Pretty Pachyderm

The green and white tassel has to go, though.  I don't think a birthday has gone by in 50 years that I haven't gotten some sort of elephant.  When we were first married, we lived across the street from an elderly couple.  They sort of adopted us.  Often, she would be waiting for me to come home from work and would bring dinner to us.  She said it was easier to cook for four than two.  He was a great story teller.  He had been an elephant trainer and had traveled to Thailand.  He had a beautiful collection of elephants that I admired.  Sadly, he passed away suddenly.  We were there as soon as we saw the ambulance and stayed with her while they tried to resuscitate him.  It was our turn to take care of her.  We stayed until her family arrived and spent a lot of time with her in the subsequent weeks.  One day she came over with a large hand-carved elephant, my favorite from his collection, and said he would have wanted me to have it.  I'm teary.  I haven't thought about this in years.   We were blessed to have had them in our lives.  Anyway, that's how it started, and I now have hundreds of elephant-related things. 

That was probably TLDR (too long didn't read) but it made me happy to write it. ;-)

I am grateful to my niece, Liz, for taking time out of her Saturday to give us haircuts.  I've gone even shorter, and I really like it.   I'll take a selfie when it fills in a little. :-)

Thank you to everyone who visits and for all the stars and hearts on my recent blips.  All are appreciated! xx

Edit:  As soon as I posted this, I cut off the tassel.  Much better! :-)