May 2009 Archives

Yesterday I attended the Prime of Life Festival, for business purposes.

Now there were a few reasons I had a god time--probably the biggest and best was I felt like one of the youngest "kids" in the room. At 55, I was among the younger set, and I don't care who you are, that feels good!

The West York Jazz Ensemble played while I was there, and they were good!"
They did a rendition of "Amazing Grace" that was, well, truly amazing!

In attendance and making themselves very visible, were Seeing Eye Puppies from the 4H, Loving Eyes Puppy Club, Great Dane Rescue, although there were none there at the time I was, and a sweet bloodhound who is part of the Summit Search and Rescue. The dogs were all so friendly and sweet, and full of energy, it was a pleasure to be there.

The whole Old Main at the York Expo Center had a very upbeat atmosphere about it. The booths just had a lot of positive themes about living to the fullest. I loved that financial advisors were prevelant, as well as home improvements and other things. It wasn't a "Poor me, I'm old" pity party.

And I, who was one of the younger ones, and I did a nose dive into the grassy parking area behnd the building. I wasn't hurt, but a gentleman rushed over to help, and there were two ladies who were very concerned that I was all right.

My biggest concern was saving the Philly pretzel I had bought my dad at the White Rose Senior Center booth. These pretzels are hard to find, and I was very pleased to be able to take one home to him. Pretzel and handler were both doing fine, and came through wthout a scratch.

This getting older thing "ain't so bad." I look forward to next year's Festival!

My last entry was about my beloved dog Brandy who has been gone for two weeks now. The household is so different, and our other dog, Oscar Mayer just mopes around and waits for her to come home. We'll all heal eventually I know, it's just so hard.

But I can't let go without taking about the veterinarian who made the experience a bit more bearable. Dr. Jennifer Aiello of Leaders Heights Animal Hospital was incredibly sensitive and walked us through everything that would happen. There was no question at all that this wasn't easy for her either. She exuded compassion.

And then in the following time, we've gotten two cards from Leader Heights Animal Hospital, one from Dr. Aiello, and another from all the staff at the vet. It touvched us deeply, and has taken some of the edge off the pain. I've often joked that if I need hospital care, Ithink a veterinary hospital would be the best place to go.

Thank you Leader Heights for helping us through.

Today I don't look for a little thing to savor. Anything that will lift my spirits will be memories from the past. Yesterday I lost my most perfect friend. Our chocolate lab, Brandy, was suffering from a medical condition that made her life hard. So I had to let go of the perfect relationship because that's what you do when you love someone.

She came into our lives eleven years ago, a bundle of dark chocolate fur with more energy than I've ever seen before. The roller coaster ride began the day we brought her home where she declared our space an amusement park, day in and day out.

She learned fast how to manipulate me into being her own stand-up comic audience. She mastered her techniques that never failed to crack me up. She did it in perfect sync, especially at times when I would need a laugh most. She taught me sheer joy--when she would roll in the grass on her back and look like she was laughing hysterically. She could transfer that simple appreciation of the moment to me, lightened the moment, the day, my life.

That doesn't mean I didn't get mad at her. One night before Thanksgiving, she had herself a royal feast, bigger than ours. We woke up to find she had eaten an entire bag of stuffing, a stick of butter, a loaf of bread, some cinnamon roll-ups I had made, and a pumpkin casserole, minus the broken shards of Corningware that spread across the floor. There may have been more, but memory can only hold so much.

I was mad.

My breakfast that morning was a bowl of grapes. One dropped on the floor, and Brandy dove for it. I actually dove for it at the same time declaring to her, that she wasn't getting the grape, after all she had eaten!! (yes, I know grapes are harmful to dogs anyway) But my motives were purely selfish and out of anger--the grape was a symbol of the fact that I still had some control.

