Almost Wordless Wednesday

Bob chills in the under counter fridge.....he also helps to put groceries away! He likes to sit in the dishwasher, too. Amazing cat and always good for a laugh courtesy of my SIL, Trish.

For the Love of Animals

My godmother, Eleanor HaugheyMy mother chose her best friend to be my godmother, and I will be forever grateful for her influence, fun, and love she brought to our lives. Eleanor never had her own children so we were all her extended family. She and her husband, Jack spent a lot of time with us, and they socialized often with my parents. Beautiful, stylish and funny, she was a devoted animal lover and risked her life many times over to rescue strays, arrange veterinary care and placement in suitable homes, for them all. She donated vast sums of money to support all sorts of organizations for the welfare of animals. I know of one time that she raced across many lanes of traffic in elegant dress clothes to rescue a puppy stranded in the median strip.
I believe that Eleanor and my mother are solely responsible for the fact that all my siblings and myself are hopelessly devoted cat lovers. Our house was always filled with cats and when Eleanor would come to visit on Christmas Eve, she would lay her beautiful fur coat on the floor so the cats could sleep on it. (Of course today, I just bet that Eleanor would NOT wear a fur coat)
When Eleanor died in the 90's, it nearly broke my mother's heart. Many times after that, Mum would get me aside and tearfully tell me how deeply grieved she was to lose her best friend.

Eleanor's dying wish was that her town establish a no-kill animal shelter and her will bequeathed a very generous amount of money to Scituate with which a lovely shelter was built. An incredible group of volunteers saw the project to completion and after a few years, they outgrew the space and began a fund raising campaign to buy land and build a new facility. Through the years my family has been involved in supporting the work of the shelter in small ways, and it was a favorite place for Dad and I to visit until very recently.
Last Saturday, the new building was officially opened and dedicated, and LM and I were there to present the shelter with the beautiful pastel portraitof Eleanor, shown above. It was very emotional for me, as it brought home all the pain of losing Eleanor and both my parents. They would love to have been there on Saturday. Through the tears (EVERYTHING makes me cry these days!), I took these photos. They are not the best but do capture some of the celebration. I did not photographs any of the lucky animals inside but suffice it to say, it was all I could do not to bring several home, and LM felt the same way.

The Eleanor R. Haughey Scituate Animal Shelter:

Approachng the main entrance there is a walkway paved with bricks purchased in memory of favorite pets and people who have been faithul friends of the shelter.
Eleanor's name right next to the entrance:
Cutting the ribbon (you can see the fog bank rolling in just as the ceremony was culminating).My mother and Eleanor would also be so happy to know that the shelter is run almost entirely by a very devoted group of women, many of them second generation volunteers.
Ms G approves!

Random Beauty AKA Distractions

• Lovely Koosa dogwoods blooming everywhere right now - Dad's favorite tree

• A swan family on a lovely pond in Plymouth

• Big clumps of daisies
  

• Coreopsis - a lovely shade of yellow to brighten these very dark days

• Lightning over the ocean
  

• Ms G in bliss as I combed her for an hour

• A beautiful white cat with one blue eye and one gold

• LM's warm smile and comforting embrace

• Validation
  

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Yes, that is heavy rain bouncing off the street and front walk at work yesterday. It was like that all day and very dark. Same thing continuing today. It has rained 20 of the last 23 days. Enough!!! There are many tourists here for their summer vacations but 60 degrees and steady rain were not part of their plan, so they spend the day driving, and hopefully, they are shopping at local merchants. There is rain in my soul, too. Here's hoping it is washing away the grief!

In the feline world......The cat that LM's daughter gave him a few weeks ago, now has a nice new home and is very happy! We have no idea why she was so unhappy with LM. Ms G thinks he has great kitty karma.

Auto Pilot

Ms G has a lot to do these days as she feels singly responsible for making me feel better. At every oportunity, she is insinuating herself onto my lap and as you can see here, she must be between me and the computer! My lap is just not big enough. She's a dear little comforter! No doubt, she is tuned in to my feelings.
The days are passing, grief is not lessening but I am functioning, accomplishing, appearing and not appearing. A very strange place, but one in which all is not lost. I am, at times, consumed by "shoulds and want to do's" but unable to act on them. I HAVE to give myself permission to not "do" everything right now. What does get done is from rote, although there is some creativity happening here....voila, I made LM some nice hand knit face cloths for Father's Day. He really appreciates them and they are used exclusively. Saturday night we had the nearby fish market cook us two lobsters and shared a nice dinner and watched an old movie, "Separate Tables," while we played with Ms G. She was happy to have LM here for awhile.

Saturday morning, I got myself to the farmers market and did manage to find a quart of local strawberries and we had shortcake after our lobsters that night. I even made the biscuits from scratch.
The rain continues here and there is so little light in the days. Fitting, I guess. Yesterday, Hallmark be darned, was tearful and it took everything I had to rally enough to get myself geared up to take LM out with his daughters to celebrate. He was happy to have his girls together.

Here it is Monday and there is comfort to be had in returning to the structure of the work week.

State of Being

Writing is not easy for me these days. I start, stop, stare into space, and try to let the words flow as they have in the past. I seem to meet a blank wall. Nothing is cohesive. I am finding some comfort in meditation, routine, knitting simple facecloths, listening to the incessant rain, talking to my siblings and LM, and holding Ms G close. She knows and complies.
Permission from my soul to just be right now has been granted. Apologies to all and when the sun shines on Chatham once more, perhaps there will be some lovely garden photographs revealing the rewards of all this rain.

Ms G had a Date

Oh, oh, I came home from work tonight to find that Ms G had invited a man into the house without my permission. They were involved in a mad passionate love affair when I arrived home from work.....she is besotted......this man of hers has lured her with toys, and Whiskas Temptations....he could be charged with corrupting a minor. Ah, well, she was a very happy girl, and I heard tell she was curled up tightly in his lap purring until I spoiled things by coming home.

Now she pines as he has left to go fishing.......I miss him, too. Sweet man.
An interlude of peace and love as the waves undulate my spirit.