Our Dear Chloe

In August 1996, on a small family farm in New Holland, Pennsylvania, she was the eight-week-old pup who ran the fastest while carrying a stick twice her size. The only sibling left in her Boston Terrier litter, chubby Jake, sat lazily against a shade tree, watching his crazy sister, Josie, run around the tree kicking up dust as much as a four-pound pup could. Josie carved a speedway around lazy Jake on that warm summer morning while we watched and exchanged glances. Oh, my.

We wondered how we would catch her as she darted and weaved, playing “catch me if you can!” with the agility of a much older dog. She was a tiny Josie, soon to be named Chloe. Odd, that we chose an angelic name when her original name, Josie, suited her just fine.

Fast forward to the life and times of Chloe, the challenger, the one who jumped in with four feet, and the busy body who always pushed the card too far. Everyone who knew her will remember the gal who possessed the utmost pizzazz, athleticism, and intelligence.

The strong-willed pup was not allowed into the living room where the Christmas tree glowed and presents were wrapped. Was she annoyed? You bet.

Always, her body was rock hard, mind sharp, and her entertainment value? Priceless.

I miss the laughter.

I miss the frustration.

I miss how she outsmarted me, every day.

I miss her conniving games that she played too well.

I remember very well the gloomy, wet Sunday fourteen years ago when I cried and yelled at her and wrote the phone number of the Boston Terrier Rescue in Maryland on a slip of paper and smacked it hard under a magnet on the refrigerator door. This is what you do when your black and white energized dog turns chocolate brown in a self-made mud puddle during a rainstorm on a cold Autumn day. For the third time on the same day. Yeah.

A highly skilled Eastern Box Turtle carrier and mole finder and Starling-in-flight catcher and young bunny eater, she was. Her nosey instinct and preoccupation with bees, spongy toads, and spiders all gave her trouble, often.

Under a one hundred foot Weeping Willow at the back of the yard in her first forever home in Maryland, she sat motionless, just waiting for a squirrel to come down and play. Every day. Sadly, she never caught her "quirrel" and what is more sad for me was that she hadn't been able to spot a quirrel for the latest three or four years of her life.

Chloe was a klepto bitch and snatched and ran with anything that hit the floor, tore potholders from oven doors, destroyed a multitude of toys, chewed on Christmas tree ornaments made of glass, and how could I forget the steak knives she picked from the dishwasher? Two of her own ID tags passed through her and were safely scooped. You might say she is lucky to have lived so many years.

She made Gina's friends squeal in delight or sometimes in fear.

And I smiled.

I miss the gal who became my special girlfriend in due time.

I miss my gal who had patience and caring for her young sister, Bella, and taught her everything there is to know about being the best Boston Terrier she can be. They became sisters in Chloe's second forever home in Delaware.

Chloe recently dealt with oral cancer. She was nearly blind and completely deaf when I held her close to my heart for the last time on the evening of November 22, 2011. She was almost fifteen and a half years old. On that Tuesday, she lost the sparkle in her blind eyes and the wiggle in her tail. And that was the day, when without much warning, she communicated to me in her own way, "Enough already, woman!"

When I thought she would make the end way too difficult as she did with everything else, she made it easy for us to say farewell. Her peaceful death was her blessing and her final gift. So lovely.

Writing this post has been one of the most difficult ones I’ve ever written but I’ll admit to laughing out loud at the memories.

Now, I weep.

Your Daddy, Gina, and your special Licker Sister all miss you and love you.

Thank you, Chloe. I’ll Always Love You, girlfriend.

It's Hummer Time

A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird has been spotted twice since last weekend.

Thrilled!

I’ve been wondering about them since I’ve been preoccupied and away from home so often.

The least I can do is to provide the freshest nectar for them while I'm away.

His gorget is stunning but I’m never satisfied until I see a female.

This evening at 7:45, just before sunset, I heard her.

She lowered herself close to me for a few seconds to check me out.

Perhaps she recognized or remembered a summer home?

“Welcome Home”, I whispered.

