Sad news from JeffreyW today, beloved Annie succumbed to cancer. You may not know this, but Jeffrey and I became email buddies after their dog Jack turned up missing. He made it home safely and in the meantime I decided JeffreyW would make a great blogging buddy – we shared food, pets and gardening interests. I asked, he said yes and What’s 4 Dinner Solutions has been all the better for it.
Mrs. J spends a lot of time volunteering at their local shelter, so we get lots of cute animal pictures (not to mention the few that end up sticking around – Homer, Ginger, Katie, to name a few). As far as I’m concerned, Jeffrey and Mrs. J are two of nicest people I’ve never met. LOL. Over the years we have loved and lost our share of family pets and comforted each other in that loss.
So today, when I opened up the blog and saw the sad news about beloved Annie, my heart was heavy. Here is JeffreyW’s post about a lovely little girl:
Annie succumbed today to cancer, after a long battle.
She was her Momma’s favorite.
She was a comfort, and a comforter.
Tolerant of newcomers in a home containing many contrasting personalities.
A pretty girl. She will be missed.
![DSC_9849 [1600x1060]](https://whats4dinnersolutions.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/dsc_9849-1600x1060.jpg)
Lovely girl. I’m scritching all my furry ones a bit more this evening. Rest in peace Annie. – – TaMara
BTW – St. Francis is the shelter Mrs. J volunteers at – here is their webpage, you can see the cuties there and donate if you want. I’ve threatened to drive across three states to adopt more than once. ;-)
MomSense
RIP Annie. You were a beauty and much loved. Condolences to Jeffrey and Mrs. J.
Emma
Now she plays in the far green country under a swift sunrise. And waits for her loved ones.
JPL
Annie you were loved and now you will be missed.. rip..
jacy
All good thoughts to Jeffrey and Mrs. J. What a lovely girl.
Patricia Kayden
So sad for Annie’s family. She looked like a cutie.
SiubhanDuinne
As I said in the thread below where jeffreyw shared the sad news, Annie was lovely, loving, and loved. Thank you for giving this beautiful girl the front-page treatment, TaMara. May she RIP.
Several years ago I made a modest donation to St. Francis — cannot remember now what prompted my doing that — and I received the nicest handwritten thank-you note from jeffreyw. Good people.
Gin & Tonic
RIP Annie. This is always hard, and I wish you the best.
geg6
She was lovely and loved. My deepest sympathies. It kills me a little every time one of these noble beasts leaves us.
Felonius Monk
My condolences to JeffreyW & Mrs. J. Having lost one of our beloved cats to the ravages of cancer several months ago, I can well imagine how heavy your hearts are with the loss of Annie. Peace and love to you both.
TaMara (HFG)
@SiubhanDuinne: I must be honest, John Cole of the big heart, asked me if I would do it. Of course I was happy to.
chopper
aw, man. so sorry to hear.
MazeDancer
A beautiful girl, indeed.
Much light and heartfelt sympathy to JeffreyW and Mrs. J. Everyone who has ever loved a pet knows how hard and horrible the loss is. And how lucky we are to have known the love.
Mnemosyne
What a beautiful dog. I’m sure she loved you and knew she was loved.
SiubhanDuinne
@TaMara (HFG):
Of course. There are a lot of big-hearted people at this blog.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Every pet passing makes me wonder why on earth we willingly subject ourselves to having pets because losing them breaks my heart in ways that losing a loved one doesn’t. Then I look at their pictures and in their eyes, and can’t imagine life without those beings in them, and the way they love us that our human companions don’t. Heartfelt condolences to jeffreyw and the mrs., and everyone else, on one of the worst days of our lives.
Shell
Im so sorry.
The only book I could ever tolerate about this and find vaguely comforting is Cynthia Rylant’s book, “Dog Heaven”. Ive always loved the first few pages….
When dogs go to Heaven
they don’t need wings
because God knows that
dogs love running best.
He gives them fields. Fields and fields and fields.
When a dog first arrives in Heaven, he just runs.
satby
Condolences on the passing of your beloved Annie, jeffreyw and Mrs. J. To be the cherished companion to their human is all a dog wants, and Annie had that in you both. Thank you for rescuing Annie so that she knew that love.
Betty Cracker
She was a gorgeous doggy. Rest in peace, Annie, and love and courage to Jeffrey and Mrs. J.
Mai.naem.mobile
RiP Annie. She looks like s Springer and has the same coloring as my puppeh. She looks like a sweetie.
Riggsveda
Brittanys (ies?) are the best there is. May she RIP (run in paradise).
SiubhanDuinne
@Shell:
The Cat Heaven one (which came first, I believe) is even better. Very comforting, and a lovely gift for recently-bereaved cat hoomans.
