Busy busy bee

Wow, raising a puppy and training her to relieve herself outside is hard work! Last Wednesday we had the first time puppy-training with Arwen. It was a lot of playing and learning while playing, but it's a start. She met a lot of different dogs: big and small, nice and not-so-nice, etc. Yesterday she had her second vaccination. She grew 1.35 kilo (3 lbs) in 1 week, although she still has diarrhoea most of the time. She got tablets Panacur for that and we're trying to regulate it by keeping her on rice and chicken for the weekend. I think keeping clean will be easier when this problem is solved. But besides the problems and fatigue we're still very very happy that she's part of our family now! She's adorable, cute, playful... our sweetie pie!
You can see more pics of her in my Facebook album "Arwen".

Last Monday was the first meeting of the aftercare group in Haarlem. Chantal and I take turns to lead the group, I started. One woman had to cancel the group, because she couldn't find a proper babysitter (she has a child with special needs); she cancelled the night before. Another didn't show up and doesn't react at all. A third woman didn't show up, but had e-mailed about it very short before we met. With the other cancellations we only have 4 women in the group now instead of 11! The women know each other from the selfhelp group they did.
All in all it wasn't a nice way to start. I started with the announcements and info. After an introduction round we took a break. After the break we tried to make an inventory of subjects to talk about, things that are still difficult to deal with, etc. We talked, but the communication didn't go smoothly. It was a bit remote, stiff. Of course this was the first time, but I noticed it made me very insecure. I was asking myself what I did wrong. Looking back I would say I didn't do anything wrong, but still... Ah well, we won't give up, it will get better!

Meet.... Arwen!

Meet the newest addition to our family! Her name is Arwen. She is an almost 8 weeks old (young) Berner Sennen (Bernese Mountaindog) pup. We picked her up today.


Last weekend we got an envelope addressed "For my mummy and daddy". Inside was the picture of four beautiful Berner Sennen pups. Rons sisters, brothers-in-law, nephews and nieces had decided to give us a pup. Not to replace Boris, that's impossible anyway, but perhaps fill part of the void he left.
My first reaction was: no, it's too early! We wouldn't have looked for another dog this soon ourselves. The gesture was very tempting though. We talked about it and decided to give it a go. I needed some days to work it out in my head, but the closer today came the more I got used to the idea and looked forward to it.
And now we are so happy to have her! She's so sweet and beautiful. Foofur and the cats are curious or ignore her. She's used to dogs and cats. She'll find her place in our household. And she will be loved (already happening)!

Aftercare group

In 2005 I did the training to be able to lead a self-help or aftercare group for people with an eating disorder. With the help of a professional health care institution and other volunteers I tried to set up a group. A self-help group started, but the aftercare for people who had Binge Eating Disorder (BED) didn't get enough participants. After a few years we decided to leave it for a while. Some weeks ago I was approached to lead a general (all eating disorders) aftercare group. I didn't have to think long! And now we are preparing to start next Monday!

I'll do the group with Chantal. We already have enough participants, because most of the self-help group wants to do an aftercare group together. With a few others the group is ready! I'm really looking forward to do this. It's a bit exciting too, I'm nervous but in a good way. There are still some things to do, but that will be okay. We'll meet fortnightly on Monday evenings from 7 till 9 PM in Haarlem.

COT #28: scratching

CATS ON TUESDAY is a group of cat lovers

who share pictures and/or stories about their cats once a week,
hosted by Gattina.

A lot of dog talk lately on my blog (and more to come...), so it's cat-time today!
Freyja, Bastet and Maia have several scratching posts, but the little one they use the most. It's right next to my computer desk. They scratch it (duh...), play around it, sleep against it. In short: they love it! See for yourself:

Goodbye my friend...

We had to let Boris go to the rainbowbridge...
Friday evening when I called him to make a walk, he couldn't get up. Eventually he could, but he was very wobbly. I called Ron and we walked straight to the vet (just around the corner). He checked everything he possibly could, but it all seemed to be normal. We got painkillers for him and we had to watch him extra this weekend. We were very worried...
During the weekend it didn't really get better. When he walked for a while it got a bit better, but the overall tendency went down. Yesterday it got worse. We decided to go to the weekend vet. She checked his blood, but couldn't really do anything for him. We decided to go home and visit our own vet today.
Ron checked him during the night. This morning we walked to the vet with a heavy heart. As if we knew... and in a way we did of course. It turned out to be a brain tumor that caused all the problems Boris had lately. There wasn't anything we could do for him, except letting him go to prevent further pain and problems. He didn't deserve to suffer, so we could only take that one difficult decision... We stayed with him until the end, both crying our heart out. Leaving him there was so hard... We miss him sooo much... The house feels so empty... Foofur and the cats (esp. Bastet) are looking around, wondering where their big friend is. It hurts sooo much...

Castlefest 2009

webalbum Castlefest 2009

Last weekend Ron and I went to Castlefest, a medieval / pagan / fantasy festival in the gardens of castle "De Keukenhof" in Lisse. Castlefest is a festival to honour the sun, which at the Celts was worshipped as the god Lugh. The old Celtic harvest feast Lughnasadh is held in honour of this god. Up to this day heathens and Celts alike celebrate this feast yearly around the first of August, which is also the time of Castlefest!
We first walked around the grounds to see all the stalls with things to buy, the stages, artists, etc. Monique was accompanying us with her little daughter Dominique. We met a lot of friends there. The weather was fine, dry and mostly sunny. Most visitors wear special clothes: pagan, medieval, fantasy, etc.
Among the bands playing on the two stages was our favourite folkband, Rapalje. Unfortunately they were stashed away on the little stage. They don't deserve that and the public disagreed completely. Still, their performance was one big party, great as always!
In the Pure Fantasy tent I bought the supernatural thrillers "Wolfmaan" (wolf moon) by Tisa Pescar and "Angstdroom" (anxiety dream, nightmare) by Mel Hartman. They signed their books for me too. At the time both are only available in Dutch. Tisa and Mel have a website together to promote their books.
Next to the big stage stood the "wickerbeast". A wickerman is an ancient Celtic ritual piece of art, made especially to fill with all sorts of gifts to the gods/goddesses and spirits of nature, after which it will be burned as a sacrifice. Everyone can put something into the wickerman to sacrifice to Lugh and the spirits of nature. In the evening, during a performance by Omnia, the wickerbeast was set on fire. Before the end of the rest of their performance Ron and I walked to our car, so we didn't end up in a traffic jam. I was exhausted, but had a wonderful day!

Take it easy

RULES
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. WRITE THAT SONG DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 friends - I won't! Play if you want, and add your link in a comment.
5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing.
6. Have Fun!


IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?
My heart belongs to me (Barbra Streisand)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Oxygene 02 (Jean Michel Jarre)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Feel (Robbie Williams)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Wytches' Brew live (Omnia)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Heal the pain (George Micheal & Paul McCartney)

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
Essence (Steve Vai)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Unchained melody (Righteous Brothers)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
One fine day (Robbie Williams)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
September morn (Neil Diamond)

WHAT'S 2+2?
Suspicious minds (Elvis Presley)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
The Whole of the moon (Waterboys)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Babe (Styx)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Coffee, tea and sympathy (Robbie Williams)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Just can't get enough (Depeche Mode)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Home is where me friends are (Rapalje)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Wonderful life (Black)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Seamisai (Laura Pausini)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Hijo de la luna (Mecano)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
Imitation of life (R.E.M.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
I can't believe you're in love with me (Dean Martin/Joss Stone)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Take it easy (Eagles)