TGIF !!!!!!!
Good morning friends, another week has gone by and this year is going so fast we cannot keep up.
The air quality has been really bad here in San Francisco because of the fires so we have not been out that much, short walks and I think both Layla and I need some real outdoors so tomorrow I might risk it a bit and take her to the park for an hour.
Today, 28 August is a very special but sad day although for me the memories make me smile too.
It is Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day, a day that we remember all our pets that are no longer with us and are waiting over the Rainbow Bridge. So I am going to share with you some of the pets that are in my heart and have been part of my life.
I was blessed to grow up in a home with many different pets. We had Ceaser, a mutt, who to this day when I think back about her I chuckle as she was scared of heights and used to go up to the second floor of our house and then howl till my Mom carried her down. She was the size of a Boxer and heavy LOL.
We had in the sewing room/playroom budgies who I loved till they escaped out of the window and were not found, their names were Fritzie and Freddy. In that room were also our little white mouse called Pinky because of her tail and Hammy our Hamster who lived next door to Pinky, we used to close the room door and then let them run around free every day.
In our bedrooms we had Goldfish and two Terrapins, oy. My great aunt told me we had to feed the Terrapins bugs and worms from the garden and she used to collect them and bring them to me to feed them, they were called Ron and Eth after a British comedy.
When the fish and terrapins passed away we buried them under an apple tree we had in our garden and from that day on my Grandmother would not let us eat the apples.
When we moved to Israel we found on the streets a mutt who we called Whiskey, who became a princess. She was living with us during the 1973 war so one of us kids were responsible for carrying her downstairs to the bomb shelter every time a siren went off.
In those days there were no special regulations for dogs like today and when we left Israel and went to Europe, Whiskey flew back to South Africa where she was met at the airport by a Pet Hotel and stayed with them till we got back. I remember my Dad feeling bad that she had to be crated so he had a big big crate made for her although she was a Chi Mix. It was enormous.
Whiskey lived a very good life with us in South Africa, she would sit on a chair every morning and wait for her piece of cheese from my Father. I still chuckle over this one when going into the dining room and there she was on a chair.
When I went back to Israel I decided to get a cat, well I adopted a cat, thinking Sasha would be cute and small but Sasha grew to be a large cat but I loved him. He kept me amused all the time. A couple of years with Sasha and I rescued Shula, a Persian cat who was afraid of everything but after a couple of months she ruled the house. She was pregnant when I rescued her so decided to keep the kitten also, my Pichevkes (Hebrew for nick nacks). She was my baby and I adored her. All three cats used to get boiled fish every Friday night and were spoiled rotten.
Sasha passed away at the age of 14, Shula at the age of 11 and Pichevkas at the age of about 9.
I then came to the States where I adopted Baby, whom you all know about, she was my hero and ran away with me from the Domestic Violence Relationship, was the first to be in a DV shelter in San Francisco and kept me alive in so many ways. Baby passed away about a year after I left the shelters, she was 6 years old after she contracted IMHA which has no cure.
When she passed away a good friend of mine said to me that She had come into my life for a reason, she knew I was safe so she left me so that I could adopt a new dog.
That is when Layla who is my Boss came into my life and my life would be so empty without her.
I unfortunately do not have many photos but all the memories are etched in my brain, and today being Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day I am smiling now thinking about all of them.
So let us all share some memories, thank all those pets over the Rainbow Bridge for being part of our lives, teaching us so much and I do believe one day we will all meet up again.
Be safe everyone,
With love and woofs from Layla
