Letters from Ascension Hermitage and Sanctuary

 Tonight we said good-bye to our beautiful RustyRoo - tomorrow morning he will be traveling to his new home at Rikki's Refuge in Virginia where he will have much more space to enjoy being a rooster! We will miss his morning efforts to call up the sun, but we still have his brother SilverRoo, so Sanctuary House will not be without rooster crowing. Someday SilverRoo may move to Rikki's Refuge as well, but with limited travel space, there was only room for one rooster. And no worries, the brothers will not miss each other - they have been separated (from each other and from our hens) for safety's sake for many, many months now! SilverRoo actually lives with our two Pekin ducks, Penn and Kelly.

Three French hens? Nope, these Buff Orpingtons are British hens! These sweet girls are Penny, Honey, and Goldie. They live in our front yard and as you can see, keep the grass and weeds down in their pen. And they lay eggs - medium, light brown eggs - every day.

Today would be the 120th birthday of my father's mother, Edith Belle Bradley Shepherd - her birth name was Isabelle Miller, but she was adopted at the age of 5 by her Bradley relatives. She was a complicated, very complex person - who isn't?! - but I loved her and loved staying with her on weekends when I was young. She died 37 years ago - may she rest in peace, and rise in glory, and may her memory always be a blessing. Early Weekends Weekends with my grandmother Were wondrous experiences: Making miniature bouquets of pink sweetheart roses; Sucking juice from an orange through a peppermint stick; Weeding the flower beds and pulling carrots for lunch; Jumping rope to fifty-year-old rhymes; Eating “exotic” foods:   asparagus spears, sardines, kippered herring; Believing there was a ghost living in the cool, dank cellar; Moongazing with my great-grandmother; Watching television late into the night – first Dragnet , then      ...

One of the sweetest kitties ever, our Noelle left us last night for the Rainbow Bridge. Noelle was already an adult when she came to Sanctuary House not long before Christmas in 2007, so although we are not sure of her age, she was certainly by now an older girl. Over the years, she lost her ear tips to cancer caused by the sun. Noelle lived in the house of course but spent as many hours as possible in sunny windows. When we discovered her sun problem, she moved to a room on the north side of the house with no direct sunlight. But yesterday I knew she was dying - I wrapped her in a blanket and we sat in a sunny window and then watched the chickens pecking for bugs in the cold, winter sun. I promised her that I would bury her in a sunny space in the yard. As do many of our animals, Noelle had a song - I sang it to her so often when I gave her a special treat, that the other cats began to expect that they would get treats too - and usually they did! Sing we Noel! The King is bor...

 Can you believe it?! We had SNOW in November - that's not like usual Maryland weather at all! Best cat response? A warm winter's nap, of course! Dolly (right) and Possum (below) said they might hibernate until Spring! Probably not, I expect they'll be up for dinner. . .

 Last night was stormy - very windy and lots of rain. The tornado watch siren went off three or four times . . . it was a restless night for Sammy and Piper, who are afraid of thunder and all loud weather noises! This morning Sammy sat on the steps, glad that the day is clear and chilly, squinting into the bright sunshine. Piper lingered in the kitchen for a quick morning nap, dreaming about playing ball.