I’m still trying to catch the blog up on what we’ve been doing for the past week. Rick’s parent’s came to visit and we went back to Ellis Island and Lady Liberty. Here are some photo impressions of Ellis Island.

Late September/early October is apple picking season here in New Jersey and New York. We have many U-Pick orchards close by in both northern NJ and around Warwick, NY. While Mom was here on her last visit, she wanted to pick a couple of bags of apples. So, one fine day we headed off to do just that. Due to perfect weather conditions, the apple crop this year was a banner one. Trees were bursting with fragrant red fruit.

We chose Masker Orchards in Warwick. Family owned and run, Masker does not sell their fruit to the mass market. They are strictly a U-Pick orchard. You check in at the entrance and they give you plastic sacks for your picked purchases. The map of the orchard is printed on the sack, where which type of apple tree is planted. We were after Empires [a combination of Red Delicious and Jonathan] and Cortlands. The roads are rutted and dirt, and uphill. We had some trouble navigating, but finally figured out how to read the map.

We found that the Cortlands were bare of apples. Darn, they’re good cooking apples. There were plenty of Empires, and in just a few short minutes we had a bag full. There were so many perfect apples on each and every branch that we only picked from two trees and you could not tell we had picked any. I have never seen so many gorgeous apples! Mom wanted another bag of a different variety. Since the Johnagolds were all gone as well, we had to settle for Red Delicious. Two huge, ready-to-burst bags later and we were good to go. I had no idea what Mom was going to do with all those apples!

I’m not that much of a fan of Red Delicious, but they were good. The Empires were awesome. I wish now that I had picked my own bag, but at the time I couldn’t envision what I was going to do with 40-some-odd apples. Next year I will definitely pick my own bag. It makes a huge difference in flavor to eat them picked right off the tree. CRUNCH! Becky had the delicious lingering smell of parfum des pommes for days afterward. Yum.

The Warwick Valley a few weeks later…

Our sweet Milli is gone. The house is quieter, the dogs somewhat subdued this morning without her adding to the barking ruckus that starts our daily routine. Other than teaching her children [Daisy and Bode] a few bad habits that she started at their birth, she was an easy dog to have around. Her sad, cow-eyes could speak volumes when she turned her gaze on you. Yesterday, that gaze said I can’t go on, please do something to help me. The spark and twinkle was just not there. Just before the doctor came in to administer the dose that would help her on her way, she gave us one last silly-Milli smile, but it only lasted a second.

Milli was diagnosed with Wobbler’s disease last year at about this time. We kept her on a dose of prednisone to help her walk. She did very well and managed to get around just fine, and happily. About a month ago we noticed a change in her. She wasn’t looking quite so good and was having more difficulty with the stairs. We chalked it up to the pred taking its toll on her body and muscles. Over the past week or so she had taken to laying outside by the pool for long periods of time, and when we called her to come in she ignored us. It took a lot of coaxing to get her inside. Then 3 days ago she refused her breakfast, something Milli never does. She ate her dinner meal with gusto. The next morning she refused breakfast again and would not even take a biscuit. Again, that evening she ate her meal. But, Saturday morning I had to hand feed her chicken because she would not eat anything else. By that afternoon her gums and inside her eyes were very pale, and I knew it was not going to be good news. She started with diarrhea, another bad sign. She quit drinking.

Sunday morning when Rick let the dogs out before we took his parents to the airport at 4:00 a.m., all the dogs came back inside except for Milli. She didn’t answer our calling her name. Rick took the flashlight and starting searching the fenced woods part of our yard. He finally found her just lying in the woods next to the fence, almost like she was trying to crawl off somewhere to die. We managed to get her in the house before we left. When we got home it was obvious she was going downhill fast. We took her to the ER vet. They gave her fluids and got her somewhat stable and did blood work and a few x-rays. They showed she was bleeding internally, most likely from a tumor on her spleen, and more than likely hemangiosarcoma. Surgery could be done to remove the spleen, but there was a 66% chance it was malignant, and in her condition it was risky at best. Prognosis if things went normally would only buy her another couple of months.  We knew our choice would be to let her go.

Join me in celebrating her life. I am going to try and capture the memories of her that stick in my mind the most, along with some photos.

She was the most beautiful puppy we’ve ever had. Just breathtaking. [See her as a puppy here.]
She growled at me the very first time she saw me peeking into her Sherpa bag at the airport!
She had cow’s eyes.
She was an easy whelper; a good mamma.
She was silly.
She loved to roll over on her back and kick her back feet in the air. Belly rubs!
She was lazy.

One of the cutest things she used to do was while we were at the cabin. Before she was diagnosed with Wobbler’s, she stopped going on the long walks at the cabin with us. She would start out with us, but somewhere along the way she’d take a short cut home. She would be waiting at the back door, wagging away, when we got back with the rest of the crew. Pretty soon she stopped going at all and just stayed at the cabin. She would roll over on her back when she saw us coming and kick her feet in the air, and wiggle her body back and forth—all while upside down. Very cute.

Here is Milli in her prime.

