Betsy is Home!

I took this yesterday afternoon after we brought her home, but I was just too tired to post. And you can see that little Betsy was exhausted from her ordeal, but very happy to be home!

The doctor doesn't know what the lump is on her pancreas, but she is hopeful that it will go away now that Betsy is on the right dose of Insulin for her Diabetes. She gets a shot at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day. If it doesn't go away...well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. She sees the doctor again this Thursday, but (hopefully) won't have to stay overnight.

And, amazingly, Betsy seems to feel a whole lot better already! She's eating well, followed us upstairs to sleep with us at last night, and is back to bossing everybody around. She doesn't even feel the shot because the diabetic needle is so tiny, and that is a real blessing. If they hurt a lot and caused her to run from us once she figured out what was going on, I don't think it would be possible to catch her. As it is, I pet her and give her the shot at the same time and she just purrs!

I got the best Valentine's Day present ever.....just one day early! :) :) :)

Into the Quiet

I've been out rambling the past few days, driving and hiking all over these mountains, seeing what Spring has to offer and taking photographs. Rambling with my dogs, with no set destination in mind, is my favorite thing to do. In the Spring and Autumn, everything else comes second.

But rambling is made all the sweeter because I know I have the quiet haven of my cottage to come back to. I'm so grateful for the space and quiet I have, because space and quiet are very much in short supply in Southern California, even in the mountains.

I can hear, quite clearly, the voice of the creek because I have all of the windows open. (Well, this time of year I can hear it even with the windows closed, swollen as it is with snow melt). Even though it's after 8 p.m. it is 51 degrees F outside! That's pretty warm for an early May evening, but the cats begged me to make a fire in at least one of the fireplaces, so I made one in the living room, which necessitated opening the windows. The warmth from the fire is tempered by a breeze dancing her way through my cottage every now and then, bringing with her a gift of cool air scented with damp earth, water, the sharp resin of pine and the sweetness of apple blossom.

Going into the quiet, being so still that sometimes I feel I've almost disappeared into it...that's another favorite thing of mine.