So sorry to hear about Serena. She has gone to join Houpette where hopefully they are both now free from pain.
Take care of yourself now, enjoy every sunrise and sunset. You are in my thoughts.

Judy, felt quite distressed to read about Serena and then your own problems. Prayers and loving thoughts heading your way.

Judy, there are no words to express the sadness I feel for you at the moment. I wish I could be there to help you through this terrible time.



RIP dear Serena

Hi Judy.
Just wanted to add my condolences on the loss of Serena. Wishing you good thoughts with your health problems.

So sorry for your loss. It does leave such a hole in our lives to lose a pet. Take care of yourself and stay as positive as you seem now. You are in our thoughts and prayers

I am so very, very sorry for your loss, Judy - I am grieving for my best friend Sandy, who died two weeks ago. She had had liver disease for many years, and outlived her prognosis to live a good long life (almost 14, excellent for an 85 pound yellow lab - she looked just like Kate's Schultz), but declined rapidly that last week. It left a terrible empty place in my heart - she and I lived alone together, with our three cats, for six years after my husband died, creating our peaceful lifestyle together, and now there is that empty place on the living room rug and by my bed.

My thoughts are with you at this time, for your loss of Serena, and for your health. You are right, life is good, to be lived to the fullest. To make you smile: I had no thought of another dog at this sad time, but Fate chose not to listen - I have been "gifted" with a young, unadoptable dog of dubious heritage who was badly abused for most of his short life. Jasper needs me, I realize, and he has helped me to learn that I need him. He is not the dog of my dreams, but he has, in four days, become the dog of my heart. I grieve for my Sandy, but rejoice that I can make a difference in the life of an innocent with a bad start start in life!

I was so sorry to hear your terrible news, Judy. Losing a beloved pet is always hard, but to have it happen when you have your own health problems is so much worse. Sending positive thoughts your way. ♥ Jane

Hi Judy - so sorry to hear about your loss. RIP Serena - she's waiting at the Rainbow Bridge.
Sorry also about your ill-health. Stay positive - I'm sure it helps.

So sad to lose a special friend. Keep a positive outlook, Judy, difficult as it may be. Laugh as much as possible. Laughter seems to ease all kind of hurts and bring good memories to mind.

I just looked back at your picture, Judy. Was Serena a minpin? She looks like my sister's dog, Kelli, whose ashes now rest in a lovely urn in the bay window where she loved to nap.

Hello Judy - I am so sorry to hear about your Serena. I am also sorry to hear about your health. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. God Bless.

Judy, I am sorry to hear your sad news about your pet dog and also about your bad health. I hope that you get a good result on Wednesday with the scan and the doctors can do something positive for you.

Dear Judy, So sorry to hear you lost your dog, they are such a joy and comfort. Hope your own health is on the mend.

Thinking of you Judy, stay positive always. Take good care of yourself xx

Hi, Judy!

I am so sorry to hear of your loss of sweet Serena! Those of us who have shared our lives with dogs know how wrenching it is to lose them, even when they are ready to go. My heart aches for you!

I'm sorry to hear of YOUR health problems, too! You are in my thoughts and prayers. But your upbeat attitude will keep you enjoying life more than some who have many fewer problems. Hang in there!

just hopping in to wish you a very Happy Easter and a season full of joy!

Hi Judy, Wishing you a

Judy, if I only have half of your positive attitude in the face of adversity, I would still feel like I could conquer the world.
You are an inspiration. I will never stop sending you healing thoughts and positive vibes.
You go girl.

Judy - I came here to say exactly what Gail has said in the post above - I'll be thinking of you.

Guess what Judy, I just got msg that my BIL who was undergoing treatment for similar case,has been given a clean chit after the last sitting...and I happen to see your post here.May you also come out of this successfully whatever may be the present condition.Stay strong and fight it out.
Best wishes.
anu.

Thank God you are not in pain and that you have friends that can help when needed. You have a wonderful attitude, Judy, and are an inspiration. After all, it's not the number of days we have left but what we do with them that matters. ♥ Jane

Dear Judy,

So sorry to hear your news. Nice to hear your friends are looking after you, stay positive and live every moment to the full. Love Colleen :-)

Dear Judy,
Thinking only good vibes for you girl. Life is rich, enjoy what you can.

Take care of yourself, Judy. I am so happy to hear that you are enjoying each day to the fullest. Love you.

