Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mom’s Day, to all the moms out there in the world.

Just one question, though – are you more awesome than an octopus? I know I’m not.

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A Post without Image

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Friday Zen – Forever Young

Tessa and Hammer, forever young

In my mind’s eye, this is how Tessa and Hammer will always look. If I concentrate on this photo long enough, I find I can achieve something which will, for now, feel as close to zen as I can currently imagine being.

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My Heart

Tessa, Bullmarket Terror of Toronto

Bullmarket's Terror of Toronto - 22 Nov 1994 - 05 May 2010

This was written in 2007.  It is re posted today, in memory of Tessa.

Her eyes are a deep chocolate brown, with long dark lashes. Both are cloudy now, and the left has an opaque area that I’m beginning to worry might be a cataract. I haven’t taken her to the doctor yet, out of fear that he’ll tell me she needs surgery. I don’t want to put her through that, I’m not sure enough that it will help. Her deep chestnut hair is almost completely white, and looking at older photos make me ache. My partner says he prefers her like this, that she looks stately. I don’t want her to be stately – I want her to be young.

Her hips hurt her, too frequently now for my taste. I’ve had to carry her up the stairs a few times, and I worry when she walks on ice. I make sure she takes her supplements, glucosamine and shark cartilage and blue green algae. They probably don’t make any difference, but it’s something I can do to try to stave off the inevitable. It’s been years since she could jump on and off the bed without help, but last week she made it onto the couch – one simple jump, and she was up. I’m not sure who was more amazed, of the two of us. Read more

Louisiana Needs Your Hair!

Hair clippings can be woven into absorbent hair mats

Hair clippings can be woven into absorbent hair mats

If you’re a dog groomer or a hair stylist, your excess hair and fur clippings can help to clean up the Louisiana oil spill – and other oil spills that happen around the world.

The hair (which must be relatively clean and debris free) will be woven into mats, or stuffed into nylons to create ‘booms’. The booms help to contain oil as it sits on the water. The mats are used to soak up oil, and as crate liners for oil soaked birds and mammals.

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