ANOTHER CAMPER SPENDS THE WEEK WITH AUNT JOAN

My bright, beautiful and excited 10-YEAR-OLD grand-niece, NORA spent a week with me while she attended the UPPER MAIN LINE Y day camp. Her first time at camp AND her first time away from home alone for a whole week!!! I'm so proud of her.

You might have read a previous Blog sharing that her older sister GRACE was here for the same camp two weeks ago. NORA wanted to take "cooking" at camp too, but it was already full, so she settled for ART at camp and cooking dinner each night with her AUNT JOAN. WOW! I'm impressed with how well she did and how healthy she has learned to eat from her Mom.

NORA'S first bite of a CHOCOLATE CROISSANT!! (Not her Mom's choice, but her AUNT JOAN'S). She said "DE-LICIOUS!!"

NORA'S second day at camp.  Less nervous than the day before.........

On the way to and from camp we pass what NORA describes as "THE POLKA DOT HOUSE".

She had a GREAT second day in ART CAMP, came home with some wonderful creations and cooked salmon with rice and fresh green beans for our dinner. It was DE-LICIOUS!

So was her dessert - a mini CINNAMON BUN from WEGMANS!!  (AUNT JOAN!!!)

A relaxing dip in the pool - dog lover that she is, NORA gives this little guy great "confidence".

The next day, AUNT JOAN had a BARNES & NOBLE coupon burning a hole in her pocket, so we stopped after camp for a quick look around. AUNT JOAN bought HARPER LEE'S new book (out that day), "GO SET A WATCHMAN". NORA choose a story about a dog and a Blank Journal to begin capturing her memories of camp.

NORA got creative with leftovers and made a chicken and rice casserole for us for dinner.  YUM!!

When her sister GRACE was here, she baked a loaf of BREAD with AUNT JOAN.  

NORA chose instead to make our family recipe "COFFEE CAKE" (her great-great-grandmother KISTLER'S).

Our SWEET TOOTH'S are TRYING to leave some leftovers to take home with her for the rest of the family to enjoy.......

CINNAMON and SUGAR across the top before baking.........

Since AUNT JOAN is going to dog-sit 9-year-old Black Lab, SAMMIE for a week, a pre-visit was in order to learn the boundaries of the INVISIBLE FENCE here. 

NORA LOVES DOGS!! (and HORSES)

One of the fun ART projects at camp was creating a FAIRY HOUSE with a seashell roof. She added a ceramic FAIRY, live moss, yellow flowers and a LABELED STONE over the doorway when she got home. NOW IT'S COMPLETE!

Her second-to-last-day of camp was "up in the air" in the morning because NORA was feeling terribly HOMESICK. We've all felt that way, haven't we? MISSING OUR MOMMY?!!!

She toughed it out, enjoyed her day and decided to stay here overnight and not miss her LAST DAY of camp.

I couldn't be more proud of NORA this week and she was such great company for me after losing my precious dog WILLOW last week. I'm really going to miss her and hope that she'll decide to visit again for camp next year.  

JOAN

RIP - MY PRECIOUS DOG WILLOW

Some of you might remember when I found WILLOW in January 2011. Well actually SAGE and I both found her.  SAGE was a tad "dog aggressive" so I took her along to the breeder to see if she reacted well to any of the puppies. She had NO interest whatsoever in ANY of the puppies brought in to meet her.

Just before I "called it a day" I was invited to see the rest of the 3 litters of puppies downstairs. I knew I didn't want a pup from the first litter because the mother had a very masculine face. The second litter - the same thing. The third litter I had no idea because the mother was outside.  BUT the owner of the father was there and showed me a photo and he was beautiful. We all walked out to see the mother in her run - she was a long haired Shepherd, which I wasn't sure I wanted.  But she WAS on the smaller side and had a pretty, feminine face.

We walked back in to the puppies and they were all clamoring to the front to be picked up. All of a sudden, one puppy toward the back sat back abruptly, looked up at me directly and I literally heard in my head "PICK ME!!". I asked if it was a female. The breeder picked her up, said "YES" and took her upstairs to meet SAGE (on the off chance that something might click). SAGE licked her and licked her and wouldn't leave her alone. It was a match made in HEAVEN for all of us.

I mean look at that sweet little face!!  How could you not fall in love immediately?

SAGE did her job well as a big sister and taught WILLOW to be sweet, obedient and loving.  They were perfect together - I got the biggest kick out of watching them play and interact.

And WILLOW grew into the most beautiful dog I've ever had.......

And smart?!  She climbed right up over the ottoman one night during BOOK CLUB at my house as if she was supposed to be an active participant.  We were all shocked, to say the least.

I'm still stunned and completely heart broken that she's gone. Only 4.5 years old, WILLOW had just gotten to the age where she was still a little bit "puppy" but finally mature enough to be settled most of the time and ride in the car like a "grownup", if you know what I mean......  She LOVED the car! And unlike most of my Shepherds, she preferred the windows up and air conditioning on. Perhaps because she was born in the Winter - with snow and cold.

She really loved the snow. In fact, I think she would know when it was coming and would actually start to show excitement. Or was that me?

WILLOW LOVED the SNOW and also her FRISBEE!!

WILLOW listened intently to what I would say to her.  And you know, I really think she understood most of the time.  I LOVED that tilt of her head!!

Some of you will want to know what happened to take her so young.  You can read my PS if you're interested.  