Re: your question today ... it's NOT a green club ... it's a club used on a green ... :)

Hi Judy, I'm doing reasonable well - for an old feller. I have an appointment with my cardiologist tomorrow which will tell me more about recent tests. Thank you for asking.
How are you doing?

Hi Judy, thank you for your enquiry. I have seen the cardiologist twice since we last communicated and the results are a bit 'iffy'. I won't go into details, but the main thing is my life-style is reasonably comfortable and I can live with that. In the long term I can't expect much improvement, but hey, I'm warm and vertical and I guess that's what counts.
Look after yourself,
Ian

Thanks for your kind words, Judy! A Therapy Dog does bring an amazing amount of joy to some who otherwise seem to find little else to smile about. That's what has kept us going back, even though it takes quite a bit of time each week. After all, I have to transform a sometimes grubby dog into a respectable canine citizen! It takes us about 1 1/2 hours at the facility, plus driving back and forth, plus about an hour of grooming for Ceilidh. (That's a Gaelic word, pronounced "Kaylee"!!, meaning a party with singing and dancing, so she's my "party girl.") Maybe 10 minutes of grooming for me ... but who's looking at ME? But we have made over 100 therapy visits since we started.

I hope you are getting along well, and enjoying the lovely spring. Our azaleas and iris are gorgeous right now! Take care of yourself, and keep looking on the sunny side!

Hello Judy, just stopping by to let you know I am thinking of you. I hope you are well at present and that you are enjoying the Spring of this year. Take care and stay strong always. x

When were you at Tamarindo? That's one of my favorite beaches in Guanacaste. I spent many hours there in my late teens and early 20's.

Hi Judy, read your comment about the elephants. This is the first thing I found on google. Enjoyed the two views of the same book.
Amazon.com Review
Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.

The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan

From Publishers Weekly
With its spotlight on elephants, Gruen's romantic page-turner hinges on the human-animal bonds that drove her debut and its sequel (Riding Lessons and Flying Chang

sorry too many words....
From Publishers Weekly
With its spotlight on elephants, Gruen's romantic page-turner hinges on the human-animal bonds that drove her debut and its sequel (Riding Lessons and Flying Changes)—but without the mass appeal that horses hold. The novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski, recounts the wild and wonderful period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus he joined during the Great Depression. When 23-year-old Jankowski learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash, leaving him penniless, he drops out of Cornell veterinary school and parlays his expertise with animals into a job with the circus, where he cares for a menagerie of exotic creatures[...] He also falls in love with Marlena, one of the show's star performers—a romance complicated by Marlena's husband, the unbalanced, sadistic circus boss who beats both his wife and the animals Jankowski cares for. Despite her often clichéd prose and the predictability of the story's ending, Gruen skillfully humanizes the midgets, drunks, rubes and freaks who populate her book. (May 26)
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Judy... When I was 17, my family moved to Costa Rica. Quickly. My stepfather was not an honest man (besides being an abusive bast*rd) and fled down there to avoid many problems he caused.
I finished High School down there (Colegio Lincoln, in Moravia... a bi-lingual school) and most of my friends were Costa Ricans. The rest of my family stuck to the American colony. I spent a lot of time traveling the beaches with friends, and staying at their homes on the beaches. I worked down there for some 3 or 4 years, training horses, and partied a lot. I miss Costa Rica something fierce. To me, that was home. That was back in the '70's. I'm afraid to go back, because it's probably changed drastically.

Judy, no have not read the book but after reading those reviews it has my interest now.
Hope your day is good.

You have been tagged see Glindas post, page 4 easy 12th June.

Thanks for checking in Judy. She is my pride and joy, even on whiney days. The other one is doing just what is supposed to be done at the moment. Apparently that is bounce around on Mommy's bladder.
Temps went up fast here, which is mixing with my internal heat, I have my glass of ice tea and praising fates for air conditioning, too.
Just a few days to go and then we can all oooohhhh and aaahhhh over the relief....oops, I mean baby.

HI Judy - thank you so much for your kind birthday greetings. I had a nice day with all these posts from all around the world - warms the old(ish) heart!!

Judy I'm on the wrong side of 45 since this birthday - and I'm starting to feel a bit 'older' than before!! Working on it though...face creams are getting more expensive by the birthday!

Happy 4th of July! Let freedom ring!!!