Cathy's Turning Leaves

It happened about 25 or 30 years ago. One day, I heard a scratching at the door. Curious, I went to the door and opened it. An English Setter I had never seen before smiled at me, then happily trotted through the door, went straight to the den, and hopped up on the recliner. Well Hello! Come in and make yourself at home! *blink* I went and took a good look at him. He was freshly groomed. I had him move around some. His stance, his build, the way he walked… everything about him screamed “Show Dog”! The dogs around here were (and are), mostly mutts, cow dogs and lap…

I once had two neighbors, Mrs. C and Mrs. H. They lived across the street from each other and were best friends. They were always at each others’ house and often went shopping together. Mrs. C had a beloved cat she raised from a kitten. It was her constant companion and had made it well into it’s teens. One day the cat died. Mrs. C understandably was grief stricken. A couple days after the cat died, I was talking with Mrs. H. She was griping that Mrs. C. wouldn’t come out of her house to go shopping. Mrs. H said, “I don’t know why she won’t stop crying. It was…