Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Long time , no wirte!

Well, so much has happened in the last few months, I don't know where to begin. The links I've attached are to 2 performances by the Strafford Wind Symphony. One is of my friend, aubrie Dionne, our guest soloist (sorry we haven't put together the video yet, for you, Aubrie!) and the other is a solo I played at the same concert.
The school year has almost ended, next week! Cavan will no longer be a first grader...wow! he had a great year with his class and teahcer. Mrs. Burke was probably the best teacher he could've been placed with. She has such a gentle and compassionate way about her, that Cavan just took to her and adores her. With his ADHD diagnosis half way through the year, she really got involved in helping him adjust to his focusing needs. Since the diagnosis, his reading and writing abilities have florished! He stays up late with a flashlight at night to read chapter books!
Cayden fought pneumonia all winter (4xs). In the end, it is believed but not confirmed that asthma may be the underlying cause of his recurring pneumonia. He has really become quite an athlete. His football throw is AMAZING! You should see the spin the ball gets. He excels at so many sports. He has also taken a liking to reading his own books..trying to keep up with his big brother.
We lost our beautiful Dizzy in April, suddenly to what the vet believes was a heart aneurysm. Luckily, she was romping with her family and having fun, she didn't suffer and she wasn't alone when she died, but the shock of it still hits my heart like a ton of bricks. The waves of sadness come so strongly that I am barely able to move. It's the little reminders of her, like finding the box that I kept her baby teeth in, or a random picture that was stuck in a book years ago that I opened just by chance as I unpacked boxes. Sometimes, i feel her around me, or see her in Lido. it's not like Lido is doing something"dizzyish" but rather, he actually LOOKS like Dizzy (we all know that they had very different features). Even while I stare at him, knowing that it is supposed to be Lido in front of me, it is still Dizzy that my eyes and brain sees. People have told me that this kind of thing may happen, but I didn't understand that actual "realism" of it. i wanted to reach out and touch her, but my mind knew that if I did, I would lose the view of her, so I just stared at her for a long time. anyway, she certainly left a big hole in our lives.
With that said, life has a funny way of providing when it's necessary. Our friend and Lido's breeder were the folks we called when Dizzy collapsed because we knew she'd have the vet's home phone #. We chatted about what happened later (Lido's brother died similarly 18mos earlier) and she asked us to come for a visit. She had 2 litters, one of which still had a puppy unplaced with a family. It's not for a lack of interest (she has a waiting list as long as the Great Wall of China), but she didn't feel that any of them would be a good fit for this little pup, and told us that it would be an honor if we took her home with us. She couldn't think of a better home for her puppy, so we did. Partita joined us on April 18th. She is adorable and has many Dizzy traits, but still is definitely a Mirasol dog, for sure. sweet sweet sweet yet mischievous and sly. She is smart and is very driven by affection and food, which is good on the one hand and CRAZY on the other:-)
Lido has also been ill, fighting something that is causing him to be anemic. he has fainted twice, and has been not himself for a long while, but all the test the vet's been doing are inconclusive, although their preliminary thoughts were Auto Immune hemolytic Anemia which may havebeen caused by the Anaplasmosis he had at the end of March, but some test results aren't jiving with that diagnosis. The next step may be a bone marrow biopsy. My poor love dog. It's heartbreaking to see him this way.
Steve won 2 more Emmies, this time for a documentary he shot/produced with Phil Vaughn called Journey of the Broad-Winged hawk. His work is finally being recognized. It's a silly ritual, but for the individual, it verifies and solidifies what you know about yourself deep down, but don't always feel sure of outwardly.
Well, I'll put a couple pictures up and hopefully, will get back to this again soon.
ciao
Dizzy, our princess 12-20-98 to 4-8-10
Diz with Cavan

Partita is quite photogenic. born 2-15-10

Partita enjoying the dirt.

Steve with Phil Vaughn at the NE Regional Emmy Awards, winning 2 awards, for Journey of the BroadWinged hawk. may 22, 2010

3 comments:

spiritofbirthdoula said...

ok, so I am not sure what happened with this new feature, but the links didn't post so I'll posts them here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3PdAAdHi6g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5B20cSFe58

thanks.

Aubrie said...

Nice to hear from you in blog land! Partita is soooo cute! Tell Steve congrats for me for winning those Emmy's! Very impressive.

Do you have a lot of summer plans?

Anonymous said...

HI Aubrie,
thanks for reading my sporadic posts:-) I will let Steve know. He was happy because it was a long and intense project with a trip to Ecuador involved, so her really wanted to make an impression.
So far, the SWS is tentatively boooked for a couple of shows, but otherwise, it's a day by day thing. How' bout you? busy this summer? Did your books get puclished yet? if so, let me know where I can find them:_)