Pretty’s birthday party at home of dear friends Dick and Curtis
Saskia and Pretty all smiles while Curtis keeps watch over candles
Dick’s birthday was the day after Pretty’s – much merriment at the dinner table
(Dick, Bill, and Saskia share laughs)
a toast for Saskia who became an American citizen this month
she and her son Finn have been family to us for as long as I can remember
Curtis, Saskia, Finn, Pretty, Dick, me, and Bill
thanks to Curtis for the group photo!
A jolly group – thanks to 14-year-old Finn for lowering the group’s average age, and no thanks to Dick and me for doing the opposite.
Happy Birthday to Pretty and Dick! We celebrate friendships that have stood the test of decades with laughter and love – that anchor holds us together, and we are grateful.
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P.S. Strawberry birthday cake and chocolate covered strawberries courtesy Always Original Bakery in West Columbia. Strawberry cobbler courtesy of Curtis. Strawberry jam made by Saskia. Who thinks Pretty loves strawberries??!! Yummy!!
“I came to cheer you up,” announced three-year-old Molly as she pulled me the three steps from the carport to the back door of the kitchen. I told her thank you so much and how happy I was to see her, how much I’d missed her and her big sister five-year-old Ella who was galloping ahead of us with her mother, Caroline, and Nana. Molly’s words made me smile – she had already cheered me.
Caroline had called earlier in the afternoon to say she and the girls were coming over to cook dinner for us that night since we had told her and our son Drew we had asked a veterinarian to make a house call to help us say a final farewell to our little Carl the next day. Since she had been the vet we used when we needed this assistance with our big guy Spike six weeks ago, she was familiar with our location and made the appointment for Friday, the 9th. of May.
The little girls were like a tornado of energy – their laughter, moving at warp speed all over the house and back yard leaving a path of destruction in their “tree house” and our den – provided a welcome distraction for Pretty and me from the pall that enveloped our house for the past few days of waiting for the inevitable. Caroline got busy in the kitchen and cooked a delicious shrimp creole dish for us. For dessert, she’d even brought a yummy key lemon pie.
“Let’s take a family photo,” exclaimed Ella when her mother said it was time to go home. After all, it was a school night. Caroline shook her head, said it was past their bedtime, but I chimed in with Ella and argued I thought a picture was a great idea. I felt Ella was trying to postpone getting in the car to leave, but it was the first time she had asked for a family photo at our house so I was 100% on board.
Ella, Nana, Naynay, and Molly
I had hoped Carl would stay outside with us for the family picture, but we took too much time getting fixed. When we came inside and the girls were about to leave, I said for them to be sure to give Carl a hug on their way out, and Ella said, “Carl is going over the rainbow bridge tomorrow,” as she bent to give him a hug. Molly took off one of the four necklaces she’d found in Nana’s jewelry inventory and draped it on Carl’s neck. Caroline quickly intervened and gave the necklace to me.
The girls ran to the car with their mother while Nana and I followed to say goodbye to them. We heard Caroline laugh and asked her what was going on. “Ella said she hoped Carl didn’t run into Spike over the rainbow bridge because there could be a bad fight.” Nana reassured Ella that nobody would get mad at each other on the other side of the rainbow bridge. Caroline added if anybody did get angry, there would be baby gates like Nana and Naynay had in their house to keep Spike and Carl apart.
Nana and I agreed later that Molly, Ella and Caroline had cheered us, the perfect distraction for the sorrows to come in less than twenty-four hours.
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Ella who was five years old. She lived with her Daddy and Mommy and younger sister Molly and their dog, Sadie, in a city called Columbia which was in a state named South Carolina. Ella and Molly went to school every morning where they and their friends learned something new each day.
Her grandmothers Nana and Naynay sometimes came to pick up Ella and Molly from their school in the afternoon. Nana and Naynay always asked the little girls about their day at school.
Each week Ella told Nana and Naynay the letter of the alphabet she was learning until finally she had finished all the letters and could write the whole alphabet. Nana and Naynay were so excited to hear this news! The teacher had also taught Ella how to sound out the letters she was learning to write.
One of Ella and Molly’s favorite books was the book about Dick and Jane that Naynay read to them in the car on their way home from school.
Now Ella tried to follow along to understand how the alphabet letters made words. She wanted to read the book by herself when the magic came to her one afternoon last week.
The kitten’s picture was a hint, but five-year-old Ella wasn’t focused on it. Instead, she looked intently at the bold letters below: P-u-f-f. She said each letter and sounded it out like she had been taught in her class at school. Puh-uh-ff.
Puff!! she exclaimed with a look on her face that was unforgettable. Wonder. Surprise. Joy. In amazement she looked at her grandmother and asked, Naynay, how did I know that word?
Nana and Naynay were thrilled and told Ella she had begun to solve the mysteries of the universe because she was learning to read. Since everyone was smiling and happy, Molly was happy, too.
Ella closed the book, still smiling, not really concerned what mysteries of the universe meant, but asked if anyone brought cookies.
Here’s a Dylan song dedicated to all members of the four branches of American guv’mint: executive, legislative, judicial and muskratSam.
It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, guys If’n you don’t know by now And it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, guys It’ll never do somehow When your rooster crows at the break of dawn Look out your window and we’ll all be gone You’re the reason we’re a-traveling on Please think twice – cause you ain’t right.
And it ain’t no use in turning on your lights, guys Those lights we never knowed And it ain’t no use in turning on your lights, guys We’re on the dark side of the road But we wish there was somethin’ you would do or say To try and make us change our minds and stay But we never did too much talking anyway Please think twice – cause you ain’t right.
So it ain’t no use in calling out our names, guys Like you never done before And it ain’t no use in calling out our names, guys We can’t hear you anymore We’re a-thinking and a-wondering’ walking down the road We once loved a country, its freedoms untold We gave you our hearts but you wanted our souls Please think twice – cause you ain’t right.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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