Goodbye to another friend....

It's always hard to say good-bye to our friends and it was difficult to say goodbye to another one of my friends today.
This is my 'old' horse buddy, Carol, who passed away earlier this week.  Carol was a great mom, grandma and friend.  She loved her kids and grand kids more than anyone.   And she was almost as much of  an animal lover as I am!
Carol and I met in the early 70's and became great pals.  Since we both had horses, kids and jobs it was only natural that we understood what each of us were going through at different times.  I have to say, Carol was always there to help me!  And to make me laugh or cry!  We did a lot of both while being buddies and I'm so thankful for the memories I have of her.

Death certainly makes me/us think, doesn't it.  Are we being the best mom, grandma or friend we can be?  Or are we just being selfish people more concerned about ourselves?  I try to think I'm being a better person at this stage of my life but am I really?  I have to say, Carol certainly did her best and always put her family and friends before herself!  She was always there any time I would call!  I mean anytime....I once had a foal born and the dam died 24 hours after foaling.  I was working at EDS at the time so who came to my rescue?  Yep, Carol...she worked nights at the GM plant in Lake Orion but would come over after work to make sure the foal was fed (via bottle) every 2-3 hours until I got home.  Then I'd take over with the 2-3 hour shift(s).  
Carol also got stuck holding a goat in the front cab of my truck!!  My vet recommended I get a goat to keep the foal company and to teach it to eat hay!   So off we went to buy a goat for the foal...I didn't think to bring the horse trailer so Carol held that goat the whole trip home!  We laughed so hard while that goat struggled on Carol's lap!  
I have many, many memories to make me smile and make me cry.  I only wish I could have had one more cup of coffee with her just to talk about our "good old days"....but we'll meet again sometime and we'll have lots to talk about.   Yep...that's what friends do........

Lesson 2

I did get to practice somewhat this a.m. on our 2nd lesson of Watercolor Lettering by Val Webb

I only had enough time to work on this practice piece before heading out for a hair cut.  Monday was our fiber meeting, tomorrow is day with grand kids and Thursday I have to go to the funeral home, as an old, old friend passed away suddenly early this morning.  Carol was a great pal back in the day when i raised horses.  She and I were single at the same time.  We hauled hay, stacked it, got feed by the ton, clean stalls and trained horses...all the while having a blast at it!  We did more laughing (&eating!) during the 'day'....she was quite the animal lover and never wanted to sell a horse or foal.  I do have fond memories of our time together.  I did notice something as I was looking up old pictures of Carol....she isn't in any but 3-4!  Why is that!

Well, she was the one always taking pictures of our group.  We had started a saddle club back in the mid to late 70's and met each weekend to trail ride or attend horse shows.  Carol was the 'keeper of the albums'...but because she took the pictures, she wasn't in any of them!  I do know how this goes...in the old fiber group I belonged to, I took all the pictures monthly and posted them on our yahoo page...same with our current small fiber group.  I take the pictures but there aren't any of me in them because I'm taking them....not sure if this is good or bad, but something to keep in mind for the future.

So that's my week this week...not sure how much I'll get done in my art work until the weekend.  I'm going to try to add some beads on my sun/moon piece...Tigers are on tonight so it's a good night to do some type of hand work. I've already taken Kalee on her walk so she should be resting and not wanting to play...guess we'll see!