She immediately went into a seizure that had us spending our Thanksgiving Day in the puppy emergency room, while our guests at home ate dinner. I was so afraid we were losing her that all anger melted immediately and when we took her home she could've had anything she wanted. But all she wanted was our love and attention. Which she got, in a big way. I promised her I'd never fight her for another grape!

The episode did not stop her from ingesting other things however. During her lifetime she consumed seashells, Brillo pads, entire bags of chocolate, entire loaves of bread, sometimes sparing the wrapper, but not always. This is just a sampling of her tastes, which included just about anything, edible or not.

But always, after I spurted out my anger, she'd just turn those liquid chocolate eyes up at me that just seemed to be saying, "yeah, but it was GOOD, and I had fun!" Hard to argue with her.

She weathered so many hard times with me. Like a breathing security blanket, she'd know when to quietly just hang close to me. She went through life with us, sometimes totally shaking up her world, but she just adapted. Four grandchildren became part of the family during her lifetime, which she welcomed with high spirits, even though in her zeal, she'd sometimes knock them down. She loved all six of the grandkids and declared it the most fun ever when they were here.

When my parents moved in, she took to beng their personal protector, especially mom. Visitors had to pass her inspection before they were allowed to be near her "grandma." One time she stood between the UPS delivery man and my dad believing the guy in brown clothes to be some kind of terrorist, I guess.

When Brandy came home eleven years ago, we already had a cat who tolerated Brandy, but never warmed up to her. Then we adopted a kitten who was headed for extermination. This kitten decided that Brandy must be his mom, and had no clue that dogs and cats are supposed to be enemies. He'd just curl up with her at any time he felt like it, or demanded that she play whether she wanted to or not. Brandy always looked like, okay little guy, I'm here for you.

Then a little welsh corgi joined our clan and demanded ALL the attention, Brandy just sort of stepped back and let him be the center of attention. He depended on Brandy for everything, especially when we'd walk them through the neighborhood, and anything, including a cricket would threaten the corgi. He'd then go back behind Brandy, as if to say "you want a piece of me? yeah, well, you'll have to deal with my big sister!" Worked well as Brandy took on that role too.

The corgi keeps walking around the house trying to find her, and has at times, just laid at the door waiting for her to come home.

Yesterday, I took her to the dog park for a bit of frolicking. She didn't have much energy, but she seemed to enjoy being there. And I took her out to her favorite, Sweet Willows, for a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. We hung together. AND I brought a grape from my granddaughter's lunch for Brandy. She played with it before eating it. I'd like to think that she remembered my promise to her. But that would be to feed my spirit, which is what animals do best.

My love of dark chocolate began eleven years ago. My heart is breaking, as it will continue to do so, I'm sure, for quite awhile. But my heart is bigger because of you, dear, perfect friend Brandy, even though you took part of it with you.

II'm not a tree hugger, but I do love and appreciate trees. Same with flowers. ALL flowers, except maybe the mile a minute things. They're just too pushy and arrogant.

My buddy Vickie and I can take a whole day shopping for flowers, no seriously, and have a great time. I always try to get them planted as quickly as possible, but it doesn't always work out because of weather or schedules or whatever. So, some of those flowers that I have paid good money for get impatient and will fake their own death so that I will get their feet stuck in the ground as soon as possible.

OR, sometimes I'll place them in a spot that just isn't to their liking. It may be a little too wet, or too dry, or too soft or too hard, or too hot or too cold. In fact, finding the perfect spot for the little Goldilockes can sometimes be a big pain.

And then, even if I do get that right, if I overfeed or heaven forbid, underfeed, then they get an attitude and will either wilt or turn a weird color, or get all stick-like.

And let's not forget the campaign like promises those little direction cards that are stuck in the pots promise us. They make this picture look like a gazillion blooms all close together will top off this beautiful foliage and will do everything but wash your windows. They'll draw hummingbirds, and they'll have fragrant blossoms that will bloom "all-summer long," that is if you get the watering formula down to perfection.

