The scarf exchange scarf

Since my scarf exchange pal, Sue, should receive her scarf today, I can finally talk about it - yippee!

I chose the Midwest Moonlight pattern, both for its beautiful pattern and for the name - you can take the girl out of the Midwest but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl and all that.

I chose a luscious silk and alpaca blend yarn called Elegance, which I purchased online from Knit Picks. Love, love, LOVE this yarn! It is silky and oh so elegant, indeed. The color is called Grass and is a pretty shade of green - not too bright, not too olive. I think the scarf turned out gorgeous.

I also included a lot of fun goodies, most of which I found on Etsy:

• A soap sock from designtalentedone, along with a bar of natural french clay soap made by daisycakessoap;
• A sheep-shaped (say that fast) bath fizzy, also from daisycakessoap;
• A polka dot coffee cozy from jenandjules;
• A half pound of our favorite Mocha Java coffee from Senoia Coffee Co.; and,
• A "surrender yer yarn" button from CafePress.

Fun, fun, fun stuff - I hope Sue likes it!

All dogs go to heaven

And cats and birds and horses and gerbils and turtles and any animal that has been loved and brought joy to someone's life. Theology, schmeology, that is what I believe.

My friend Stephanie in NC sent the following email message this morning regarding their dog, Taylor, who had cancer (their other dog, Tristan, died as a result of their horrific car crash in March):

"I am very sad to say we had to put Taylor down this weekend. We had always said that we hoped that he would let us know when it was time because we didn’t want him to suffer. On Friday evening, he told us that he was done fighting the good fight. The sparkle was gone out of his big brown eyes and he seemed to have lost 10 pounds in one day. It was time. On Saturday morning, Brian and I took him to the vet for one last visit and he went peacefully with his head in Brian’s lap and me holding his two giant front paws.

I take solace in knowing that Taylor joined Tristan and Justin, his very best buddies, in the place where all great dogs go. I like to think that they are swimming in big lakes and sleeping on big feather beds and eating pot roast for every meal. And they don’t have to stay on the leash and no one gets mad for eating the cat food or leaving muddy paw prints on the carpet!

The next time you have a chance, raise a glass in honor of the great big yellow dog with a very waggy tail and his little chocolate friend. We were lucky to have had them."

And Taylor and Tristan were lucky to have had Steph, Brian, Turner and little Will to love them.