all that's past is prologue...

In response to the old site getting hacked by Chilean gamblers, and the need to raise money quickly after the fire took down the main house and much of the rest of the property, Patrick and I quickly got up a new website for Wintermoon Summersun. We would appreciate it if you took a look. https://www.wintermoonsummersun.net/ Layout by Patrick, text and images by me (it was intimidating AF to write about the force that was Kathleen.)  We wanted to help, and it seemed this was the most effect we could have the fastest. There are not enough words to state how important this place is, though.

My old dog is...getting old. We got Coya back in 2015 after she was guerilla-rescued off of Craigslist. She loves our whole family, but she's been particularly attached to me ever since. In theory she was born in 2011, and she lived at a backyard breeder until she was rescued, then with us ever since. But she's been slowing down. The back stairs are hard for her — walking is hard for her. She has accidents inside of the house. She slips and slides. She sleeps a lot. She barks at 5:30 every morning to let us know she had an accident in the house. But I still love this dog so much. When she struggles to stand up it breaks my heart. I have nightmares about her dying. When she goes I will be bereft. Adding: In a day when I was thinking a lot about dogs, I found out that Soph Mintz , who took over Wintermoon Summersun after Kathleen passed, had to evacuate her 26 dogs (and 4 cats) due to the Camp Fire. One dog died due to heatstroke during the evacuation. The buildings are gone. S...

This morning I went to the funeral for my friend C's mother. C has been an amazingly wonderful daughter; she lives in California but has visited often throughout the years, and with her mom's recent health troubles has been an incredible advocate for her. I've been so impressed by her. Even today at the funeral she was trying to make sure people were introduced to each there and comfortable. It has struck me in the last week how many people I know are struggling with their parents' health and aging issues (if their parents are still alive.) I know people who have left jobs to care for their parents, have temporarily moved out of their family homes to live with and care for a parent, who are not as close by as they want to be and are finding other ways to check in.  It's been a long time since I have had that as an issue to deal with, but it's not a feeling you forget. I remember the hours on the phone trying to solve things and get answers, the arriving at the h...

  (photo credit Mel Bowman) Sometimes, these blog posts are mainly to remember what it was like. And right now it's hard, for so many reasons — but the main one is that Beatrix suffered a concussion last weekend at circus and it's a lot right now. It wasn't from an aerial drop or any big trick — she simply bumped her head twice in quick succession in the dark of the loft, and then went on to do the 2-in-a-row acts she had anyway, and by the end it was obvious she was concussed. She was not allowed to perform on Sunday (missing double trapeze, among other things) — which was really hard emotionally but clearly the best move for her brain, which is the important thing. She's been doing the right things (ibuprofen, sunglasses, quiet dark room, no screens), but she's missed a lot of school and play rehearsals and it's been hard. She's trying to get show-ready to perform at circus this weekend, while we are trying to balance that with brain healing. She has alrea...