looking back...

for years, i volunteered at a cat shelter in Connecticut. 

i spent hours at the place each week, feeding the cats,

cleaning floors, scooping litter, cuddling with homeless cats...

 

the amount of work that goes into running a shelter is endless,

the constant need is mind-numbing, and there is never enough money. 

however, the volunteers get the job done - here in Connecticut and all across the country. 

if ever an animal rescue organization needs help, i do whatever i can to provide whatever i can -

the need is huge.

 

i worked for 8 yrs at this shelter and it was extremely rewarding. 

i now have eleven inside cats, all rescues

and three cats that we feed on our decks whenever they show up...

 

in an effort to shine more light on a never-ending need,

i put together a calendar of some of the images i had shot at the shelter. 

this is for sale on my etsy shop (see link in right sidebar or click HERE)

and all proceeds will be donated to the cat shelter in hopes of saving many more homeless cats.

 

here are some images of the cats i knew at the shelter.

some had a home and lost it.

some never had a home.

some are feral and the shelter will be only home they ever know,

and they are the lucky ones. they will be warm and fed and cared for...

 

please help all homeless animals whenever you can.

thank you.

 

hellooo november :)

today is my mom's birthday, she would have been 84 yrs old.

she died of lung cancer 11/13/08 and I miss her terribly every day.

when she died, my sisters and I divided up her plants.

I have one of her Christmas cactus plants.

and in honor of my mom's birthday, it has this beautiful flower today

:)

 

this is also the first November since 1979 that I am not overloaded with retail stress.

I am going to see this month and all it's beauty :)

I am going to see the gray stuff,

the temperature drop, the election signs,

the wilting pumpkins,

the rusty dried leaves

and smile...

hellooo November, I hope to enjoy the hell out of you this go round 

:)

one more image to add -

I bought an annual for the front step this spring, and it barely made it through the season.

I brought it inside a couple of weeks ago and it now has a few buds!

it feels like an omen, a message of new life...

:)

so hellooo November :)



flowers...

the seed head of a painted daisy in late day sun...

the petals are gone, but the beauty remains...

my gerber daisy sprouted another bloom :)

she's not quite ready to show her face...

 

my begonia drops it petals in a messy pile on the floor,

and I went to clean them up and toss them out.

as I scooped them up, I realized that,

like the painted daisy in the first image above,

a flower past its prime is still beautiful.

these petals looked like fairies or butterflies

and had the same mystical magic...

 

 

 

all of the images were enhanced with combinations of snapseed,

actions from pioneer woman,

and the gerber daisy has textures from kim klassen.

 

linking up with Texture Tuesday (Kim Klassen)

 

 



petite petals...

spring comes a little bit earlier on the cape than it does in enfield...

the andromeda bushes have rows and rows of tiny blossoms. 

from far away, the bushes look messy,
but up close, the little flowers are just beautiful :)

 

 

 

all images were enhanced with kim klassens's textures - ToBe and Sunkissed :)

linking up with Mona's Picturesque, friday Floral Love at

Mona's Picturesque :)



fragile but strong

 

last week, the announcement was made at work that i am retiring after 34 years.

the place that i grew up, the co-workers who became friends and family, the hard lessons learned, the many gifts received...

i was walking away, but leaving behind a lot of my life, my identity, my world.

but when it's not easy to go but even harder to stay, you know it's time.

as word got out, and it became more real,

i could feel the weight lifting off my shoulders.

my smile felt more sincere, my voice was sounding happier. i could hear it :)

 

then, on monday, joey's job unexpectedly came to an end.

he had been there 15 years and this was a way of life, an identity, for him too.

omg OMFG.

every plan that we had painstakingly put in place fell apart.

it was funny at first - how weird that the timing happened this way, chuckle chuckle

then we started envisioning how april -may, june, july etc- would go,

and we both got really scared. and really sad.

this truly was not our plan.

omg

OMFG

 

 

how could we do this? 

this meant we'd have to get health insurance?

we'd be selling the condo and moving to the cape?

what would we do together all day?

should i pull back the retirement, stay where there's security, an income, health insurance, a continuity of our current lifestyle, a daily routine...?

i think we both aged in the 24 hours that followed the announcement that his place of business was closing. 

he has a month from today until d-day.

i have until march 30. it is crazy.

 

 

we talked and we hugged. and slept. and thought.

and we cried a lot.  

and ultimately we made a new decision.

 

we are going to embrace this new world we've found ourselves in as a gift.

for the first time in the 33 yrs that we've lived together,

we will be unbound to 9-5 commitments.

we will need to find new routines. that's a good thing.

we may have less money to spend, but that too can be a good thing.

we never thought we'd be lucky enough to get to retire together.

many people don't get that option in life.

the plan we put together so meticulously didnt hold up long enough for me to even get to the first day of retirement. 

so, there's no plan this go-round.

this time, we just hold hands, and step off the edge, together.

 

fragile

but strong.