The passing of a friend, the end of an era. My loyal old dog and trusty companion of 14 years, Ollie, faded away about 2 weeks ago.  He chose to leave us unexpectedly in the middle of a busy weekend of joyous celebration with family and friends - out of town guests, a half-marathon, and a big birthday.  We were sad to lose him, but had known that his days were numbered.

Today was a beautiful day. The guests have departed, the laundry has been done and things seem to be back to normal. It was a day to work in the garden.  In fact, it was my first day outside since late April.  I made a quick tour of the beds and chose to continue my spring clean up and do a little weeding of my herb garden and perennial beds.  I was pleased to finally work my way around to the north side of the house to the spot that always gets put off until last.  This area is adjacent to my herb garden and contains mostly azaleas and some very large old rhododendrons. It is a spot that Ollie particularly liked.  While he usually stayed fairly close to me while I worked, on occasion I would notice him missing, and begin a search for him, sure that he was off chasing one of the neighborhood cats.  It was then that I often found him nosing around or stretched out napping in the cool shade of the rhodys. You'll find a photo of Ollie gardening in my post of March 14th (Another beautiful Sunday).

Today I worked alone.  I pulled weeds and raked up under the rhodys, collecting a couple wheel barrows full of decomposing leaves.  In one corner next to the house, while raking up some leaves, I discovered one of Ollie's favorite stuffed toys.  A toy that had really never been played with, but rather saved and guarded; very carefully buried first years ago, and then moved and thoughtfully tended as the years passed.  I now remember that I saw him nosing around in that spot a few weeks ago, checking on his treasure.  I've been thinking that I would like to have some sort of memorial to Ollie somewhere in the garden - but felt rather silly about the idea.  However, a buried treasure seems just right.  Need I say that I left it just where he had placed it?  I look forward to finding it again and am pretty sure that there are other treasures awaiting discovery -- one in particular being a very large bone ripening somewhere in the front yard.