I KNOW I need another Shepherd to share my life with and have begun to reach out to friends and breeders to identify my next companion. I trust that WILLOW and my other 5 GIRLS before her are working on a plan for me as I type........


JOAN


PS  What happened?? Basically on June 16th, the day I got home from Europe, I noticed WILLOW squinting her left eye just a tiny bit. Over the next 3 weeks we were at her Allergist, her Primary Vet and an Ophthalmologist and starting to see some improvement. However, on Friday night of July 4th weekend, she suddenly became blind in both eyes. I was panicked and took her to the VET ER. They did test after test over the weekend and merely speculated what the problem could be. 

On Monday, when the regular staff was back in, their Ophthalmologist took one look and said she thought it was cancer - confirmed by the Internist who saw lesions on her spleen and blood clots in her artery leading to her kidneys.  She hadn't eaten in several days, her kidneys were shutting down despite the IV fluids and she was blind.  

We said goodbye on Monday afternoon, July 6th (coincidentally, the same day we said Goodbye to our father 15 years ago) and I came home to a VERY quiet house. It's the first time in 30 years that I haven't come home to at least one dog in the house. It's been quite a challenge to get used to the stillness.  But I do have a feeling there won't be silence for long.........

MY WEEK ALONE WITH AN 11-YEAR-OLD

Well, if I can survive 8 HOURS ALONE WITH A 4-YEAR-OLD, wouldn't you peg me for A WEEK ALONE WITH AN 11-YEAR-OLD?

My grand-niece, GRACE spent this week with me while she attended the UPPER MAIN LINE YMCA day camp. She did the same thing last year when half of her day was spent at "COOKING CAMP" there. She loves to cook. So when the cooking session was already filled by the time she signed up this year, we decided that she would just have to cook HERE at the end of each day.

The first night she made LEMON-BUTTER-DILL SALMON, BROCCOLI and RICE - one of our favorite meals that I taught her last summer. Another night she made a CASSEROLE that my Mom used to make for us kids - a simple one that every kid likes, no matter how fussy. Last night we made a quick version of homemade CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP.

We have developed an easy, daily routine. Each morning, while I cook breakfast (she likes scrambled eggs with sausage one day, cereal the next, etc) GRACE packs a very healthy lunch for herself.  We made up a grocery list during our family weekend in W Virginia and I had all of her "LITTLE HEART'S DESIRES" when she got here. She packs a turkey or bologna sandwich, fruit, yogurt, vegetables with Ranch Dressing Dip, Sun Chips (or Chex Mix), Gatorade and a few treats from my chocolate stash....... she swears that she shares these chocolate goodies with her friends at camp........

Every evening when we first get home from camp we play a "VERY SPIRITED" round of "SPIT" - a card game that she taught me this week. We are both competitive and have had many "CLOSE WINS" with lots of SCREAMS and GIGGLES. I might also add that she's a VERY SAVVY card player!

Her little toes were painted for her SWIM MEET at PENN STATE last week - her AUNT JANE'S alma mater.  ADORABLE!!

After our dinner we usually played another round of cards and then watched a bit of TV. I introduced her to 2 new shows (I guess you all know that I LOVE SOME REALITY TV) - KATE PLUS 8 and THE LITTLE COUPLE.  She loved them both (as do I).

Before going to bed, GRACE prepared the dough to rise overnight for a loaf of bread she is going to bake the here the next day.

And overnight - VOILA!! 

A PERFECT LOAF OF BREAD!!!  GREAT JOB, GRACE!!!

I taught GRACE a simple game of SOLITAIRE that she can play while riding in the car. She enjoyed it on our ride to her last day of camp.

This traditional "DAY CAMP" visit won't happen for too many more years, but I just LOVE the private time that I am able to spend with GRACE now. I DO feel confident that there are still some great memories to create in our days, months and years ahead.......


AUNT JOAN

8 HOURS ALONE WITH A 4-YEAR-OLD

It's not often (if ever) that I'm asked to spend a full day with a little one.  But the rest of the family wanted to go WHITE-WATER RAFTING on the NEW RIVER in W. Virginia one of the days during our "FAMILY VACATION".   

So, I'm sharing "A DAY IN MY LIFE - ALONE WITH A 4-YEAR-OLD", Precious Angel HAZEL (my grand-niece)".  Is she adorable or what?!

1. First - a stop at the NEW RIVER GORGE VISITORS CENTER - we couldn't resist a little play time with puppets

2. Fayetteville, W. Virginia LIBRARY (closed for the Holiday - "W VA Day" - who knew?)

3. A stop at the ICE CREAM PARLOR for a scoop of "cotton candy ice cream"

4. Back to the house with a TUMMY ACHE.........

5. A little TV TIME on the couch - all better now

6. Out to a restaurant for lunch - grilled cheese arrived, but how was I supposed to know that HAZEL DOESN'T LIKE "WHITE CHEESE"? She DID eat the apple slices......

7. GROCERY STORE stop for a few forgotten essentials

8. Back to the house - HAZEL filled the refrigerator with water bottles 

9. A little TV TIME

10. "I'M HUNGRY" - her requested chocolate chip granola bar and 1/2 bagel with cream cheese does the trick

11. ONE MORE HOUR till mom and dad return from white-water rafting

12. Fixed HAZEL the other 1/2 of the bagel with cream cheese....... 

13. HAZEL and AUNT JOAN had "A WONDERFUL DAY" (in Hazel's words) - and I agree!!

It was an all around terrific family weekend.  Fun was had by each and every one of us.

JOAN