Monday Mantra

"Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death."

Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame

Grand words from a grand movie starring a Grand Lady......just like my Tango.

The Christmas Goose

Does simply a bad word from someone wreck your day? Is your chin always down, do your feet drag? If someone says something you don't agree with do you decide to hate them forever? Do you spend too much time thinking about how the world is a terrible place and everything is unfair? Do you focus on all the horrors and the sorrow?

Look at ole Mills. She does none of these things. She had one leg pinned, she now has a mysterious spinal injury and drags the other leg, she is older and doesn't feel too great most of the time. I bet she never spent a day thinking about bad stuff. Nah, no way. Animals are smart enough to know what a waste that truly is. Animals don't bother with politics and philosophy, they simply are. (neither do little children by the way) I suggest they are the ones that have it all figured out.

An old and ex-friend found out a few months ago that he had cancer. He now tells everyone he is going to die. The doctors caught it early, he is cancer free and recovering nicely but he is still convinced death is eminent. I pity him this holiday season and beyond because for him there will never be anything wonderful or good about life, despite the fact that he has a nice and paid for home, someone who loves him, 2 furry companions and money in the bank. He refuses to give at Christmas because "nobody ever gave me anything"......PPFFFFFT.

Another friend shared with me recently that she was abused as a child. She seldom got a present for Christmas ( and I am sorry to say she may not have ever experienced the excitement of Santa) and was very very poor. Yet everything single thing about her life and attitude is filled with goodness. She shares everything she has and finds the beauty in life, the satisfaction from a little comfort and the knowing that you are lucky if just one person loves you. Some spend years pondering on how their life went wrong and some just grab the ball and run with it. I consider myself very lucky to have people like her to balance out the sorrow eaters and the folks that are always falling on the sword.

I am taking the long way around to tell you about my Christmas gift. I always say I don't need anything and I don't, nothing material anyway. Having a few extra coins I can share is my Christmas pleasure. I am no saint or anything special. I share because I have always had more than I needed, even when times are tough, I still have enough. Seems to me people have been more generous this year. I love the stories of the layaway angels (if you haven't heard about this, please google it)

I cannot stand and weep at every animal that gets killed in the road but I can pull the car over to offer some assistance when needed. Some of you who are on facebook know about the Canada Goose lady that got hit by a car. Her beak was broken, her face was filled with blood and part of her tongue cut off. I couldn't just leave her there to die, I am no hero but felt duty bound to offer her a chance or at least a better death than freezing and dying in pain on the side of the highway. I pulled over and gently gathered her up and raced her out to the wildlife rehab. Massive head trauma. The next 10 to 12 days are critical.

Got word a few days ago that Goose Lady will live. She will spend the winter at the wildlife rehab and be released back into the wild when she is all better. Her survival is my Christmas gift this year. My something wonderful. The picture and article I have about her is in adobe so I could not figure out how to post it but if you want to read it, drop me an email and I will forward it to you. I feel so very pleased and happy that she will make it. It wasn't just her second chance but another chance for me. I accidently ran over and killed a turtle this summer. Miss Goose added the weight to balance that out, to keep the carousel going around. Thank you Goose girly.

I have tons of favorite books, quotes, movies etc. My very favorite story will always be A Christmas Carol. Its all about second chances. Not people giving you second chances or you giving them second chances but you recognizing for yourself when a second chance comes along and not turning your nose up at it. Your chance to balance the weight and keep the carousel going around.

I wish you all a very happy holiday season and leave you with this:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!

"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour."- Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol

Monday Mantra

" The heart that truly loves never forgets.”

Proverbs

Creatures Revealed

Yep two gray fox eating the nuts and bird seed. I have only seen them once and I have written to our local wildlife rehab to inquire about them. We live next to a very busy highway so if needed I will take the feeders down for a week or so. I dont want to see them get run over coming to eat. They are beautiful and apparently the gray fox is the only canid that will climb trees.

Wha Cha Lookin At?

I was greeted by this sight in the backyard tonight. I know what creatures the eyeballs belong to. Can you guess what they are?

Surprises All Around

Whoosh is not a lionhead...he is a "Mo Hair" bun cuz he has mo hair than I have ever seen. LOL

Surprises in the mail yesterday! Shell at http://theraspberryrabbits.blogspot.com/ sent me and the bun gang these wonderful gifts. Whoosh gave kisses to the stuffed bunny ornament before it went on the tree and was disappointed but felt better after his nana snack. Look at the precious card. Unexpected gifts are always the most fun! Thank you Shell for always being so kind.

I am not a crier, not really. I prefer to weep in private and hate bawling in front of others. Its just something I learned early on from my Dad (it wasnt really intentional on his part but we learn from our parents you know and gawd do I hate talking about my "feelings" yark) But sometimes things strike just right and boy do you just let it all hang out.

You have seen all the usual toy drives every year? The retail stores with their boxes out collecting for kids? I am just like most of the folks in America (and everywhere I suppose) living mostly paycheck to paycheck but always try to purchase a little something every year and put it in the box. We were always so lucky as kids at Christmas and I remember my Dad selling the few pitiful stocks his company gave him to buy us something nice. The excitement of my first "big girl" bike and my Dad grinning and saying "ride like the wind Chrissy" and did I ever.

As I walked past the box yesterday there was a BIG pink bike sitting there. I know that bike cost a lot more than any of the other toys in that box and the generosity of the person pleased me to no end. Not because bigger is better but maybe for a kid that never had a bike you know? The tag attached said "for a girl age 11 to 12....somebody had scrawled at the bottom....."ride like the wind"

I guess you can picture me walking around Wal Mart crying like an idiot. Oh man, that girl is going to love that bike. Unexpected gifts for her and for me...

Monday Discovery

Above is a bunny I never knew. Haven before head tilt

My Haven

Today was another "aha" day for me. Our director sent me some pictures of Haven from 2005. They were pictures of Haven before head tilt struck him. I never met that Haven. I kept staring at them all day, trying to figure out the difference. Why the "old" Haven was so unfamiliar to me.

Then I got it. The "old" Haven had a touch of mistrust in his eyes. Probably put there by no telling what happened to him before he was dumped at a feed store for snake food the day our director found him.

My Haven trusted me completely. He had no choice. He was totally vulnerable and he knew it so he handed it over. I didnt have to earn it, he just gave it to me. It has forever humbled me in ways I cant describe. My little angel, struggling to get to his feet to greet me every morning and then when he really couldnt get to his feet anymore, still raising his sweet little head up to get a good look at me and then lick his front feet in response to my "how is my sunshine this morning?"

Not a bad day at all today, surely not a sad one. Haven was a gift from fate that allowed me to learn something very valuable. As long as you have breath and hope and 1 person that cares for you....you will NEVER be defeated. This post is dedicated to Hope. She was Haven's neighbor and for all the world his twin. Same size, same color and same tilty sweet head. Hope passed on right after I started volunteering at Heartland. I wish I could have given her a few more gifts.

Monday Mantra:

"Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery. Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice. The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love."

Morihei Ueshiba

Well would you look at that

Whoosh loves his little bear and he loves a pillow to perch on. I gave him an early Christmas present thinking he would love the combo. He sits next to it and furiously licks the foot of his ratty old bear. (belonged to Nemo at one time) He doesn't know what to think of this large and colorful thing in his house. Somebody talk to him please.