Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren / oil on black canvas/ 4x12 / $88, including shipping

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MY DAD IS 92, and right now, is in the hospital in Tucson. He has aspiration pneumonia - not covid, according to four covid tests, all of which have been negative. 

Sunday, he was doing better, sitting up, watching football. Today, he can't swallow. 

He is 92, and before this, was doing well. A couple days pre-pneumonia, he and his wife went out and walked a mile, and Dad said he was feeling great. Pain that had plagued him for the past few months had gone away, the day was beautiful and he was happy. 

He has had a good life, and neither he nor Paula, not any of us, is ready for it to be over. Who among us ever is? I am concentrating on how strong he is, what good genes he has, how remarkable his optimism and resilience are, and how he cherishes his life and his wife.

So, think a good thought, say a small prayer, hold your loved ones close and live every moment as fully and richly as you can. 

***

Coda

"Life isn't about getting and having; it's about giving and being." 

- Kevin Kruse

 

Wren Looking Down

Wren Looking Down / oil on black canvas / 4x4 / $38 includes shipping

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MY BRAVE AND HAPPY DOGS have a few deep terrors, and they were all on display last night.

Lulu never showed any fear of anything until Independence Day. A neighbor down the street had been setting off fireworks for hours, and while the dogs were in the house, none had paid them any mind. But while Doc and Lulu were still out, a couple fireworks went off, and I found Lulu huddled on the doorstep, shaking.

Last night, thunder boomed and lightning sparked, and through the storm was miles away, (sadly - we've had no rain since June), it was enough to make Lulu plaster herself against me, where she stayed all night, hot and solid, but apparently safe enough, with me to guard her.

Terror No. 2 was Koko's, and I caused it, knowingly.

Though I am living in a cave these brutally hot days, with all the curtains drawn and only the most necessary lights on, I'd foolishly cooked a pan of quinoa, and the heat from that one culinary endeavor had pumped the temp in the living room into the 80s - and this, despite the fact that the A/C is working as well as it can.

So I apologized to my dear Carolina Dog, and then I turned on the ceiling fan and watched as Terror No. 2 took hold. Koko's ears flattened, her tail went between her legs and she ran, slinking, low to the ground, into the bedroom, where she stayed until long after I'd shut off the fan. Because of her, I almost never use it, but it sure cooled the house down.

Terror No. 3 came as we were going to bed. Koko, Woody, Lulu and I were in bed, but Doc was... where was he? I called. Nothing. No little clicking toenails, no lumpish flop on the other corner of the bed. I got up, to make sure I hadn't left him in the yard, and no, I hadn't. He was inside - standing near the place where the living room ends and you turn to go into my bedroom.

This is apparently a scary corner - Abby used to be regularly afraid of it, for no reason that anyone could ever see. And here was Doc, clearly terrified and unwilling to walk past whatever it was. Far as I could see, it was nothing. An unadorned corner. Haunted? A sudden memory of Puffy? (From time to time, she would sit in that corner and swat the dogs).

I saw nothing. A box on the floor seemed to be capturing his attention - but it had been there for days, so it seemed unlikely that this was the Scary Thing. Still, I moved it and called him and called him and finally, he scrabbled around the corner, nails slipping on the fake-wood floor, like a cartoon dog whose paws spin and spin before gaining purchase. I am glad to report that he made it safely into the bedroom.

I always wonder what they can see and hear and sense that we don't - and most days, I'd do pretty much anything to trade places for five minutes. But not last night!

Here's everybody, safe and sound. That's Koko in the back, with the big ears. Lulu Belle is lower left, and Dr. Cooper is snuggled in between the girls. 

***

For Today

"We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us."

- Anonymous

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren / Oil on black canvas / 4x4 unframed / $68 including shipping

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THE WIND WOKE ME Tuesday night, howling of limbs and branches and the tearing off of spring blooms. It screamed of winter's not-yet-ended grip on our nights and our mornings. It called to the dark and jagged places in me, where loss and sadness and anger dwell, and it scared me a little, reaching through the windows and the walls, through the blue metal roof, and into the sleeping warmth of the dogs, my only companions, curled with me in the too-big bed.

***

For Today

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark."

-Rabindranath Tagore