An Entry ... Written by Gene

Today, I am posting the text from an email that Gene sent to our friends on Wednesday night. It is a lovely and touching story ... and shows the place where our lives are at the moment.I awoke today feeling very tired & a little blue. I had worked a 10.5 hour shift on my birthday, yesterday.

It was also our annual gathering of the local spinners & weavers guild, who come once a year to work at their craft in our yard by the sheep. There is a barbecue, fleeces are inspected & purchased & sometimes my giclée prints & photos of sheep.

As I was clearing off my drawing table to set up my display of images, I came across my Black Lab Sarah's Poah Flag. Sarah was my dear friend & loved by both Bill & myself. When she was killed by car outside our home, it was like loosing a family member.

In Buddhist tradition, in order to insure a good rebirth, a Poah or funeral ceremony is made. An image of the deceased is displayed and offerings & prayers are made. I emailed many of my close friends the image as a way of sharing in this ceremony. The image had been fastened to Sarah's favorite fetching stick, all of these months.
Today I remove this image form the stick held it near my heart for a second & threw it away, finally letting go!

I had an appointment in Belleville today at 1pm, after which I did some photography in a nearby parkette, which is an amazing flower garden. As I was photographing, I began to hear someone crying.

It was a young woman, who looked around 17 years old sitting on a bench. She had a puppy Black lab on a leash and a large bag near by. I asked her what was wrong & if there was anything that I could do to help her. After she regained her composure, she said that unless she found a home for her puppy, she was going to be evicted from her apartment by her landlord. Furthermore, her boyfriend told her that she could not return home until the puppy was gone. She had been unable to find a home for the puppy & did not want to take it to the city shelter. So this young woman pleaded with me to take her puppy. We tried to call Bill to make sure that it was OK with him, but could not reach him. I knew in my heart that it would be OK.
So this is my "Birthday Gift From The Gods"; meet Molly, just over 3 months old.