Goodbyes & Hellos

Firstly, thank you so much for continuing to visit Oscar's blog and for all the lovely messages you have left. It has been nice to feel you are all still there for us.

Thank you also for the many beautiful cards we have received. Amber-Mae, we have received the beautiful drawing & it is being framed. We will post a photo once it's done. Thank you so much for sending it to us, we will treasure it.

On Saturday we went to collect Oscar's ashes. It was a very emotional thing to do & definitely made it hit home that he was really gone. Before that it had almost seemed unreal or as if we were stuck in a bad dream. I am glad we chose to have him cremated and get his ashes back though. They came in a beautiful casket.

When we got the ashes, we almost couldn't bear to not have them in the house with us. We kept them with us over the weekend, and decided it was better to do what we originally intended. We went & bought a planter to put his casket in. Although it is rather plain, we both really liked this one. We placed his casket in the bottom and planted the rose bush from Poppy's mum. We have ordered a memorial pebble like the top one here which we will place in the front of the planter, then we can add more plants around it. We want his pot to be as colourful and full of life as possible. You all know how Oscar loved his gardening, but at least these plants will survive his pruning attempts. We can see the planter from the house, so will always be able to keep an eye on him, and if we were ever to move we can take him with us. I will post a collection of photos from Seven Fields soon.

We are still looking for a nice trophy, plate or statue for the training club award. We have a couple of ideas, and will let you know when we have chosen something. I am going to go along on Wednesday next week and take his new training dumb bell and a few of his tennis balls for their "toy box". I know I'll probably find it really hard, but I still feel like I want to go and see everyone and take something of Oscar's along.

Moving on to happier events, we went to see baby Leo on Monday. He's really teeny tiny still. We had lots of cuddles, I fed him and Martin even did a very smelly nappy change. He's a really good boy and barely made a whimper all day.

You can see how small he is on this photo. He was 5lbs 10oz when he was born, so I imagine he's only put on a little bit of weight since then. I'm not that used to handling babies, especially tiny ones so it took me a while to feel confident. With his 2 girls, Martin is a pro already as you can see.

Hopefully we'll be able to go over and see him regularly. They live about 1 1/2 hours drive away, so we should make the effort to go over every 6 - 8 weeks and see Leo grow up.


One thing we found quite hard about going to visit was that they have a 2 year old Border Collie. He's called Samwise (from Lord Of The Rings) and although he's a lovely boy, it was just hard being around a lively puppy for a whole day.

We gave him Oscar's harness as he's a puller when walking and it definitely helps, especially if Michelle is going to be pushing a pram and trying to walk him too. He is so good around the baby. We went out for a meal at the local pub and he lay by the pram lots as if to guard it and keep an eye on the baby, and in the house he does the same. He doesn't touch any of the baby's soft toys, he seems to know already that they're not his. I know Border Collies are very clever dogs, and Sam definitely seems to be true to type.

We are printing out all the pages of Oscar's blog & memorials. There certainly are a lot, and there are probably some we haven't found yet! Thank you again to everyone who has cared about us and Oscar so much.

Now we are feeling a little bit stronger, we will make our way around your blogs and see what you've all been up too. I'm sure there's lots to make us smile.

Katy & Martin xxx