Spring is upon us

Happy Monday to all! A beautiful sunny day and week ahead. Nothing but sunshine in the forecast. It feels wonderful.

All is good with us. We are slowly getting back into a somewhat normal routine. It takes time. Every now and then, I feel the aftermath of the past few months. I have moments of sadness but also moments of comfort knowing that mom and dad are together.  Mom's service was beautiful. Her flowers were lovely. The celebration ended with what became her favorite song during her stay at Vivalis, Que Sera Sera. One of the staff members, Missy, would always sing that song while attending to mom. Very special to us.

So, our days are getting brighter. Yesterday was an especially bright day for us. Spicy and I successfully completed the Caring Paws Therapy Dog Evaluation. When I visited my mom with the Spice girl, I knew then that she would make a wonderful therapy dog so I signed up for the evaluation. We are very excited about this. As a team, we will bring lots of comfort and love to those that need it most. I look forward to this new journey with Spicy. One day, I may try the evaluation with Cooper. He has all the qualities of a therapy dog but add to that a BIG dose of exuberance and vitality, two of the many qualities that we love about our Coop.

Russell and I booked a trip to Barbados for later in April. We look forward to this time alone. It will do us good. Today, I bought myself three books, a trilogy, to read on the beach. I haven't felt like reading much of anything lately so I really look forward to reading these books. Thanks to Lise for the recommendation!

This captures my blog for today. I leave you with some photos that Russell took on Saturday. He went to the Ecomuseum Zoo with the Lakeshore Camera Club. This place is a mere 10 minutes from our house. He had never been. It did him good to be out and about with his camera. I stayed home with the pooches and prepared our St-Patrick's Day dinner:  Dublin Coddle for Russell and Irish Whiskey marinated salmon for me. It was delicious.  I also include a photo of the butterfly cookies that my brother bought and dropped off at Vivalis last week, his way to thank the staff for all that they did for mom. Very nice gesture.

Have a great week everyone! Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring!

A Lilly and a Rose in full bloom were the center piece
of my Mother's final flower arrangement.

A colorful Wood Duck swims along full steam ahead at the
Ecomuseum.

A male Gray wolf and his female mate took
advantage of the bright sunshine and had a warm nap.

A Bald Eagle took time to bask in the warm Spring
like sunshine.

A Sharp Shinned hawk took a moment for a
photo opportunity.

Russell and his fellow shutter bug buddies
at the Ecomuseum.

Francois' gift of butterfly shaped cookies
for the wonderful staff of the Vivalis.

Cooper and Spicy on their best behaviour...thanks Tracey
for taking care of the duo during Mom's service.