Words from Willow Pond: Mothers' Day

Welcome to Words from Willow Pond

Willow Pond is the home of Deb and husband, Ian, their three adult children, Jossy, Kimmy & Dylan, Joss' husband, Chris, two lippizzaners, Dutchy & Obie, an Old English Sheepdog called Mitzi, the cutest Cavoodle ever, called Oscar, two orphaned Ringtail Possums, named Tamigotchi and Saori, two brush tail orphans, named Penny and Sheldon and other resident ringtail and brush tail possums and many geckos and frogs. Otis our rainbow lorikeet, whom we looked after for over 11 years, finally flew the coop and is enjoying the freedom of the skies.

Deb and her family have lived at Willow Pond for the past fourteen years.

Deb & Ian can sometimes be found down by the willow tree on a hot afternoon sharing a cold beer after spending the day gardening and mowing lawns.

Deb & Ian planted a young Willow tree about ten years ago down near their pond in the back paddock, and it has grown into a very fine specimen. They have since planted four more Willow saplings, which are growing well. The Willows inspired Deb to name the property Willow Pond. It is their hope that native wildlife will find shelter and a haven here like the characters from the children's classic, Wind in the Willows.

Deb enjoys creating ideas and writing here at Willow Pond. She intends to dedicate this blog to the adventures at Willow Pond with her family.

If you have found us by accident, or intentionally, then - Welcome and thank you for dropping by. We hope you enjoy your visit.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Instalment 32 Sunday 8 May 2011

It's Mothers' Day today and the first mothers' day that I won't be sharing with my own mum. She slipped away last October and although for the past six or so years, she was unaware of what was happening around her, I still did.

My mum, Cecily, suffered from 'end stage' dementia for over six years and was unaware of who was around her, where she was or what she was doing. She did not recognise anyone and could not communicate. Somewhere deep inside me knows that somewhere deep inside her, she knew I was there and she knew me. I hang on to these thoughts because they help to get me through.

Dementia is such a cruel illness. It is a robber - a thief, unrelenting and of great stealth.

Even though mum may not have been aware of her surroundings or what was happening to her, she was loved. And today, I missed her a little bit more than normal. I felt the same at Easter time. Each Easter I used to buy mum a small soft toy to clutch. Her limbs had grown very stiff and she needed these little toys to take some pressure off. They worked well.

So, today marks the first Mothers' Day without my own mum, but we still remember her. I will never forget her and I pray in my heart that she knows how much she was loved.

Today is also a day to remember my mother-in-law, Audrey. Ian's mum was a true rose as well and passed away back in 2007. I know Ian and his sisters still find it hard and miss their beloved mum. Losing those we love and need is very hard on anyone. A lot of our friends have now also lost their parents and we all use our memories and photos to help us stay connected. Ian and I have lost all our parents and that makes us feel quite confronted with the fact that now we are the matriarch and patriarch of our family. Wow! I feel too young for this sort of responsibility.

As role models, it is our responsibility to make sure their memories live on for the sake of their grandchildren and great grandchildren. It is important that they all know where they have come from; their roots.

We don't need special days to remember our treasures, they are always on our minds.

However, Mothers are so important to us in many ways and so, today is dedicated to them.

My family blessed me with a lovely dinner Saturday evening at Gusto Gianni, a contemporary Italian restaurant where they serve up the most delicious dishes. It was so lovely that everyone could be together. It doesn't always happen these days, so it was very special to me.

They also blessed me with some lovely gifts. I felt very spoilt.

This morning I found a very special gift on our back lawn. Ian had found a possum box in the weekend shopper and decided to go and get it. He laughed as he told me it was a present from my baby possums...isn't that the sweetest thing?

So to every mother out there...I hope your day was blessed as much as mine.

Instalment 31 Saturday 7 May 2011

I decided I'd try Tamigotchi and Saori with a new teat today, and this worked a treat. On one of the later feeds, I decided to try to go back to the larger 5ml syringe, once I knew Tamigotchi was happy with the teat. For the past little while I've just been using the 3ml syringes because Tamigotchi has not wanted to drink from the 5ml.

Success! It is great when everything works. Both possums drank their 5ml formulas and seemed very content.

During the afternoon, I decided it was time to trial the possums in a new setting. I went over to the shed and got the plastic cage Gillian had leant me. I scrubbed it down and made it all clean and disinfected. I dried it all off.

While it aired, I went for a walk around the garden finding a couple of branches for climbing and also some leaves for Tamigotchi to munch on. Saori is not quite up for this exercise, so the leaves are for Tamigotchi, but Saori might explore them.

I brought everything back to the house and I set up the cage. By the time I'd finished, it looked like a mini forest. I added two little pouches and hung them so that should the possums decide to, they could put themselves to bed.

After the next afternoon feed, instead of sending Tamigotchi off to sleep, I placed him gently on some branches in the cage and then he took himself off to explore. He was really ready for this exercise. He found some leaves and picked them up. He held them in both hands and started to shred them. You could tell he was really enjoying himself. He was very comfortable in there.

Saori was a different story, but it didn't hurt her having a turn in there. She paced around and tried to look for a way out of there. She is a real social girl and only wants to snuggle after her feeds. She lasted in there until the last feed of the night and then I decided to put her in a pouch and back in her basket for the night. Tamigotchi spent the night in his little mini jungle.

My beautiful family took me out for dinner to celebrate Mothers' Day. We went to Gusto Gianni's at Portside. We had a great time. The food was excellent and so were the cocktails. I had the pork belly and it was superb! I love my family. They really look after me and make sure I am blessed. This year, not only am I a regular mother, but I am a possum mummy too.