They'll create beautiful borders, (ha) with brilliant colors in plate size blooms. I buy into all these visions every single year. Every one!! Last year, the white lilac bush decided it was Michael Jackson and decided to change race. It's blooming all right, but it's purple! Beautiful yes, but not what it promised. Many of the flowers look like they are in Third-World famines as they can barely choke out a blossom they're so "undernourished. " (translation, I didn't feed them enough of that expensive plant food)

Our guaranteed red carpet border lillies transformed into an exchange program. We can replace the no-shows with anything we want, except I guess, red carpet border lillies. They don't want to BE with us.

Planted this beautiful clematis vine, healthy as all get out, ready to spring eternal and cover the special trellis we bought for it. The trellis is lonely. The clematis apparently had a fight with the site where it was planted and decided to deport itself. Somewhere. Else.

What about the plants that require full sun, yet still don't do well in perfect sunlight. What, sunscreen for plants, is that what they're demanding?

Okay, what's my point?

Out in just about every yard in York County, you can find FREE, beautiful, reliable, loyal, strong, healthy no-attitude flowers every year without fail. They do not whine about conditions, and they demand nothing. They just give, give, give. They get along very well with each other. They can handle little toddler fists squeezing the daylights out of them as they get handed over to mommies as prizes. Not picky about fertilizer, just about anything is good enough. No complaints about water conditions or lack of food. Don't need little Raybans in bright sunlight, in fact, shade is okay with them too.

And how do we treat these beautiful treasures? We poison them, we stab them, we dig them out by their roots, people curse at them, and townships get all up in their faces with regulations about not having them in their 'hoods.

Okay, who declared that the Dandelion was public lawn enemy number 1? Who decided that they are not flowers, but the "W" word? Who decided that they're non-deserving, not good enough for beauty contests? What law says that "kill we must?"

I say, let's give dandelions amnesty! The men in my family all think they're some kind of gladiators as they go out and attack the dreaded "D" word. Sometimes they'll attack with a mask and chemicals, they'll gird themselves with all kinds of industrial strength gloves. They'll go out with tools that could wipe out an entire. jungle.

I mean seriously. What is the big deal about wimpy lawns that can't handle competition from this unassuming flower?

They make beautiful "bouquets," they're free, you can make wine out of them, and my dad even eats dandelion. Admittedly, none from the yard, but you know, people actually grow them for food, and you've probably had some in a salad or two in your lifetime.

So what's not to like?

I would like to see discrimination against these guys wiped out in my lifetime. Who's with me?? The life you save could be your next glass of wine, or your next meal. Think about it!

Whoops--this isn't my first, and I can almost guarantee it won't be my last, but I made a mistake referring to Valley View Center as "Valley View Early Learning Center." I apologize, but am a little proud of myself for at least getting the district correct, York Suburban.

And last week, I got to be a "senior guest" for my granddaughter Samantha in Miss Smith's kindergarten class. (Check, Check, I got those names right, Yeah!!)

As I sat there soaking in everything about the class, I was more and more amazed and mesmerized as the afternoon went by. When I thought back to my kindergarten days, back when we used stone tablets, the comparison is almost laughable. I honestly don't remember actually learning how to read even one word until first grade, and then it was run, skip, and I believe jump, and the only characters in our reality world were Sally, Alice, Billy, Spot and another easy-to-spell character, whose name has escaped me.

Today's students sort of "jump" right over the one-syllable words, and "skip" over such easy names, and hit the ground "running" with multiple syllable words and names.

Imagine what this generation is going to accomplish!! What a privilege it was to witness what's ahead for this country. This school is progressive and contemporary as I'm sure many are around our York County.

There was one thing that hadn't changed so much however. One little boy asked about snack time. I guess it has happened before, as Miss Smith stepped aside to reveal, and have the student actually read a sign that read, "YES WE WILL HAVE SNACKS" I guess stomachs haven't evolved so much.