Sunday, June 26, 2011

Poem read at Hettie's Graduation

HIP HIP HOORAY

A Hym to the H’s

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Give a cheer loud and clear
Luna’s litter, the little H’s, the H’s are here
Eight puppies so dear, five girls and three boys
Luna, Camden, Mary, Matt and Silvia rejoice

And what will the names of these little ones be?
They will all start with H; beyond that we will see

One name is certain, they will all fit the call
One name is a given for one and for all
This for sure, you can bet all your money
Sweet, sunny, and funny – each one is a Honey

These puppies a proud CCI lineage can claim
Their great grandfather was an H – Hemet is his name
And before the letter H comes the letter G
So Granny is the new name for Luna’s mother Neri

More handles beginning with the H letter
Some are so bad; a few of them better

Hope will cope; Holly will be jolly Happy, so happy, will be the pride of his pappy
Haven will be one; Harry (hairy) a cute pup pun
And Hazel, when following the word witch, is sure to be a sweet little bitch
Holmes will sleuth and Helga be couth

Helen, fair of face with cute swivel hips
For the beauty that once launched a thousand ships
And Hector, brave Hector who fought in that war
Could we name a dog Horse? Trojan Horse but of course.
Or Horace? Or Nathan Hale? Or Hail, Caesar!



On CSI Miami the head Honcho Cain
Is heroic Horatio, a helluva name
But Horatio is so long, so hard to say
To use with a command, it would get in the way
So maybe we should do what they do on the show
And call one pup Hach
Just H and no mo’



The litter was born several days early, so all were very tiny and we lost two, so the ultimate number was 6 pups. After Hettie had been home with her a couple weeks, Silvia sent a note saying Hettie was doing so well and that ‘she just loves her as does everyone that sees her’ etc. She also sent the rest of the poem as follows:

But the story’s not over; in fact just begun
Puppy raisers all welcome their bundles of fun

The “H” litter turned in on 3/09
They wagged bye to Mama Luna and Mary so fine
They were measured and weighed and ears tattooed green
The darlingest puppies that ever were seen

And now we know just what each “H name be
There’s Hyde and Harry, Hailey, Hettie and Hadley
And who would have guessed? We sure got it wrong
Smallest of all is now Hercules – strong!

Hettie graduates

Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 4:01:08 PM
Subject: Silvia Lange's CCI pup Hettie set to graduate next Friday


Hello,

My husband and I met Silvia through Canine Companions for Independence. She was one of the most kind, generous, compassionate, creative, humorous people I have ever met, and I miss her terribly! The last puppy she was raising came to live with us after Silvia disappeared. Hettie is nearing the end of her Service Dog training and should graduate as a hearing dog next Friday (June 24) at the CCI campus in Santa Rosa. It is customary for CCI puppy raisers to make a small photo album of each dogs ‘early years’ to present to the dogs new partner. With your permission, I would love to include some of the wonderful pictures you have of Silvia and Hettie, Silvia and Neria and Silvia with Neri’s last litter. I will also include a two part poem Silvia wrote for us, when Hettie’s litter was born and when the litter received their names. I am also hoping to honor Silvia in some way at the graduation, perhaps a photo and comments in the graduation program and/or graduation slide show. Silvia’s love and nurturing are evident in the affectionate, confident, well mannered working dog that Hettie has matured into. I am thrilled that Hettie will fulfill the plans Silvia had for her, i.e. to help someone live a more independent life.



Best Regards,


Mary Roseberry

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Cenotaph dedication

Please join friends of Silvia Lange at Mountain View Cemetary in Oakland at 1PM on March 19 for the placement of a cenotaph in her honor.

Please join friends on Angel Island on March 20 for the dedication of the bench in her honor on Mt. Livermore. Take the 10 AM ferry from Tiburon. Bring a picnic lunch and a potluck dessert to share. Bring memories to share!

