Down Memory Lane

Occasionally, I browse through sites like Etsy and eBay for vintage glassware and the older Avon bottles--figural, animals, etc.
I am fairly certain this love of glassware began with my Grandma D.  Grandma lived just a few blocks from us in a very small town, and we were allowed to walk over and visit her at a young age, even having to cross one of the main streets.  Nowadays, I'm not sure if parents are a little more watchful of their young kids, but anyone who grew up in Wheatley in the 70's knows how small a town that was, and just how non-busy Erie street was.
Grandma's house was like a treasure box, always something more to find.  She had colourful glass vases and goblets lining the windows they could line, and adorning the bookshelves in her front room, dressers and anywhere else that needed a pick-me-up.  I remember on top of her television she had a balloon couple, I believe they were Royal Doulton.
Occasionally, Grandma would let us go up to the attic and look around and through boxes that were stored up there.  What treasures!  Old workbooks from when my father was younger, some clothes, some glassware, and a certain kind of magic that if I close my eyes now and picture the attic, I can still feel.

Once we moved to a town about a half hour away, visits were fewer and farther between.  But, there were times I stayed with Grandma for a few days.  One day, we went 'yard sale-ing'.  There was a house on one of the backroads in between Wheatley and Leamington, and I can't remember anything else that was out for sale, but there was one piece that caught my eye.  A blue wedgewood looking candle holder with a lid, complete with the old Moonwind scented candle inside.  I picked it up, looked it over and just had to have the piece.  It did have a very small chip on the inside of the lid, but I loved it anyway.  This was the beginning of my Avon collection.

My grandmother passed away in the mid 80's, but to this day, I still visit her house in my dreams, always looking for something but never really finding it.

In my most recent window shopping, I came across a shop with a listing for a pair of these holders, minus the candles, on Etsy.  I just had to make these mine and contacted the seller, who replied quickly and is willing to ship these to Canada for me.

The picture is property of debster222 and is used here with her permission.  

Morning Walk

I really must learn to listen to myself.  I decided this morning to take the dogs for a walk down the trail, and thought "Maybe I should take my camera", but then figured "Nah, the same stuff will be there next time"
Already, in early May, it's feeling like a mid-summer day.  Walking along the trail I could smell 'fresh':  the flowering trees, the weeds along the side of the trail, and even just the grass and the trees.  I must admit, there was a short span behind the fishery where the smell wasn't so pleasant, but later on, mingled with the fresh green smell was the smell of paint.  Almost heaven.  :)
At one point, my part-shepherd started to pull and I looked farther up to see a rabbit on the side of the trail.  The rabbit hopped ahead on the trail as we walked, then hopped across it.  Stopped, watched us, hopped a little farther, stopped...repeated this once more, then hopped into the bushes.  As we approached where the rabbit had left the trail, I looked over, and sooooo close, there he was staring back at me.  Ideal camera time.  :(

I will say, for relaxation, it was an awesome walk.  The smells, the sights, and the birds and insects chirping and singing.  For excercise, not so much.  Both dogs insisted on marking twigs and dandelions as we went--I didn't know females did this too, but I swear, Daisy-dog stopped more than Buster did!  There is nothing like a dog stopping to smell things along the way to remind you to stop and smell the roses, although I prefer my roses over their 'finds'.

The Story of Jack the Cat

Not the complete story, but one that starts when we first met Jack. Sadly, it is a short one. Jack was at one time a beautiful grey cat, that much could be seen despite the fact that he was little more than skin and bones covered in hair.
Yesterday, he approached my daughter and her friend outside, meowing, and apparently looking a bit scary. We offered him food, then water, but he wasn't interested in either. With only an hour left to get ready and be at work...I took him to the vet. If you are the owner and lost Jack and have missed him since(my daughter's friend named him)please know that he once more had someone who cared for him and yes, loved him, even for that short time. And stop reading now.

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 If you are Jack's owner, and noticed he was getting sicker, yet insisted on waiting, thinking he'd get better, then realized he needed professional care and dumped him, I hope you get what you deserve.

Maybe you couldn't afford the vet bill, but some vets will work with you in emergency situations, and perhaps the vet bill, had you taken Jack in earlier, would have been less than what I wound up paying for your cat. I'll say here, that with two kids, two cats, two dogs, a mortgage and various other bills, I couldn't really afford to pay for *your* cat either. But I treated it like I would one of my own.

For yes, at one time, Jack did have owners. He was not shy around us, even walking into the cat carrier at my daughter's urging with no fuss. And sometime in his short life (they estimated he was about a year old) he had been neutered. You at least got that much right, Jack's previous owner.

 The vet checked him over, and I'll sum it up here for you. Jack was severely anemic. His gums were not pink, but white. He was bone thin, and had residue from diarrhea around his anal area. When the vet felt his abdomen, she commented that there was gas in there. Unfortunately, not in the intestines, but just in the abdomen, which meant he could have sustained internal injuries. The vet added that there was also feces in there. She gave me a couple of options, after asking if I planned on taking the cat in if he were to pull through.

The answer, in case you feel the need to ask, was yes. She was going to hook him up to an IV, get some fluid, antibiotics and food in him. But, she recommended a blood test. I found out the result of the blood test while at work, and knew that with all Jack's problems, this on top of it didn't leave much hope for his survival. Jack had feline HIV.

 I made the decision to have him euthanized rather than trying to prolong his life and see him suffer, even if he did pull through after spending hundreds of dollars, his life wouldn't be long by any means. So, Jack's previous owner, not only did you put Jack through a lot of pain and suffering just letting him go like you did, but you risked OTHER CATS' HEALTH, too. Cats that have responsible pet owners, that wouldn't just drop their cat when he was sick.

There was a small part of me, after I made the decision, that felt guilty euthanizing someone's family pet, but that was the part of me that couldn't understand how someone could bring a cat into their life and then just abandon it in its time of need. The larger part of me was angry that someone had let Jack get so sick. And angry that they let him go so some cat lover who really couldn't afford it, would take responsiblity for him and see he was taken care of.

 I paid that bill today, and almost cried when I left. Not for the money, but for that poor cat who really did deserve better.

And here, Jack's story ends. No beginning, no middle, just an end that spanned in all, about an hour and a half, only 1/3 of which we had the pleasure of knowing him.