Her special name was Cookie. I don’t know why but Rick started calling her Cookie/Cookie Monster. It stuck. Some other names where:
Milly-enia
Silly Milly
Sniff, wiggle, fart and blow [of which she did all at the same time!]
Cow dog [mostly because of her eyes, but also because she was cow-like at times]

Daisy can’t figure out why she isn’t here. Daisy, Milli and Bode all had this “game” they played when let out of the house. Milli taught it to them when they were pups. This is the bad habit I was referring to above. We never liked it, but couldn’t really stop them from doing it. They would bark, bite and snap at each other [around the legs, neck, tail] until one of them got tired. In the past few years Milli was an unwilling participant. Today when I let them out Daisy just stood there staring at the door, waiting for her mother to come out and play the “game”. But she didn’t come. She looked up at me as if to say ‘well, where is she? isn’t she coming out?’ It brought the tears to my eyes once again.

Sweet dreams, dear Cookie. When you see Indy, Mira, Margaux, Monty and Heidi, tell them we still miss them and think about them often.

In a slight deviation from my Fall themed photos, this was taken at the Jersey Shore two days ago. Taken just as I found it.

Central Park

Boy, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do! I am posting articles that happened nearly three weeks ago! Still, the stories need to be told.

My Mom visited for a week. If you don’t know that already you are not reading the Blog. Shame on you! One thing we wanted to do was take her into New York City and show her a few of the things we’ve enjoyed since living here. [You’ll remember our first trip into Manhattan, down Fifth Avenue, into Tiffany’s, etc.]. We also wanted to do the touristy thing and take a carriage ride through Central Park. Carriages are a dime a dozen [well, actually more expensive than that—$34 for one half hour] at 59th and Fifth, and we’ve always been tempted, but had never done it.

First a little bit of background on my Mom. Mom lives in the “sticks.” No doubt about it. She doesn’t really have any close neighbors, and the only glimpse of the closest neighbors she does have is their dog Lucy, who has visited Mom nearly every day [and sometimes more than once per day] for the past 15 years or so. Poor Lucy. She has survived what my Mom throws out for “her” foxes. Chicken bones, corn cobs, old moldy bread, leftovers. Maybe that’s what has kept her alive so long. She is very arthritic now [Lucy, not my Mom!] and comes hobbling up the drive. When she scents food, her pace picks up and her tail starts to wag. Bless her heart. Geez, I’m getting off the topic again. Point being, Mom doesn’t live in a very populated area and is not used to “big” cities, which she would probably define as Wayne, NJ.  We had done the Statue of Liberty with her this summer, but that’s not really into the city. So, we decided it was something she should experience.

We set off fairly early in the morning. The day was sunny and crisp, but not too chilly. Traffic was heavier on this Saturday than on previous trips in, and Henry Hudson

Avenue

Parkway was a bit clogged up. We parked at a garage we like [but just barely as it’s very tiny and ours was the last car he took before turning people away] and started to walk the few short blocks to Fifth Avenue. We had to wait while traffic officers stopped pedestrians and cars alike to let a truck with mounted movie cameras [they were filming some movie] go back and forth across the intersection a few times. We wondered which movie it might be? Soon we were back on our way, strolling past Central Park.

Our first stop was F.A.O. Schwartz, just to browse and try and catch the show played upon the larger-than-life piano keyboard. Those of you that have seen the movie Big might remember the scene where Tom Hanks tapped out Heart & Soul. That would be the place!

After that we strolled down Fifth Avenue and let Mom browse at Tiffany’s, and then on to be blinded by the expanse of marble at Trump Tower. She thought Tiffany’s was glorious and Trump’s was tacky. Mom might live in the sticks, but she’s got class!

We went to lunch at our little restaurant that we had found on our very first trip in, Bottego del Vino, and had a wonderful lunch. We all had pasta. Rick had a wonderful tortellini with porcini mushrooms; Mom had a simple
pomodoro sauce with lots of fresh basil; and I chose wide ribbon noodles with a tomato-based sauce with crab. Rick and I enjoyed a glass of Amarone Sartori with ours.

Our waiter was very Italian and I had to listen closely to understand him. We told him we would be coming back in a few weeks for a late dinner after a show. He told us that we should expect it to be “crazy busy” since Sophia Loren was filming a movie in New York City and just happened to be staying in the building above the restaurant. He said she comes down for dinner and everyone knows it, so they all come to catch a glimpse of her. Oh my. What if we see her? Do we act like we don’t? 

After lunch we walked over to the Central Park side of the street and looked all the Hansom Cabs to chose which one we would ride in. I already knew I didn’t want any whose driver was not dressed up. Somehow riding in a horse-drawn carriage with a guy dressed in blue jeans, old shoes and t-shirt doesn’t quite cut it. So, we chose a smart black carriage with a good-looking black horse, and a driver all decked out in black livery. I’m sorry about the rental truck in back of my photo. Sometimes you just can’t stage the shot and have to go with it. You can see Mom and Rick already seated and waiting on me!

Our driver asked if we wanted to ride without his narration, but we said no, please talk to us. So he regaled us with bits of information as we clopped along. It was a nice day and a very pleasant ride. I think we got our money’s worth. I would do it again, maybe in Winter next time. Here’s another photo:

My Mom enjoyed her trip to the Big City, but I think she was a little overwhelmed. One of her comments as we strolled along 5th Avenue was ‘There are so many people. I didn’t expect it to be this crowded and busy.’ Well, Mom, I told her, you’re not in Olmstedville anymore. It IS New York City after all!