Elly

Near the end of our anniversary – last Tuesday – Joanne told me that she had a present for me, but the present wouldn’t be able to come home for a few days. This sounded like a strange thing to say so I asked Jo’ what she was talking about. Jo’ started telling me a story about a kitten that came to the animal hospital – where she works – that had had it’s paw crushed in a sliding glass door. The owners couldn’t afford to pay for the kitten’s treatment and asked if they could leave it there for the hospital to care for.

A few days had gone by and the kitten was beginning to heal. Joanne said that she wanted the little ball of motorized fur! The girls that Jo’ works with suggested that the kitten be named ‘Eleven’ because it was our eleven year wedding anniversary. The name got shortened to Elly.

I liked the idea of naming her in honour of the number eleven because of our anniversary and because one of my favourite songs by the Grateful Dead is named ‘The Eleven’.

Underfoot the ground is patched
With climbing arms of ivy wrapped
Around the manzanita
Stark and shiny in the breeze

Wonder who will water all the children
Of the garden
When they sigh about the barren
Lack of rain
And droop so hungry ‘neath the sky

William Tell has stretched his bow
‘Til it won’t stretch no further
And it may require a change
That hasn’t come before

By Friday Elly was ready to come to her new home.

Joanne kept Elly company on our couch for most of this evening. It was my job to make sure that Koly and Guido were slowly introduced to their younger sister.

Koly and Guido were fascinated with this furry little creature and they couldn’t keep their eyes off of her.

Slowly, they got closer and closer…

Koly was the most curious and came in for a sneak peak. Elly hissed a few times but later that evening they touched noses.

By the time Guido came in for a close look Elly was asleep so Guido seemed quite bored about the whole affair.

Joanne was very tired from work and went to bed early, leaving time for Elly and me to become aquainted.

Today, Joanne has taken Elly to work for the veterinarian to examine again. Elly still has a few stitches in her leg and there is a slight chance that she may lose the leg… but it seems to be healing fine!

Our family is now a little bigger!!!

When I called my parents to tell them that they were grandparents again my mom said “What poor animal did you rescue this time?” All of our pets have been strays or abused animals in need of a happy home.

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Did anyone happen to notice the beautiful quilt that appeared in one of the above photos? Joanne finished creating that quilt just this spring. It has been three years in the making. Joanne first started quilting way back in 1995. She took a six week class in the evenings and since then she has continued to teach herself many different techniques in this art.

This quilt was inspired by a photograph that I took while Joanne and I were living in Nelson, British Columbia. Joanne and I were celebrating our four year anniversary on this day. We had booked a hotel room in a nearby town for a weekend, and during our first afternoon we rented a canoe for the day. If you look closely you will see Koly looking over the edge of the canoe, just behind Jo’s paddling arm.

I’ll have to share more photos of Joanne’s inspiring quilts in the future.

Jim