God is a very cool-looking old black dude.
muddy
What a good dog! I’m so sorry.
gogol's wife
So sorry, JeffreyW and Mrs. J. She was a beauty, so much love in her eyes.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
RIP Annie. My deepest and sincere condolences to jeffreyw and mrsjeffrryw. They leave such big paw prints on our hearts.
delk
“I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time? The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?” – Sir Walter Scott
TaMara (HFG)
@delk: I love that.
dlm
She is beautiful. My condolences to Annie’s family. The photos are lovely.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
RIP, beautiful Annie.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
We bring sadness into our homes when we get a pet. It is good they bring so many happy moments to bear us over the pain.
Raven
Unfortunately this is not new:We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our
own, live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully
understanding the necessary plan.
— Irving Townsend
ThresherK
Looks like you made her time here wonderful.
Spousal ThresherK and I have been following a cat rescue site out in metro Vancouver. It’s a fascinating place which takes feral, pregnant females, bring them in for attention and to give their litters a decent chance to live, spay the moms and release them.
And sometimes it’s just great to look at the kittens.
Anne Laurie
Condolences, Jeffrey & Mrs. J.
May the day soon come when the thought of Annie brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes…
Scott Alloway
So sad for you. We have lost so many over the years and each passing hurts. But the memories sustain us.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Dammit, Raven, that gets me every time. Every. Single. Time.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie:
Oh, Joe.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
I was wrong. Dog Heaven came first.
Both are wonderful.
jeffreyw
We thank John and TaMara for this tribute to a good dog, and all of the comments expressing condolences and good wishes. It is much appreciated. Any tribute to a good dog is a tribute to all good dogs. Good dogs are a blessing to us all.
Drunkenhausfrau
So very sorry… They leave a hole in our hearts, but without them, our hearts are not whole.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
:-( Condolences to JeffreyW and Mrs. J. Thanks for sharing Annie’s story TaMara.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
RIP.
What a beautiful animal.
Miss Bianca
awww. so sorry.
SIA
@jeffreyw: I’m so sorry for the loss of your beautiful Annie. We can’t live without them but it hurts so much when they go. Love and hugs to you and Mrs W.
PurpleGirl
@ThresherK: I follow TinyKittens also. Have you looked at Skye’s 4 kittens, born by a C-section last night. (A C-section was needed because the first kitten coming out was too large for Skye’s small pelvic opening and had gotten stuck.)
RIP Annie. Condolences to JeffreyW and Mrs. J. Annie was a beautiful doggy and must have loved you as much as you loved her.
This reminds me of how I felt when Hugo had to be put to sleep because of all his health issue. I still miss that dog some 20 years later.
Hillary Rettig
so sad and what a sweet face. and what a loving memorial
seaboogie
Such love – canine and human….RIP sweet Annie, and hugs to Jeffrey and Mrs. J…..
Mandarama
Blessings to you and yours, jeffreyw…such a beautiful pup left beauty in her wake.
Mary G
Condolences to jeffreyw and Mrs. J. I am another person who’s contemplated traveling halfway across the continent to visit the beautiful animals at St Francis I’ve seen in jw’s photos. You and Annie were lucky to enrich each other’s lives.
Villago Delenda Est
Hugs, JeffreyW and Mrs. J. Annie was a glorious spaniel. She’s now having a gentle chat with Nikita, my long lost Russian Blue.
WaterGirl
I wasn’t around to see this last night, so my first words this morning were “oh, no!” as I was browsing thread titles from yesterday. Sweet, beautiful girl. I started crying when I got to the second photo of Annie in her momma’s lap. Heartbreaking.
People come to my house and see my framed photos and say, “who’s that white kitty, I don’t remember her” and I say, “oh, I call that one homer with the bee” or “that’s Annie with one of her kitty friends”. Maybe they think I’m crazy to have photos of furry guys I have never met mixed in with my own, but sometimes they can steal your heart long distance.
Jeffreyw and Mrs. J, my heart goes out to you. love from WaterGirl
sherparick
Our cats and dogs have always taught us to live in the moment of now, to love now, and care for each other now, before we all go into that “good night.” Good by beautiful Annie, you will liver forever in the hearts of your human companions. Bless you JeffreyW and Mrs. W, and know that we share your grief.
Cleos
My sympathies. We’ve both adopted and fostered many, many dogs over the years and their short life expectancy compared with ours — even in old age — is something we’ve had to come to terms with regularly.
It sounds like Annie was given a wonderful life and a lot of love.
Theodore Wirth
There are those among us who cannot trust relationships with fellow humans and cope in any way that we can. That said, we then turn to the trusting relationships with our animal friends where every basic deed like providing food and shelter is appreciated. This news saddens me.