Ivy

In the middle of the night Ivy's 15 years hit her like a ton of bricks.  She's been hard of hearing and of poor eyesight for some while now, but during the night she had a neurological event that seems to have affected her ability to get around.  I ended up spending much of the night on the couch and floor with Ivy, trying to comfort her from this sudden and scary condition.  I'm afraid the only thing to be done is make her as comfortable as possible.

Ivy has a special way about her that is hard to explain.  She's every bit as neurotic as me, but in the most kind and gentle way. She's loving and loyal and has been glued to my side for all these years now. She's also the last of a generation of dogs that has a (tenuous) east coast connection (Ivy knew my old dog Lodi, who moved with us from the east coast to Oregon, but has been gone for many years now).  As I said - a tenuous connection.

We are all thankful for the really fine holiday we enjoyed with Ivy and our other English Springer Spaniel, Maple. We'll live the future out day by day.  It's never easy this way, but it's what we have. (Moments after I took this photo, Ivy fell again and had to be carried back into the house. Glad I was able to capture her doing one of her favorite things - sniffing the back yard as if she'd never seen it before)

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

(Robert Frost)