Casey
I grew up with a neurotic miniature poodle named Casey. She was really my dad’s dog, and had little time or patience with or affection for anyone else in the family. That’s about all I remember, except that she liked beer, (that’s her trying to get the dregs from a beer bottle, above) and she had a litter of puppies.
After Casey, and after I had left home, my mom and dad got an apricot miniature poodle named Punkin. She was named after Punkinhead, the toy bear who was the subject of a series of children’s books published by the Eaton’s department store in downtown Toronto, which is where my mom and dad met. Punkinhead the bear had a tuft of orange hair. When dad died quite suddenly in 1985, poor old Punkin was never the same. She came to live with us when we moved to Toronto in 1986 and my mom didn’t feel she could look after her very well.
But by then she had developed hip problems and bad eyesight … and was a bit overwhelmed by the energy of two young children. Pat said he would take her for walks but would never call her “Punkin” in public. I said she was too old to change her name. She didn’t last long, but she was loved and cared for in her last months.
Chris and Punkin when they were very young
In 1990, when I was very pregnant with Alana, Chris was 11 and Duncan was 9. Chris took it as his personal mission to advocate for a kitten every chance he would get. “I’ll take care of it mom. I will feed it. It can sleep with me … blah blah blah”. Tired of saying no, he caught me in a weak moment, and we went down the road to the vet (where they had kittens apparently) and soon Pepe le Pew had joined the household.
She was a lovely kitten. Who grew into a strong, independent, fairly anti-social cat. She had a good relationship with Alana, and tolerated me, Chris and Duncan. Not so much with Pat, which was the result of an unfortunate incident in the middle of the night when they both collided in the dark and Pepe went flying down the stairs. I don’t think they ever spoke to each other again. She lived to be 19.
Pepe le Pew, as a kitten, and a stuffy adult cat
In the past four years, there have been new additions to the family.
Several months after the pandemic started, Alana got Murphy, a rescue dog from Mexico. Within several weeks she realized that he was reactive with other dogs, no doubt because of his history (which was mostly unknown). But it was clear from scars on his body that he had experienced altercations of some sort. However, from the get go, it was also clear that Murphy loved people (but mostly Alana), and sunshine.
As a first time dog owner, Alana spent thousands of dollars on dog training and online support (remember, it was Covid). When she met Matt a number of months later, who had training as a veterinary technician, Murphy quickly loved Matt too. Here he is in his wedding gear last December (pre-ceremony, for pictures only … he was with the dog-sitter, who he also loves, at the AirB&B for the rest of the day). I think the legs belong to the best man Ron (another of Murphy’s favourite people) and Matt.
Murphy
And Chris and Tiffany have Willow (dog) and Hiro (cat). I don’t think they are always as loving as they might appear in the picture below (how on earth did they ever make THAT happen anyway?) … but they seem to be buddies. I wouldn’t know. I am not sure I have ever met Hiro. But Willow and I have met. We had Thanksgiving dinner with them last weekend. They live just outside of Chester. Willow also loves people, and the cows next door.
She was beside herself with joy in the company of so many visitors – some that she knows very well (Tiffany’s parents), some that she sees fairly often (Duncan and Tamara) and some that she only sees occasionally (Pat and I). But she treated us all with equal enthusiasm and energy.
Willow and Hiro
We hope many of you will join us on Sunday when we will bless the animals during worship in honour of St. Francis of Assissi, Italian mystic and poet, and the patron saint of many, including poor people, ecology, and animals. We will happily bless pictures and stuffies. If you prefer to watch us online, you are welcome to bless your pet over the airwaves.
If you would like a real treat, go to this website to hear the great Pulitizer Prize winning poet reading her well known poem “I happen to be standing”:
https://onbeing.org/blog/mary-oliver-reads-her-poem-i-happened-to-be-standing/