Ivy, Rosemary and Puppy Love

We have lived in our home for 24 years, and the entire time we have had this lovely wall of ivy along the wall by our front door.

It was often used as a backdrop for pictures of special occasions: the 1st day of a new school year; 8-year olds on their baptism day; shots of stunning couples in gowns and tuxes heading off to prom; graduations; group shots with out-of-town family and friends. It made me feel like I had brought a little bit of Oregon to the desert. I loved to go out and spray it down with a hose on a hot summer day and feel the coolness it provided when there was a breeze.

Our cockatiel, Seymore, liked to perch on a limb and chew off leaves while I would work in the front. Our cat, Walter, could climb up to the balcony on the thicker branches. Spring and fall I would have to trim it back or else it would blossom and attract hordes of bumblebees. Trimming the top of it involved balancing on top of the beams and using large pruning shears - rather exilerating! Mostly, though, I liked it to look a little wild and carefree. 

And then came the giant freeze of February 2011 - arctic cold hit our area for almost a week. Did I think the ivy was at risk? No, I did not. It wasn't evident for more than a month, but eventually I had to admit that it was not going to revive. Tearing it all out two weeks ago was emotional because of all the memories.


But there is hope! This is what I found a few days before I actually started tearing it out:

And this is how it looks now:

It will probably be several years before ivy once again climbs all the way to the beams, but I will be patient.


Much of the cacti, oleander and palm trees throughout the city had to be torn out, along with many other plants. The line to haul yard debris has been 2 blocks long every weekend! We lost our two lovely rosemary bushes, and I will miss snipping sprigs to use when cooking or to place in my dishtowels to make them smell wonderful (a trick my cute mom taught me). Today I tore out those bushes, as well as our laurel :(

The verdict is still out on the hawthorne, but I think it's a goner. However, I did enjoy the heady frangrance of the honeysuckle that survived while I worked!

Thursday, the cutest little puppy came wandering into the gym just before I finished my workout. She sniffed around, giving everybody a chance to pat her head and scratch her ears. Nobody else stepped forward by the time I was leaving so I scooped her up and decided to do what I could to find her owners, or, if necessary, a new home. I took her to our vet just down the street to see if she was chipped (nope) and determine her age and general health: a 20- pound, 10-week old healthy yellow lab with interesting ears. Had they been cropped or were they deformed? Something was odd about the ears, but it couldn't be determined what.

By mid-morning I was totally in love with her and was calling her Dulce because she was soooooo sweet. She liked being in the back yard with Jack & Theo. She liked being inside with me (Chia gave her wide berth). She liked the attention Kris gave her. She liked going in the car when I took Bertha downtown. She liked sleeping on the cool cement with the dogs in the late afternoon. Just before dark that is where she was when Keven came home from a meeting and I went to hear about his evening. She was gone when I went back to bring her in. 
I drove and drove and drove, looking and calling for her. I came home alone.
Oh yes, my heart broke.

In the morning I had a text from the gym telling me that there was a notice from someone looking for their lab puppy. Great. Now I had to tell someone I found their dog and then I lost their dog. The lady was so happy when I told her I had brought the dog home with me the day before, and rushed to tell me that her name was Zoe.  She was obviously distraught when I told her that the dog had somehow escaped the night before. They had just given Zoe to their special-needs son on Easter, and he had been devastated when she disappeared.
So now my heart was a twisted, mangled wreck.

Long story short: My next-door neighbor found Zoe, probably right after she had squeezed through the gate, and took her to another neighbor she knew had a crate where they could keep her until morning. I was able to deliver her to the elated owner within hours of first talking with her. It was a very happy reunion.

So how does the story about Zoe relate to my lost ivy and rosemary?
Zoe was born on the worst night of the freeze. By the time the owners realized she was born her ears had frozen and the ends eventually just broke off, another casualty of the cold. 

I'm happy my ivy will eventually cover the wall. I know if my rosemary doesn't grow back I can replant. But I am really grateful that this little puppy survived the cold and has been such a bright spot in so many lives, and that she will do so much to make one little boy have a happier life.