Like many dogs and cats (and people), Faulkner loves to lie in warm sunlight. As winter approaches we are mindful that this may be his last winter-- so it's on us to do all we can to make it an good one.

The amount of time the LR gets full sun is very brief, as I know from my own SAD usage of that south window in past years. TBTG my thyroid function now sends me OUT for sun... but into the outdoor cold is not what Faulkner's sore old bones need. So, thanks to FreeCycle, he is now the happily-dozing, sole occupant of a twinbed-sized electric blanket.

In the days ahead I am sure his new kitteh friends will take up corners of it. But till he gets his smell all over it, it's just his. Except for my bare feet. There is an adjoining chair I may occupy for brekky of a cold morning!


Using this end of the LR this way is bittersweet. It's had so many uses over the years....

In that place, looking out back at the corn crib and cow-punctuated hills, I discovered that I had lived in one place for more years than I had ever lived anywhere else and that I could start to organize my life and my home for stability, not chaos.

In that space, while the kids were with us, we said Morning Prayer before their schoolhouse pickup-- a big thing in the Blending Family years we enjoyed when we first arrived in this town.

In that space, one year I studied Scripture and prayed, many hours, in that pool of sunlight. (This year's books await winter nesting-time.)

In that space, last year, I had a Mini-Sick-Bay to transition from nursing home care to home nursing care to my own self-care.

In that space, I used the Sick Bay drapery/dividers to process 3 wardrobes-worth of clothing alterations, after my life-changing surgery, with two good friends who came to measure me and plan the work for my seamstresses.

In that space, I set up a closet I can SEE to supplement the Super-Closet which cannot have an electric light added, where hubby and I choose pretty outfits he likes to see me wear for him.

And since I no longer need him as a Service Dog, from that same place, beside that closet, I can now be Faulkner's Service Dog. It's good to know that if he can try to make one more winter, next year, we'll be all set.

~Susan