Of Love and Loss and Life Lessons
Of Love and Loss and Life Lessons
It’s been a very difficult year.
Without going into much detail, the past year has been tumultuous. But those who know me know that I do not do my crying in public, so I want to share a couple of the bright spots, and here they are . . . Sierra and Blue.
Mark and I have rescued and raised Siberian Huskies for over 30 years. This year we lost two of our beloveds, whose pictures I am not posting because they make me cry. My online card shop is named after them - Skydog and Chevy. Sky was almost 17, and Chevy was 14 - which is very old for a 100lb Malamute. We could not have wished for a longer or better time together. But still, we were emotional toast for awhile.
But, we heal from Husky loss with Husky love, so when we were were called and told about a beautiful blue-eyed boy, only one year old, who was living on a chain in a Santa Fe junkyard, we literally jumped in the van and went to get him (with the owner’s permission - he obviously wasn’t attached). It was sort of funny because, for the first time ever, my van wouldn’t start - the battery was almost dead - but I got it running and just told Mark we weren’t going to turn the engine off until after Blue was rescued, and we could then drive to a car place. This is Blue on his first day with us - ready to go for a walk. The poor guy had never been taken for a walk on leash, but he was a fast learner.
A couple of months passed, and Blue was having a great life, but he confided in us that he would love to have a dog friend - not that he was complaining or anything. So I started watching the website of Siberian Husky Rescue of New Mexico. They are great folks we have worked with a lot over the years.
It was close to Halloween when I spotted this girl dressed up like a Bee.
She had hearts around her eyes, and she pulled the strings on my heart. When we got her home, we realized she also has a heart as her ruff and a very big one inside of there.
Sierra is only 11 months old, so the energy level around here has been ratcheted up a good deal!! But they are the happiest Huskies you can imagine, and they are spreading the happiness around - all over us.
What’s happening in the Art Cafe?
We have many members signing up for the creative chatting Group, and making their own posts to see how it works. A couple of fun sketchbook pages, and a post I made about an ink that disappears and reappears. Very interesting for when you can’t decide whether or not to use ink in a watercolor sketch.
I added a set of funny Holiday Cards to the Skydog and Chevy shop in case you are looking for something other than the “same old”.
I am loving this book . . .
Her philosophy is not mine as far as the importance of a sketchbook and what is in it, and I am terrible with “challenges”, but Susan Yeates has an approach that is refreshing and her prompts really do move you to draw something. I usually go way afield with the prompts, but this is a great place to start. Susan also has an Instagram account where she runs the 30 Day Sketch Challenge every January.
Available in paperback and Kindle versions at Amazon. After getting the Kindle version, I also bought the paperback version for my bookshelf.
I so enjoyed reading this post about your dogs. Many many years ago I had a miniature pinscher and he was a blast! When his time was up (at almost 14 yr), I was a complete ragdoll and had to miss several work days! I've never come close to getting another. I have severe separation issues!! That was my lesson learned!
So happy to hear that Sierra has joined your family.