Slowly, she lowered herself to some nectar nearby.

After a few sips, she hovered near again and sipped from another feeder. Perched and very alert.

“Do you know me?”, I whispered.

“Now, go do what you do, Mama.”

I prefer to think she recognized me. That’s what I believe.

The Guestbook

I’ve been home for a few hours after a six-hour shopping trip and haven’t unloaded the stuff from the back of the car. It’s just too much for me right now.

Since January, Gina and I have spent approximately sixty hours on the road in search of what we think we need for a wedding celebration.

We are less than three weeks away and it’s an exciting time. It’s also making me flip. My nerves are dying.

Recently I attended a bridal shower at her office. I hadn’t been in a high-rise for a few decades and oh, my. “Gawwwleeeeee. Gina, I SEE MY CAR DOWN THERE!”

In the middle of the night, I wake and think of details. My alarm clock wakes me and I immediately think of details. Hundreds of them.

And I tell myself, “Go outdoors and just breathe.”

It’s crunch time. Regular folks like us aren't accustomed to throwing the largest party of our lives. We need to work feverishly now and I do believe I hallucinated at the mall today, after hour number five.

“Gina, where did we park the car? It is not funny. Where’s the car?

Oh my God, I can’t… find… the CAR!

A clean pond. Breathe.

Just lovely. Breathe. Relax.

(Mental picture for readers: At the shopping mall my hair had dried in crunchy curls from sweat during a two-hour Zumbathon the night before, all enhanced with blood-shot eyes.)

“Oh Lord. That’s the mens’ room. Oops. (laughed out loud).

Where am I?

Where are WE?”

Ensuing laughter, but honestly, I’m at the end of this, already. I’m so spent, financially and emotionally, yet the best is yet to come. The payoff. Please let it be worth all of this.

Find the first lizard of the year. Breathe.

That girl can shop for days with little food and a few pee breaks. After four hours, I’m brain dead. I hate shopping now and after the wedding, I don’t plan to visit a shopping mall until next Christmas.

“Gina, I need to eat something. To hell with the diet. Let’s stop for a slice of pizza.

Do you know I tripped and almost fell into that display of crystal over there? Stop laughing. It isn't funny...

(crazy laughter)

You go into J Crew. Just go. I’ll lean against the railing here and wait. Don’t make me wait too long, either, dammit.

Don’t you DARE lead me to Abercrombie."

I’d rather die than to inhale toxic fumes. (She doesn't venture into that awful store anymore and for no apparent reason, my nasty streak reared its ugly head.) "I HATE THAT STORE. IT STINKS."

While watching the Bumbles, breathe.

“Please! I can’t look at another shoe! Let’s go. Now.”

We’ve visited two different craft stores at least twenty times. Yes, we (I) made a few little things and I have fallen in love with a little glue gun. I never used a glue gun until last week and let me tell you, when I had that mini hot glue gun in my hand, I had the POWER!

Today, what remained on our list of things to purchase was a Wedding Guest Book. We visited a “party store” where you can find anything you’ll ever want or need to throw a party. It’s a store filled with two trillion tiny items.

Ah ha! Guest books! Pens!

I said, “Oh, what the heck. It’s a guest book with some silver on the vinyl cover. The pen? It might not have ink, but for less than $15.00, it isn't bad.”

Without much thought or another glance, she threw it behind her into the buggy. Good shot.

Tired.

Let’s check that off the list. Yeah!

A few hours later, we stumbled upon a very beautiful guest book with a very nice pen that we are certain is full of ink. She had it engraved and it belongs to her now.

On the mall parking lot we laughed until we cried at that flimsy guest book from the party store, suitable for one of those funny redneck weddings you see in e-mail forwards. I’m glad we decided to care.

Rest by the pond and breathe.

Wedding gown fittings, Mom’s fitting, menu and cake tastings, hair trials… all lead to a day we will always hold close to our hearts.

A union.

However.

Both Mom and Bride are wishing for the end before it’s time.

I'm breathing and laughing with Mockingbirds. My saving grace.

