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Mail arrived!  Woohooo.

I ordered the most fabulous bracelet from an artist on Etsy.  First of all I have to say that everything I have ever ordered off of Esty has been wonderful.  I love all the beautiful artistry all in one place.  One little word of advice – it took me like five MONTHS to figure out that you are supposed to leave feedback.  Doh!  (Sorry about that Jill – I did leave it eventually….)

Anyway – back to the bracelet.  I’m not sure how I found Wendy Baker’s etsy shop – I think I just searched on charm bracelets and her talents came up.  I think I was just as captivated by her description as I was the bracelet itself.   

I ordered it and it shipped the very same day – how is that for lightening fast customer service?   

I can’t even do it justice by describing it – it’s just lush with vintage charms, beads and sparkly things.  A definite conversation starter, I can tell.  I may have to plan my wardrobe around it.

Wendy also has her own website, Wendy Baker Design, along with her Etsy shop – if you want to see some of her current and past work. 

I wish I was talented.

I love getting mail.  I even love the waiting for the mail.  The anticipation when you have ordered something or you know something is on its way to you.   I am anxiously awaiting an item I ordered late last week.  I can hardly wait.

I have a definite appreciation for the instant gratification of email but there is nothing like getting a hand written letter.  Or taking the time to hand write one yourself.   Back in my early 20’s my best friend and I would write to each other, sometimes several times a week.  The letters were the written version of a chatty phone call – full of details of how we were spending our day, the men in our lives, the diets we were constantly on.  Quite often they were spotted with suntan oil, or written on mismatched scraps of paper. 

I have saved every one of those letters and so has she.  There are hundreds of them.  It’s fun to go back and read one or two of them and remember how we spent our idle youth.  I mean who has the time, now a days, to spend hours each week, lazing about in the sun, writing letters.

Even when I was very young I had a thing for the mail.  Or the mailman, actually.  My next-door neighbor Naomi, a sophisticated seven to my callow six, and I would skip along the sidewalk following our neighborhood mailman along his route.  We would chat with him and beg for a ride in his mail truck (he never said yes – said it was against the U. S. Postal Service rules). 

Naomi got the notion that in order to really get his attention we needed to streak him.  This was even before the streaking craze in the 70’s.  Our plan was to disrobe in the bushes that separated our houses and when he got to my house we were going to bolt out of the bushes and run across the property to the other side.

Well when the day came Naomi chickened out and would only take off her top.  I’m thinking in for a penny, in for a pound and took off all my clothes.  The mailman drove up to my house and when he got out of his truck I ran, stark naked across the driveway and ran smack into my mother who had chosen that particular day to go out and greet the mailman. 

I am not sure who was more shocked, the mailman (who we had for another 12 years and whom I could never quite look in the eye again) or my mother.  I don’t even remember if I got in trouble or not – so flabbergasting was the act. 

I know Naomi didn’t get in trouble – she never left the safety of the bushes and quickly put her shirt back on when she saw how quickly things were unraveling in my front yard.

(photos courtesy of istockphoto)

These are a few of my favorite posts.  From some of my favorite blogs.  I’m constantly amazed and humbled by the multitude of talented people out there, whether their strength is the written word, the moment captured on film or the artful combination of both – these posts have resonated with me – for one reason or another and I wanted to share.  Believe me it was hard to pare it down to such a short list.

These are individual posts – although you would be well advised to check out their entire offerings on their respective blogs.  These particular posts are just especially lovely and moved me.

French Kitchen in America – Mimi’s posts are a wonderful melange of recipes, reminiscing about her French grandmothers, lovely stories about learning to cook from her father and just good old Wisconsin joie de vie when it comes to cooking, living and loving.  Personally I think she should just hole herself up in her pantry with her laptop and knock out a memoir about growing up in a French kitchen – but then we would all be deprived of the simple, amazing recipes she shares on an almost daily basis.   I have a feeling if I ever had the privilege of meeting Mimi in person it would be like I’ve known her forever.  She was also one of the first people that discovered my blog and her encouragement will always be dear to me.

This particular post is about a trip to France and the simple joy at the end of the day.  I can smell the lilacs and taste the wine.

The Winemaker’s Wife – Oh to be young, gorgeous and hopelessly in love.  And to possess a kind heart that wants everyone to experience love, life and really good chocolate.  Oh okay, I may be a little bit biased because she’s my niece and all (and she came over last week and washed my hair for me – how sweet and lovely is that?).  She’s also a VERY adventuresome eater.  She lists cow tongue as one of her favorite things to eat!!  She – who would only eat white things as a child! 

Still who wouldn’t be moved by this simple wish she had for a dear friend. 

