldn’t contain him.

He knows my mind, mood.

Before I reach for , lace up

my boots, he’s on.  When some

vociferous, cottaged cur

rushes out, his cold dangerous

disdain says, ” Earn your scars. ”

His penetrating pools of eyes

out – stare me.  He walks me out

of my shack, prisoned self.

Brings me to a reach of the lake,

glittering, gold, beyond dark,

deep green she – oaks, as though

he knew my need, medicine:

a music flowing into silence.

Only last night, under stars

I could have plucked from the leaves,

the reach, arch, stream,

of nebulae over the bush

from rim to rim, was his leap

into my life.  Now fore paws on

the back of the station – wagon,

he cons me: “Help me in.”

“Roland Robinson”

I havent written in awhile. Luke was diagnosed with a large lung tumor a couple of months ago.  The vet believes his pancreas may be involved as well. I just didnt have the heart to write much about it. he has lost lots of weight but seems to be feeling very good in spite of that. Im so thankful for that at least. His appetite is not good. it comes and goes. Right now he is eating pretty well and we are all in good spirits so i decided to get out the camera for the first time in awhile.

Luke wanted to say Goodmorning. Lola is always up for anything. Gitte is in the photo too, i think you can see a paw.  Today is a good day.

My little independent, thinks outside the box, outsmarts her owner, smarty pants earned her 2nd leg in Novice B,  towards her CD title on Sunday, May 31st. I showed her in Corydon, IN at the So. Indiana Kennel Club Obedience trial. She nearly gave me heartfailure the day before by getting an NQ by the judge for “out of control” but i pulled myself together and she was much more in tuned with me…no doubt due to my better handling. This dog is so tuned in, i really have to be on or she will take full advantage.

We earned a third placement on Sunday in addition to qualifying. I was pleased with that.

I Was really hoping to finish the title though and start concentrating fully on open and utility, now we will still have to seek out another show to finish that novice title.

I entered my first art show since living in Indiana. It was the Spring Into Art Show, a juried show held at the Howard Steamboat Museum in Southern Indiana.  It was a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Museum and in keeping with that theme the organizers invited artists from within a 50 mile radius to submit works. There were 60 pieces juried and entered.

I happened to win 1st place with a piece I

"Griffon" oil painting by Meg Flowers

entered titled “Griffon”, A large oil. The colors are not real accurate in this photo which was taken by a newspaper photog at the artist reception.

We had 2 nights of freeze warnings. I was out running around the backyard with armloads of white sheets covering my precious lacecap hydrangeas and casablanca lilies that were up about 4 inches or so. I know these 2 things would suffer complete and total loss at the hands of a hard freeze, having experianced this first hand last spring and three years ago. NOT going to happen again. Nothing is more devasting to a gardener to go outside and have ALL your lilies, not even 4 inches out of the ground and they be turned to icy mush by late Spring freeze and thaw. Lacecaps bloom on new wood…if the new buds that have now come out get frozen, all blooming is lost for this year. Other plants i wasnt too sure about were my Lilacs, i couldnt cover this bush, too large and too flexible. it was fine (note to self) i covered my poppy, the only one i have left since the ice storm and i dont think i really needed too, its very hardy.
I picked a nice bouquet of daffs and all the tulips that the deer didnt eat. It made a lovely full bouquet that I took to a friend for Easter. Lola was very helpful (not) during the photo taking process. She was very interested in the flowers as she usually is in everything and everyone.

My dogs can find a warm sunspot no matter how small it is. A small ray of sun slicing thru the curtins and Lola is standing in it with her head hanging low and eyes glazed over. They love a warm ray of sunshine.

Our first days of Spring are bringing much wanted warmth and the deck is the first thing to get warm outside. Here is Lola warming in a sunspot and then all three dogs trying to fit in the same sunspot, which is shrinking…as i type only Luke can fit and is standing in the last few feet of it.

April is a finicky feisty month with the temps jumping around between high 60’s and frost. We can still get snow…holding my breath we dont get a hard freeze since all my lacecaps are leafing out like crazy.

I received the photo taken the day I competed with Lola at the American Brussels Griffon Association National Specialty’s obedience trial.

Lola earned  first place, High in Trial and the first leg of her CD in Novice B.  Always a great photo to have as a keepsake…happy

Doveland Morning Soleil

memories. 🙂