Weather in the Tries:
Well, the high’s will be between low 50s and 40s ranging from 41 to 53 in no particular order. The lows will be from 30 to 38 in no particular order. I do truly wish that butterfly in Beijing would face the other way when he waggles his wings. I’m ready for some warm. I think my wee beast is, too. 

Death Café and Other Notes:

As you probably remember, I usually write this blog during the weekend and schedule it Sunday night for publication early Monday. I’ve mentioned the Discussion Cafes before, as I attend the Reflection Café twice during the month and beginning this morning, I’ll attend the Death Café. As my new friend and fellow Death Doula writes: “About this Death Café: This is not a grief therapy group. It is a friendly and interesting group of people discussing death, dying, and end of life concerns. Bring an open mind, an open heart, and your curiosity.” Now you know as much as I do, but I’ll learn more this morning (Sunday) and will share tomorrow morning.

Am back from the Death Café. Very interesting. A lot of people, of which I am old enough to be the grandparent of most of them. We sat at tables shoved together, and talked as a group, then because we were so many, eventually started talking in smaller groups. Someone brought a deck of Morbid Curiosity Cards. Some cards have trivia on them, some ask questions. One of the questions asked something like, if you were at a funeral and someone flirted with you, would you flirt back? I said, “Yes. After all, I’m not dead.” Then I thought a minute and amended it to, “Yes, as long as it wasn’t the funeral of my spouse or partner.” I’m not sure what caught the people more by surprise, that I said I would, or my age. The deck reminded me a lot of Cards Against Humanity. One of the few card games I enjoy playing. Alas, I’ve been all over the wonderful world web, and can’t find the deck of Morbid Curiosity cards.

I found it. I was searching for Morbid Curiosity, finally added ‘game’ and voila! If you’re interested, go here. And, like Cards Against Humanity, Morbid Curiosity has younger siblings to expand the game ~ Memento Mori and Postmortem. I can see where these cards could come in handy for people who aren’t sure what to ask, when to ask, how to ask. Great conversation starters.

Spring is definitely on its way. The days are warmer, the nights, while still cool, aren’t as cold. And I’m beginning to wake earlier. Which I think is funny, because my room has blackout curtains, and I don’t get light through them, but I am waking earlier than I was in Nov, Dec, and Jan. I’m sure it has something to do with hibernating. Yes?

If you missed my poetry reading on the 6^th, this link will take you to it. I’m about 30 minutes in for about 15 minutes.

Photo of the Week:
This is a true wee quilt. I think it measures about 8×9 inches. The background fabric is multicolored, and then I cut some scraps up and ‘sprinkled’ them to resemble a photo I took a couple years ago at my adopted Li’l Brothers’ home. The red was a red rhododendron seen between two trees. The sun shone on it, and it was bright red. The trees kept a lot of things in shadow, but the rhodie was gorgeous. The sprinkles were covered with black netting, and stitched about every eighth to quarter inch. 

from the desk of the brave dog:
it’s still cold out, no matter what my human says. but not as cold as it was. and the sun is once again shining in our sky. can you see me do my happy dance? now, if the rain will stay away, or only come at night. i think if the rain came while i’m snuggly with my human at night, and was gone when we get up, that would be fine. now that i have access to a computer, maybe i can figure out who to write with that suggestion. my human says we need rain, but not during the day, just at night.

Rainy Quotes:

 “Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness 
has never danced in the rain.” ~ unknown

“nobody in their right mind would be in the rain
let alone dance in it.” ~ sammy brave dog

Weather in the Tries: 

Our warmest day will be Tuesday at 75, with our coolest day on Thu of 68. And our lows will be in the 50s with Sat going down to 46. Yes, I’ve put my fleece sheets on the bed, and a real blanket along with one summer quilt. Soon will come the for real quilt I made for Thomas, but it was too heavy for him to use.

Delightful Trip to the Dark Side:

Had a delightful trip over to the Dark Side, where I spent a few days with Sheryl. I wondered how hard it would be to return to where EBOC Thomas lived the last years of his life and died there. He wasn’t there, and Sheryl said he hasn’t been back that she’s aware of, which makes me feel/think that if there is life after life, he’s off on his adventure, which is exactly where he should be. He doesn’t need to come back here to haunt people;-) though it would be nice if he’d show up for drink and a gab fest and tell us all about it.

As my Uncle Carl lay dying, he had a conversation with his long-deceased father. I sat by U. Carl’s bed, heard his said of the conversation, then there would be a pause, then he’d talk some more. When he was through I asked how the conversation went and he informed me it was good. I asked what Grandpa had to say, “Oh, he said, ‘Mbgliscuescf’ and then he said, ‘gblxdtvw’.” Yeah, well, so much for hearing from the other side of that veil.

Thanks for letting me know you don’t get the annoying pop up asking you to subscribe to my blog. Of course, I’d really like it if you did, but it’s okay if you don’t.

Doula: 

female slave. And that’s really what a Death Doula is, a slave to the dying person and his/her friends and family. We are there to help any way they would like that we can do. There are ways we can’t help as mandated by law. There are some cultures who do not want the bones that survived cremation, pounded into small pieces. But the law in this state says that all bones must be mashed and pulverized. 

Week 2 was the end of the ‘introduction’ and this week coming will be diving into the good stuff. The Death part. Part of the homework was to watch a couple of movies. I’ve finished one, “It’s My Party”—a movie to watch if you want to cry. Goes back to the days of AIDS. My first tears came at 4:23—credits were still rolling. Sheesh. Then again at 20:34, 26:07, 1:05:24, and then at 1:26:27 I started in and couldn’t stop until the movie was over. It’s a beautiful movie, with a lot of lough out loud moments and can be found on YouTube. It’s not all tears. But a beautiful love story. I did volunteer work with people living (though at that time, it was really dying, but we were so damn optimistic) with AIDS. I am so grateful that today it is a chronic illness and controllable.

I haven’t watched the other movie, yet, An Honest Death: A Palliative Care Doctor’s Final Days. The Dr. helped a lot of people, and then came down with cancer, and asked for his final days to be photographed. He was also a Buddhist Priest. It’s short and very interesting. I didn’t cry.

Only one photo today. Took it on the Dark Side and it was so overcast none of the flowers on the hydrangea bush had turned their face to the sun. And all the flower bunches only had blooms around the outer ring. Obviously, Fall is arriving.

From the Paws of the Big Chihuahua:  

Mom says she’ll type as I talk because she doesn’t like all the paw and nails clicking on her keyboard. She also doesn’t like me sitting so close to her coffee. The ghost of her old cat, Tashiko, had come to me shortly after I moved in with Mom, and taught me how to move Mom’s coffee cup. “It’s a game she really likes to play,” she said. Of course, I quickly realized Mom doesn’t like that game, but Tash really enjoyed the prank. I know Mom misses Tash, and I wish she’d come back and play with me, but she doesn’t even come to visit anymore. Says it makes Mom cry. And she’s right. But Mom snuggles with me, now, and I’m a dog and everyone knows dogs are better than cats. Right? Right? 

“Grief and Joy are always holding hands.” –Sandy Yannone