Ride in the Car

Your frog friend is smelly and disgusting, Bella. Saliva and mud are not nice. Let me wash frog in the machine with a load of towels.

No. I will not allow it.

I do not see or hear you anyway.

Well then, Bella. Let’s take a ride to vet for a nail trim instead.

How about that?

Uh oh.

A ride in the car?

Did you say a ride in the car?

I Have the Fever

Today, White-throated Sparrows whistle forlorn notes and Juncos flock on the front lawn. (This post was written over a week ago and since then I haven’t seen a Junco.)

There is early Spring although today I’m wearing a coat. It’s 40 degrees, after 85 earlier in the week.

The furnace is running. What???

Come… on… Spring… dammit.

A weak winter remains

still

on certain cold evenings. Our coats and jackets are draped over the back of kitchen chairs, ready.

Seems odd to fill the hummingbirds’ nectar feeders

but they’re in the area.

I’m prepared for their early arrival.

Unlike last year when they were late coming home.

We see more green in the landscape than brown now

and sprouting quickly in the lodge. How I’d love to introduce myself!

There are bees, flys, spring peepers, moths, stink bugs, wasps, hornets, and lizards.

No ants yet, thank you.

There’s love in the air again

that you can hear and feel all around,

if you care to notice.

Foot-longs are frisky and

look who emerged from the soup

for some drying out in soft, warm breezes.

A little sweat I wiped from my brow

and brushed back my overgrown bangs to see

lily pad who had risen to the top, waiting for dragons and damsels.

Oooo, I can’t wait!

Spring Already?

Spring is soaking up all the rain clouds have to offer. Rainy days are rare in these parts, since 2005.

Time for nest cleaning. Anchored under the porch roof, I wonder which nest belongs to what bird? It's a duo nest, I suppose. One belongs to a Carolina Wren?

Almost two months have passed since I tended to Mary’s View. Clearly, I remember agonizing over ice and cabin fever like it was yesterday and already, we’re living a new season. Where does the time go?

Chloe will celebrate her 15^th birthday in three months and the girl still has an attitude. She's telling me something in this photo.

Life is so busy right now that I forget the Licker Sisters need their photo opportunities. My normal fifteen-to-twenty-photo-posts are reduced to eleven today. Being a slacker, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel! Although I long to be back to my normal 100+ photo shooting days, it won’t happen until after The Wedding.

The Wedding is all-consuming, being on my mind throughout the day and in the wee hours of the morning when I should be sleeping. Instead, I lay awake wondering if we have the cake ribbon... Life is full of places to go, people to see, things to get, and services to employ. All of this, out of love. We write the check and don’t look back! We accept the stress and try to convince ourselves that everything will be alright.

After months of feeling the stress and pressure of finding a suitable “Mother of the Bride” dress, I recently ventured out with Gina on my first search. With fear and dread, I entered the formal dress department and from a distance, in the midst of drab, stuffy gowns, I saw a flash of color I liked, walked directly to the dress, touched it, held it, wore it, and then bought it. Finding that dress in five minutes was a high soprano “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” moment and a natural high that lasted all day. No boring, full-length gowns in shades of ugly with those stuffy little Bolero jackets for me! The only acceptable dress is one that moves with me on the dance floor.

Still looking through the bathroom window for Bluebirds and Brown Thrashers on the pond

and Chickadees singing an uproar.

Still, I can’t resist running for my camera when Coop appears in the back yard and I apologize, as this might be the 25^th photo of a Coop I'm showing here in the last twelve months. Sorry for the Chickadees, too.

I can’t resist chasing that tease at the grocery store pond. It’s been four years of chasing her, in my car, from one side of the big pond

to the other. It’s been a while since I nailed a good pic of a Belted Kingfisher. In the quiet of my parked car I say, "I'll get you, my pretty..."

This is where I missed a grand shot of a Red-headed Woodpecker. The loss was so painful I felt I might die.

If I allow the time, I can always rely on my spark bird to make a showing. Nice.