Kathleen's Korner at TheStidhams.com

Maggie was a dog.

I first met her several years ago in our front yard. She was staggering and drooling — sort of foaming at the mouth. I shooed the kids inside and got as close to her as I could. She was clearly in distress, and didn’t appear threatening, but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. And because she didn’t know me, I backed off so she wouldn’t feel threatened.
A few days later, she came into our yard again, friendly and happy (her tail went a mile a minute), and I was able to read the name on her collar tag: Maggie N.

She became a daily visitor, and soon I saw her on a walk with her owner, and learned the reason for her peculiar behavior the first day: seizures.

Poor puppy was on medication, but they hadn’t figured out the right dosage yet.

Over time, her face gradually twisted into a crooked snarl as one seizure after another affected her.

But her personality remained as sweet as anything, and she kept me company as I gardened when the kids went back to school; and when we brought our new dog home last summer she welcomed him in the way only a friendly, happy dog could: a massive running romp through my flowerbeds. It was repeated daily until the rains came in the autumn.

Surprisingly, they never really damaged anything aside from the large rosemary plant which probably needed those extra branches pruned anyway.

Sometime in the last few months, she stopped coming by, but when I saw her “around” she would always come up for a pet and a quick lean against my legs.

And then a week ago a Lost notice was posted on the stop sign to our street. And in the evenings, her family walked out with her new “little brother” calling her name.

Yesterday when I was picking the last of the summer blackberries, a smell. Then one of the boys came home from giving some of his outgrown toys to Maggie’s family with the news that one of them had smelled a dead smell coming from our yard.

A part of the yard I rarely visit because it is overgrown and tangled.

And there she was — had been for some time — and I couldn’t do anything but walk over to her family’s house and show them where she lay.

So today, my thoughts keep returning to Maggie, to her family and to our world. We mourn openly when humans die, but we also mourn when those happy, simple creatures that accompany our journey pass on.

Rest, Maggie. You were a good dog.

REALLY  I have a *insert drumroll here* chestnut on the tree across the parking space from the house!  I am so thrilled.  And as I looked at the wonderfully chartreuse casing, I looked up and realized the tree has grown easily four feet this year!

I think we can cut back most of the shrubs next to it this fall, leaving the willow tree, the Japanese kerria, the red osier dogwood and the remains of the stumps.  The miscellaneous berries in that clump can go, and I can move the fennel plants to another location.  They do well anywhere, really, except in truly boggy areas.

The air has been autumnal this last few days — not just in terms of temperatures and cloud cover, but the quality of the light.

Maybe it has something to do with the gradual yellowing of the leaves on deciduous trees.

Or the angle of the sun as it moves on its arc to the south.

Perhaps it’s something about many flowers that are in full bloom now — we have passed the “mostly green” part of summer growth, and now the late summer and early autumn blooms are coming in — gladioli, mums, late-blooming lilies.

The perennials are getting as tall as they will, some are flopping over (really must get stakes ready for next year).

The garlic heads are turning brown and the weeds in that patch are going to seed.  The pumpkins are big enough to see without magnification, zucchini and crookneck squash are ripening.  Time to harvest.   Time to finish picking the last of the summer berries and can or freeze as much as possible.

Time to enjoy the dry weather and play outside, or just sit and read in the shade.

As the vacation draws to a close, we are starting to go through things that we no longer need in an effort to make room for the new things we need.  G has pretty well cleared out his bookshelves and desk area.  M has worked on closet and desk and bookshelf (a little).  I have…  well let’s just skip my lack of motivation.

Have been making scarves some, writing a little, canning and drying foods a bit each day.  Want and need to get the work benches in my office cleared for serious work next month.  Need and want to get the living room back into “visitin’ order” — no space really to sit down right now!

The yard is managing more or less on its own this summer.  The dogs are surviving, but not overly happy.  One is recovering still from ripping off a toenail; the other is battling a wide-spread yeast infection.

So, not much of real interest or importance, just hanging in there and trying to stay cool.