Sad, Sad News

The news from my alma mater in Blacksburg, Virginia today is the kind you never expect to hear.  Virginia Tech is a place where things like the horrific shooting that took place there this morning just do not happen.  My heartfelt and sincere symathy goes out to the families of the students who lost their lives to this senseless act and to those injured as well. 

My husband and I both went to school there, and this somehow feels very personal.  I think the scary thing is that these horrible things that happen in our world chip away at our feelings of safety and security.  There is, after all, no explanation for this tragedy that can even begin to quell our grief for these young victims. 

Carson

Another bittersweet(for my family) happy ending for a dog named Carson, a very special dog we have fostered since last August.  Carson was rescued from our county animal shelter, picked up by animal control with a chewed through rope on his collar.  When he first came to stay with us, he was excruciatingly thin and had no idea how to play with a ball or any other kind of toy because he had obviously never had one.  He ate his food as if there would never be another bowl and had the depressed posture of a dog who had lost his joy for life. 

With time, love and care, Carson became a dog who impressed everyone he met with his sweet, humble personality.  He grew to love fetching balls(the lab in him) and couldn’t wait to go on our daily walks across the farm.  We grew to love him in a way that would only allow us to let him be adopted by a special family.  That opportunity came for him, and on Saturday he arrived in his new home in Pennsylvania.  The couple who adopted him lost their special lab a couple of months ago, and I knew when I heard how much he had been loved by them that this was a family who could love Carson for the wonderful dog that he is.  I am so grateful that there are people like them whose love will allow him the life he so deserves.  Thank you so very much, G&L!!

Facing the Giants

It was a cold rainy day here in Virginia, so my family and I fixed a big pot of chili and watched a movie we’ve intended to watch for a while.  We had heard from others that this was a wonderful film with a remarkable story behind the making of it, and indeed, Facing the Giants lived up to everything we’d been told.  The story behind the story is an inspiration, and a testimony to what can be done when we ask for God’s help.  This was very much an example of the little movie that could.  Check it out at http://www.facingthegiants.com.

Sonny. . .

I’ve written here before about my efforts to help with the rescue of dogs and cats who end up in the county shelter where I live.  Today was an extraordinary day for a very special dog named Sonny. 

Sonny is a German Shepherd mix who has spent the past three months or so as a foster dog with my family.  In his young life, Sonny has known an unfair share of heartbreak and mistreatment.  He was originally adopted out of our local pound only to be returned a few days later with injuries of unknown origin.  He was then saved by a local foster rescue group called Save One(now part of the Franklin County Humane Society), and then eventually came to live with us while waiting for his forever family.

A wonderful woman in Michigan saw his picture and bio on petfinder.com and inquired about him, amazed at how much he looked like her own dog for whom she wanted a companion.  When she decided to adopt him, Save One’s coordinator began looking at ways to get him from Virginia to Michigan.  Paid transports are very expensive and can quickly deplete a rescue group’s resources, so it was decided to wait until a volunteer transport could be put together.

And so it was, that Sonny left my home at six-thirty this morning on the first leg of his journey.  The first volunteer would drive him to Blacksburg, Virginia where they would meet the second driver who would take him to the next stop a couple of hours away.  And this would continue until he reached his destination.  It’s a beautiful image, I think, of generous people linking hands across state after state to make something wonderful happen for a dog so deserving of a loving home. 

Picture here is of Sonny(in front) with his new sister Jessie!

Snorkeling. . .

The beach here offers a great place to learn how to snorkel.  My husband took the girls for their first lesson yesterday, and by today, they’re feeling like old hands.  They couldn’t stop talking about all the colorful fish they saw, truly another world underwater.

Many friendly French people here, and surprisingly few Americans. 

Looking For Iguanas

In one section of the hotel, a lush garden with flowering trees in beautiful pastel colors serves as home to some lucky iguanas.  They are fed daily at 2:15, large bowls of watermelon and cantaloupe which they stroll out for at a leisurely enough pace, only to hustle back inside their green haven once they’ve commandeered their loot.  Hotel guests gather along the railing above to watch the feeding.  While the iguanas are the main attraction, doves serve as supporting actors and actresses by scooping up any leftover tidbits.

A Stork and His Flamingos. . .

Showers in the forecast today, so we decided to do the aquarium.  This wasn’t a huge place, but there was plenty to see, and the animals fascinating.  One of the areas in the main building served as home to a solitary stork and five flamingos.  The stork looked a bit like a mob boss with his own posse of supermodels.  And it was immediately clear who dictated the turns at the food bowls.

We also saw a sea lion show that made all my daughters plead for a sea lion next Christmas.  I have to admit I fell in love with her, too.  She waved and dove and rolled over on her back for a belly rub, and by the time the show was over, we were wishing for more.

Oh, and by the way, dinner last night was lovely, a fine meal in an old fortress nestled in a high hilltop with walls a foot thick or more.

The people here are very friendly, and the island has a good bit of big business, an oil refinery and a desalination plant for removing the salt from their water.  The buildings are bright and colorful, reds and yellows and blues with white accents.  It is a beautiful island, and I was told they’ve never had a hurricane.  Always a plus.