bye bye 2007 from a fortunate guy

HELLO Penny and Spike

Sammy: 1990-2007

Sammy was my bachelor cat, I got him as a little stray kitten in Chicago a year before my wife and I started dating etc. The day he met her he vomited on her skirt. He was a little moody, but absolutely beautiful and my best friend and I miss him. He died in April, nearly 17 years old, of tainted pet food. How do you explain to somebody who doesn't know or like cats or pets how much I loved him?

BUT, God moves in mysterious ways indeed, and Penny came along. A stray beagle who had apparently had a litter of pups (never found) lost in a snow storm came to us at the end of April. The vet says she is 2, and she is another stray to have changed my life.

During the summer I was a volunteer amongst the cats at the local shelter, and of the hundreds of cats there, I always pushed the guy I thought was the friendliest of the hundreds there, Spike. Nobody saw my wisdom, and in August, Spike came home with us, a 3 year old, enormous grey tiger who is so friendly and relaxed, and best of all, a great friend to all the other dogs and cats here.

You would realize, reading this, that ours is a family who is obviously lucky enough to grieve over and love cats and dogs, we are definately not people starving in Pakistan. My wife and I are extremely fortunate. We pay our bills, we have fun, we read books and walk dogs, we blog. I get to hang around the house like a five year old, playing with clay all day, laughing at life and the funny figures I can make for other people. In 2007 alone, counting an order I filled today, I had sales from this blog numbering 250 items. That's a big number, and thanks all of you for your help and support.

Best of all, the blog helped me hang out with new people like Kate and Jim, Mary Lee, OGP, Louisa, Kim, Lis and many other new people plus old blog friends like Greg, Gord, Denis, Celeste, CM and on and on. Does anybody have any idea how much fun it is to trade jokes with you people, and when we're really lucky, actually meet and spend time together?

Very fortunate indeed.