Friends Move On

Time moves on and we're getting to the time of year, the holidays, when it goes into overdrive. Stores already have Christmas items on display and we haven't even gotten through Halloween!  It just makes me cringe!!

This month has been marked by the loss of friends - not due to my obnoxious behavior, but due to death and moves to other parts of the country.  The first was a memorial service for my neighborhood friend Mary.  She passed away several months ago. We bonded the day after the election when our paths crossed as we walked our dogs.  We hadn't talked politics at all before that, but we were so distraught that we both began sharing our disbelief.  It was at that point that I invited her to Drinking Liberally, which she attended faithfully and seemed to relish.  We were all stunned when she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and given only months to live. She managed it valiantly and with a certain resignation.  I never met her husband, who passed away several years earlier, with the same thing only faster, in a matter of weeks after being diagnosed.  As we learned from Mary's children at the service, they had not had a service for their father because Mary just couldn't fully let him go.  They confessed to not having fully dealt with his passing before Mary passed also.  They were both cremated and the service was for both of them, which just seemed fitting. It was a very intimate, touching service with their grandchildren reading a poem and doing a musical piece.  The eulogies by the children added more depth to the Mary we knew.  It was very touching and I felt honored to be included.  Later in the afternoon, the 3 children had hired a boat to take them out to sea where they would spread the ashes of their mom and dad, just as they had wanted.

Several days after Mary's service, I had lunch with Ana, another neighborhood friend and zentangle buddy.  She and Lou, her husband, have since moved to San Antonio. We got together as often as possible for an afternoon of lunch and zentangle.  It was always fun and a great chance for us to catch up. I'm going to miss Ana's motivation for doing zentangle.  I walk Rosie by their house every day and still expect to see them.

The day after that, I had lunch with another friend, Pilar, who has moved to California! Our connection was politics and I'm wondering if she will remain as active once she acclimates to a blue state.

That same week I had Drinking Liberally and lunch with another friend.....and this was just after I weighed myself to discover that I'd put on all the weight I'd made such an effort to lose before my UK trip!  My walking routine is still waiting to happen!!

My friend Melodee and I attended the second annual Lowcountry Vegfest at Shelter Cove Park.  As you can see from the photos, it was a lovely day and a great turnout.  I'd also say there were almost twice as many vendors and lots great food!  Pierre the pig was a huge attraction, as were rescued greyhounds.  Many animal sanctuaries were represented, as was our local Palmetto Animal League, from whom I adopted Chloe and who helped me with Mama Mia and her babies.  Gene Baur, who has been a vegan since 1985 and founded the first farm animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY, was the guest speaker.  While he was probably preaching to the choir, he was still very motivational. The first 300 people received a swag bag of freebies, but I did buy No Evil Foods Spicy Italian Sausage.  The next day I made a pasta recipe and used the sausage, and it was sooo good!  Their business is out of Asheville, NC but you can buy their products at Whole Foods.  I'm definitely pleased to have discovered them.  Vegfest lasted from 10AM until 5PM, but we left around 2:30 and went to Driessen Beach for about an hour.  We just sat, enjoyed the view and soaked up the sun.  It was a great way to end the afternoon.

Those are the fun things, and the remainder of my time has been filled with the usual - feeding feral cats, doing my Resistance work, hospice volunteer work, progressive ladies' lunches, and real exciting things like cleaning the garage!  It has finally gotten cool enough to be able to do that.  It seems that fall has finally arrived and it's nice to be able to get out anything of the day and be reasonably comfortably.

Rosie wishes you a Happy Halloween!