This is my first time joining in on the Follow Up Friday blog hop!
This hop is hosted by Heart Like a Dog and this week’s co-host Donna and the Dogs. “This is the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend!”
I will actually be following up on some stories from the last few weeks!
On Black & White Mother’s Day , I posted a photo of the wonderful gift my hubby gave me from him and the furry kids. I promised a color photo once I had flowers in the planters so here it is:
This cute guy was also seen in my Wordless Wednesday Mystery post, working in the gardens at night!
Back in June, our two girls, Sheba and Cricket, were up to some Monday Mischief.
I’m happy to report that at least one pot of flowers survived the destruction.
As you can see, the pot had to be put up high out of their reach, but it recovered very nicely.
The other planter was a bit more of an issue, and not just because of the girls. That planter had no drainage holes in it. Even though I filled the bottom with rocks, it still kept filling up with water. I was able to salvage some of the plants out of it, and put them in another pot. Then we emptied it, and my hubby drilled some holes in the bottom. We refilled it and I bought some new flowers to put in it, which I then planted.
We got it all set up on another table on the deck, but then I realized I had forgotten to be sure the flowers I got, called Vinca, were not toxic to dogs, in case they got into them again. It turns out they were not safe. My poor hubby had to carry that big planter off the deck, and we put it outside of the dog pen by the garage! Normally, I try to start all my own flowers by seed, and they are always pet safe, but I had already planted everything I had started elsewhere.
These planters, with their solar lights, were also seen on my Wordless Wednesday Mystery post. I promised the story about the solar lights.
When our dog Moses died, almost 3 weeks ago now, our friend Kim brought us some gifts. Kim and her husband Paul were the friends who had the litter of puppies that Moses and Sheba came from. They had also lost one of their dogs, from the same litter, only two weeks before we lost Moses. George also died from cancer, but it was a different kind than what Moses had. They felt our pain in more ways than one. She brought us a solar light to put out in memory of Moses, as she had done for George. She also brought us this lovely memorial stone:
We loved the idea of the light so much, we went out and bought two more, one for each of our other dogs we had lost, Maggie and Shelby, many years ago. We have an area in our yard, down in a corner of the woods by my vegetable garden. Here both Maggie and Shelby are buried, as well as our cat Franklin. The ashes of our cats Bones and Don Juan are scattered there. Stones mark the graves. I like to think of it as more of a memorial garden, rather than a cemetery. I’ve never been a person who visits cemeteries a lot, I just don’t believe that the people or pets who have passed are there. I believe they are beside us every moment.
Therefore, the garden had become somewhat overgrown over the years. Our last cat we lost, Katie, was cremated and still sits in the house as does Moses now. Our neighbor very nicely gave us some hosta lilies also to plant in memory of Moses. So I’d really like to get the garden cleaned up, plant some more flowers, and put the solar lights and the memorial stone down there. We’ve already started the project and I hope we will have it completed in the near future. When it gets to where I want it to be, I’ll post some photos. A follow up to the follow up, so to say!
I love your mothers day resent, that looks really nice! Can’t wait to see how the garden looks too. Have a great weekend!
Thank you, Finn, and you have a great weekend too! 🙂
your flowers are gorgeous and the memorial is exquisite. Made me cry. The sentiment is superb.
Thank you so much, Caren!
What a beautiful post and I love the idea of your memorial garden! What a wonderful way to remember those who have left us far too soon. I’m sorry to hear about Moses, Donna’s right they just aren’t with us long enough. I also love the inscription on that stone.
Thank you for joining the blog hop and welcome aboard!
Thank you, Jodi, for the welcome, and I’m glad you enjoyed my post! And thank you even more for your condolences about Moses.
Love the stones and the idea of a memorial garden for those who have gone to the Bridge……it’s a lovely way to return to nature isn’t it. Your planter that your hubby got you is FABULOUS.
Pam
Yes, thank you, Pam, my hubby really hit it right on that one! 🙂
I hope I can really get the memorial garden turned into something worthy of the love my pets gave me!
I’m so sorry to hear about your dog Moses. Their time here with us is so short.
This struck a chord with me “I’ve never been a person who visits cemeteries a lot, I just don’t believe that the people or pets who have passed are there. I believe they are beside us every moment.”
I believe along the same lines, I don’t feel as if they are there in the cometary…although I also like to believe that they eventually move on and maybe even get to come back to this world for another go.
Anyway, nice way to think of it as a memorial garden instead.
Thank you, Donna. Our pets time with us is definitely too short, though Moses actually lived longer than our last two dogs did.
I have sometimes thought some of my current pets might be some of my previous pets reincarnated, just because they would have such similar characteristics (either that or I’d say, “are you channeling your previous sibling again?) . It’s comforting anyway to think that might be true.
Pretty flowers – and I just love that tractor. I didn’t know Vinca aren’t dog friendly! (Good thing we don’t have any in our yard – but I’d considered getting some!)
I love that memorial stone your friends gave you. And the solar light is such a nice idea. That’s so sad that your friends also lost their pup to cancer. Cancer sucks. :\
Yes, cancer certainly does suck. We’ve lost 4 pets to it now, 2 dogs and 2 cats. We can’t help but wonder just what it is that brings it on in so many animals.
I have a different kind of Vinca in my other flower garden, but that is not anywhere where the animals can get at it either. There was a pretty long list of toxic plants on the website I found, I couldn’t believe it really!
Still loving that tractor that was in the WW post!
I know, it’s just so darn cute, isn’t it?