Retired from Racing, Not from Life*

I was browsing through Twitter, catching up on all my electronic friends’ doings when I came across a tweet from @greytfriend with a cryptic invitation to “also check out Retired from Racing, Not from Life” with a link.

It piqued my curiosity so I clicked on the link. I ended up at the online store for a company called Blurb. The site lets you create amazing books and sell them if you are so inclined. Blurb goes way beyond the typical photo books you would create at Shutterfly or Walgreen’s. I even have an account with Blurb, created almost a year ago in anticipation of designing a book celebrating Girly Girl’s life. So far I can’t bring myself to sort through the thousands of photos I am lucky to have taken of her.

It turned out that Retired from Racing, Not from Life is a book. It was created by True North Greyhounds. This book contains absolutely incredible, stunning photos and reproductions of art work about greyhounds. All of the images were donated for the project by photographers and artists around the world. A teacher of mine once said that the sign of a good photo is when you look at it, you immediately wish you had taken it. With every photo and piece of artwork I looked at in the preview, I found myself wishing I had the skills to make art and photos like these, of one of the things I love best in the world.

The sales of the book will benefit the Ohio State University Greyhound Health and Wellness Program (GHWP). This program, led by Dr. Guillermo Couto, is at the forefront of research and treatment of greyhounds. Particularly greyhounds with cancer. We first became acquainted with the program when we heard Dr. Couto speak at one of the Adoption Reunions held at the now defunct Raynham race track.

Oh so shortly after hearing him speak, we were in contact with Dr. Couto and the GHWP on behalf of my heart hound, Girly Girl who fought, and lost, her battle with osteosarcoma. Throughout that still unbelievable odyssey, GHWP reviewed Girly Girl’s x-rays, confirmed her diagnosis, offered us treatment direction and advice, referrals to specialists in our area and most importantly, gave us free chemo drugs. They covered not only her first round of chemo, but also her second round. If we hadn’t needed her third round specially compounded, they would have sent us those as well. But we weren’t special. They do this for all retired racing greyhounds, at no charge.

I’ve raved about this program, the staff and the services of the GHWP a couple times before in this blog. I don’t think I can ever sing their praises enough. Without the help they gave us I would probably have had to face the horrific possibility of having to let my heart dog go because I couldn’t afford treatment for her. The thought of that situation gives me nightmares still.

So, as I approach the first anniversary of Girly Girl’s departure, I can’t imagine a more fitting way to remember her than by buying this book in her honor, supporting OSU Greyhound Health and Wellness Program, and letting you all know about this beautiful book that allows you to give even while you are getting so much in return.


*Click on the title of this post to learn more about the book.

Writer’s Block for a Bigger Purpose

It’s very funny how the creative muses mess with you. I’ve been trying for two weeks now to write something for the blog. I’ve had two or three good ideas and though I’ve tried and tried and tried writing them up, I cannot get the creative juices to flow. My muses simply refused to cooperate. So I have three pieces of lackluster, half-baked writing. When that happens, there is nothing for it but to let them sit until those accursed hags (oops, I mean my lovely muses) decide to grace me with their presence again and then I can rewrite, turning them into sparkling, witty, inspirational works of art. Sure.

In the absence of any creative inspiration, an option did present itself and slapped me in the face today. I almost didn’t pay any attention to it though it literally had me in tears. I had defined my blog fairly narrowly in my own mind. Specifically funny stories about what happened with my hounds. Well, I guess it’s already sort of morphed a bit away from that so what I’m about to do won’t be a huge departure. Maybe just in my own mind.

I was catching up on the tweets from the peeps I follow. In and amongst the many was a tweet about a greyhound quilt that had been mentioned on the Etsy blog. Being a fan of all things greyhound I had to check that out. It was a stunning quilt. So, I clicked through to the artists’ Etsy site. The quilt seemed to be a new departure for her as all her other offerings were jewelry. And I guess there really are no coincidences in life and all things happen for a reason.

The first piece of jewelry I saw, a necklace, said, “My Tripod Rocks.” It had a stylized greyhound on it and the number three. The next necklace said “Osteo sucks,” and had the stylized greyhound along with a second ring that said “Compassion, Hope, Bravery.” There was more greyhound jewelry both for hounds fighting cancer and those who had crossed the bridge. There was also jewelry for hounds that were lucky enough not to have to face an illness. All of it was beautifully made.

Just seeing that first piece made me catch my breath. One cancer dog family immediately recognizes another. I knew her story before I looked at any other part of her website. I only needed to see the photo of the tripod necklace. And indeed when I read her story, she had lost a beloved hound to osteosarcoma in January of 2010. The amazing heroes at OSU had fought with her to save her boy. A large percentage of the sales from the jewelry are going to the OSU Greyhound Health program in memory of her special boy and in recognition of the incredibly special work they do there.

While all of our money currently goes towards chemo treatments, medications and veterinary visits I realized there was a way I could help even if I wasn’t in a position to go on a shopping spree. I could spread the word about this artist’s special jewelry with a purpose. In the interest of full disclosure, I get nothing from this but the hope that some more money ends up at the OSU Greyhound Health program. In fact, the artist does not know about this blog entry and doesn’t even know who I am. But I think she is doing a wonderful thing and being the mum of a sweet girl with osteosarcoma, I can vouch for the fact that it does indeed suck. I am thankful there are people out there like this woman who channeled her sadness into action to help me and my girl and all of us. I hope you’ll take a look at her site.

Beth Wade's Etsy Site
 
Beth Wade's Website