Oh we expect great things from the Winemaker’s Wife.  I’m also counting on her taking care of me in my dotage….

Bailiwick Designs – I’ve posted about Jill before (and my love for her lavender heart) but this particular post is just so sweet.  It is a lovely tribute to her father and a single, simple act that was just so kind and so loving.  We would all do well to make a little room in our lives, make a welcoming gesture like this.  Just a little reminder we humans aren’t the only ones inhabiting this planet.   

One thing that always comes through in Jill’s posts is how important family is – especially one’s parents.

Jill is also madly talented with her camera and her sewing machine.

And finally ~

Hello my name is Heather – Heather has a lovely blog (and incredible photography) but this particular post I just found especially touching.  Her husband is a photographer and on one of his "jobs" the bride’s gown tore – anyone that has been a bride, in a wedding, attended a wedding, knows how stressful the details of the day can be and the need for everything to turn out perfectly.  I just love this picture and how it represents that everyone, generally, wishes for just a good outcome – no agenda, no ‘it’s not my job’ – just let me help you out because I can. 

And while you are checking out Heather’s blog go find her post on her studio.  Oi. I lust after that studio.

So just a few of the many lovely posts I’ve been inspired by.  I am certain they are not the last.

I was going to title this post the skunk story but, after reflection, it seems too flip, too casual.  I will start off with the skunk story though.

When Beau was a few years old he would occasionally tangle with creatures that roamed the night in our little suburban neighborhood.  A raccoon would lumber through the backyard and Beau would fly out the dog door and total pandemonium would ensue.  Always in the dead of night when the house was quiet and the neighborhood peacefully sleeping. 

There would be this wild commotion and all kinds of howling and we would bolt awake and run out to see what mischief was underway.  Let me be the one to tell you that the sight of a man, in the altogether, breaking up a fight between a 35 lb. beagle and a raccoon of a similar size sears itself into your brain and isn’t something to be forgotten easily. 

One evening, late but before we had gone to bed, Beau went outside and then there was this awful, painful howling.  Rick ran out to see what was happening while I helpfully stayed in the house and peered out the back patio windows.   Beau was literally foaming at the mouth.  We were absolutely panicked – did he get bitten?  Does rabies take effect that quickly? 

Then we noticed the smell. 

Freshly spray skunk doesn’t smell like what you get when you drive past a skunk that didn’t get out of the way quick enough.  In retrospect that almost has a nice, familiar scent to it.  No, freshly sprayed skunk has a very strong chemical quality to it.  But unmistakably skunk.  And Beau had gotten sprayed straight into his face.

Mind you I am still in the house, cracking open the back door to offer my opinion of the situation.  I got on the phone and called the 24 hour emergency line at the vets where they very quickly told me NOT to bring him in.  They gave me the recipe for a shampoo concoction that called for lots of peroxide, baking soda and laundry detergent.   

I hopped in the car and drove to the supermarket where the night crew was restocking the shelves.  As soon as I walked in the door I could hear murmuring down the aisles.  "Do you smell that?"  "Is there a skunk in the parking lot?"  As I walked past each aisle the talking would cease and people would just stare, rather horrified at me, their hands covering their mouths and noses. 

I swear I wasn’t anywhere near the dog or the outside but still managed to imbue my person with the unmistakable smell of skunk.   It took a good three weeks for the smell to totally go away and I don’t think my winter coat ever did smell right – I ended up tossing it.

Beau had Addison’s disease.  It started out that he would get these horrible infections in his claws and they would all fall out, grow back, fall out again.  It was some sort of autoimmune response to the Addison’s.  We finally got it sorted out and he was on a monthly regime of medication that would keep his potassium and sodium levels in check.

A couple of months ago he started to lose his appetite.  Beagles are known for their appetite and for him to refuse food was just unheard of.  Many tests were run and finally it was determined that the years of medication and the disease itself had finally just worn him out.  He was in renal failure.  They gave him a few months to a year to live.  The best we could do is keep him comfortable and on a kidney friendly diet.

Last week his little body just couldn’t take it anymore.  On Tuesday Rick said he was restless and wandering the house, looking for a dark, quiet corner to lay in.  On Wednesday morning Rick found him in the same predicament, trying to find some relief in the darkness of our closet.  He picked him up and put him in his bed were he napped for a bit then woke up, restless again.  Rick picked him up and took him outside, carrying him one last time around the property before loading him and his bed into the truck and to the vets. 

What happened there I’ll never truly know.  I was down in the bay area, recovering from surgery so I don’t know what those last minutes were like.  I can only imagine.

The house has an emptiness to it that is hard to explain.  Who knew a small little beagle could take up so much room.