Livestrong Day 10/11 - In Memory of a Special Friend

October 2, 2011 is Livestrong Day,  sponsored by Lance Armstrong's foundation.  Today is a day to help raise awareness of cancer and offer support to those who live with it daily.  Over 23 million people in the US live with cancer and my dear friend Emily was one of them.

Emily  was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago.She endured surgery, chemo and radiation only to have cancer return the following year in her spine.  It came back each year after that to her brain.  Emily took things in stride and resumed life as usual after each treatment.  She had two brain surgeries, plus multiple rounds of chemo and radiation.  She finally succumbed last weekend at the age of 55, leaving behind her husband and a teen age daughter.

Emily was my hero and inspiration.  No matter what she went through, she lived her life to the fullest, never complaining.  She was a talented artist, devoted mom, loving wife, sister, daughter, loyal friend, great cook, incredible interior decorator, supportive cancer center volunteer, avid animal lover, especially horses, gifted gardener, kind and dedicated special needs children's tutor, art teacher, and children's book author and illustrator. I loved to shop with her at thrift stores and antique malls. Emily was so creative that she could see endless possibilities for an ordinary object.  She expanded my mind constantly! She was the funniest person I know and kept her sense of humor thought it all.  She could make us howl hysterically with laughter, tears streaming down our faces with her hilarious stories about the minute details of everyday life from her perspective. Her special symbol was a dragonfly and she collected them in jewelry, art and crafts.  When I see a dragonfly, I always think of Emily.   The world will be a lot less brighter now that this lovely bright light has gone out.  Until we meet again Em!

I also want to honor some close family members and friends who are living with their own daily struggles - brother in law John with lung cancer, Mary Ann, Emily's friend has breast cancer now too and another friend Steve has stomach cancer that spread to his esophagus.  Many of our friends' pets also have cancer, being lovingly cared for by their guardians. Other people we  know have lost their loved ones this year to cancer. Please hold these courageous people, pets and all the others like them in your thoughts and prayers.  Let's  imagine a world without cancer and maybe one day it will be.

After Party Blues!

Mamacita and Rosa here. We would like to thank ya'll for coming to our Gotcha Day party and making it a fun celebration.  We are plumb wore out from all the festivities.  Looks like we're gonna be napping a lot for the next few days!

Don't forget that Oct 2, Sunday is Livestrong Day - wear yellow and blog yellow  to honor and remember our loved ones who have dealt with cancer.

Mamacita and Rosa's Gotcha Day!

Mamacita

We are having a big festive celebration for their sixth Gotcha Day - Sept 27 -with a Fiesta theme for our two lovely ladies Mamacita and her daughter Rosa.  Some of our cats have Spanish names on account of Pop being from Texas!

Rosa

Mamacita was a tiny little cat sneaking over to the back door of our old house, six years back to eat whatever the feral cats left.  Mom put a special dish out for her and before she knew it, Mamacita moved two tiny kittens over to the neighbor's rickety old shed.  They were wild wild wild but would come out for food.  The kittens both had URIs so Mom set a kennel cage out to catch them and their mom to bring them inside.  Rosa and her brother Manny had to have antibiotics and eye ointment for weeks. It got so they hated to see Mom and would run from her.  We can't blame them.

The three of them six years ago.

Mamacita and Rosa are our shyest cats and often don't come out when there is lots going on.  They prefer quiet.  They love to be petted and to eat (heehee you can see that from their sizes.) We lost their brother, our beloved Manny, from a very serious urinary blockage when he was two, but he is forever in our hearts.

So grab a party hat,  help yourself to the cake, yummy shrimp nachos and nip flavored margaritas!  We even have a mariachi band so let's party!!!

This is a good day to share the news...tiny kitten Cobbie was transported from South Carolina to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue foster mom successfully this weekend.  The very sweet kind lady who found Cobbie hiding all by herself in the shrubbery near a McD's drove all the way to bring her safely to our hands.  She wanted to keep her but when Cobbie tested positive for FIV, she could not not since she had other cats.  Cobbie rode very well in her carrier and will join another FIV kitten, Angelica, at her foster Mom's.  She promised to send photos of the two playing together.  Anyone want two adorable black and white kittens??? Let us know! We will be doing a post about the two of them later in hopes that we can find one forever home for both of them!

Cobbie

Angelica