Wildflower Ramble

Wildflower Ramble Warble

Tune: The Happy Wanderer Lyrics: Silvia Lange, March 1996


We love to go awandering around the Perimeter Road
And as we hike
Identify the flowers that are showed

Filaree, filarah, Filaree, filarah, ha, ha, ha ha, ha
Filaree, filarah
Lavender scissors and clocks

We love to go awandering along the Ridge that’s North
And as we hike
Identify the flowers that come forth

Zigadene, zigadie, Zigadene, Zigadie, die, die, die, die
Zigadene zigadie
White Fremont’s star lily

We love to go awandering down the Sunset Trail
And as we hike
Identify the flowers that we hail

Hound’s tongue, Forget-me-not
Hound’s tongue, Forget-me-not, not, not, not, not, not
Hound’s tongue, Forget-me-not
Blue Hound’s tongue, Forget-me-not

We love to go awandering all over Angel Isle
Don’t touch this plant! Twill make you itch
Twill make you curse and wail

Poison oak, Poison oak
Leaves of red, leaves of green, green, green, green
Poison oak, Poison oak
Three leaves of red and green

Silvia's Angel Island song

A…………………..ngel Island
Sung to tune of Okalahoma, lyrics by Silvia Lange 5/16/2002


A……………………ngel Island
Is the jewel of San Francisco Bay
Full of mystery and history
What a wondrous way to spend the day

Chorus:

We know we belong to our Isle
And our Isle that we love makes us smile
So when we say Yip hi yippee yippee yeah
We’re only saying, “You’re doing fine, Angel Island
Angel Island, OK!”

A…………………….ngel Island
We can see your halo shining bright
You can take a hike or ride your bike
You can even camp there over night

Chorus:

A……………………..ngel Island
Where the fog comes right before the rain
And the poison oak is not a joke
The itch can make you go insane

Chorus:

A…………………….ngel Island
Can’t you hear her calling to you now
So put down your booze; lace up your shoes
Come on Raccoons, let’s show them how

Chorus:

Monday, January 24, 2011

Haiku

2009 Haiku
January 1
Blank lines in ledger
Redwood trees stand straight and tall
Welcome the New Year!

January 3
Beige dogs frolicking
Brown, tan, sand, russet, ecru
Platinum Neria


January 4
The silvered hillside
Will melt with Sun's golden rays
The force is with us.

January 6, 2009
Flames leaping, dancing
Halloween orange and black
Logs snapping, crackling

January 7
Grey low tule fog
Muffling the wide pasture land
Dandelion fluff

January 8
Brown, round mushroom caps
Lure us deeper into woods
Hansel and Gretel

January 9
The doe, legs leaping
Now lies still under the fence
It happened so fast!

January 10
High on the hill
Sun flashes from window panes
Reservoir reflects

Jan 11
Obsidian birds
Hippity and hoppity
Kwawk! Kwawk! For peanuts

January 14
Honk! Honk! Splashshsh!
Canada geese lifting off
And land in the water

January 17 Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland
Arching wooden ribs
Protect and shelter us all
Surrounded by light

January 18
Happy Birthday me
76 trombones blare
Blow out the candles

January 19
Ambling single file
Black and white in pastures green
Winsome Holstein cows

January 20 Obama inauguration
California
Buzzing bees swarming for warmth
Washington DC

January 21
Black loam, clear plastic
Checkerboard fields lie waiting
For the spring plantings

January 22
Dawn in the valley
Angel hair fog drapes oak trees
Clouding the landscape

January 23
Silence of redwoods
Pitter pat pitter pat beads
Fog drip or rain drops?

January 24
Dark green prickly leaves
Scarlet toyon berries
It is not holly

January 25
Black, white, orange
Colors of calico cat
Angel Island burn

January 26
Against greening fields
Mustard color mustard blooms
The redwing blackbird

January 30
Roaring down the road
Black jackets, helmets, high boots
Angry bumblebees

January 31
Little white candles
The Zigadene blooms early
Zip a dee do dah!


February 5
On nature's canvas
The oil paints smudge together
Fields of green and gold

February 6
Whispers in the night
Soft splatterings on the deck
Winter rains begin

February 10
Green spikey flowers
Slinky stems and spotted leaves
Fetid Adder's tongue

February 14
Curtain of rain drops
Falls to thunderous applause
Bravo! Bravo! More!

February 14
Anticipation
Rainy Day Falls starts to flow
And the other one

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Silvia won a prize for this one!

Green Pea Salad....Recyled!

Born of a five day power outage last winter when everything in my freezer defrosted including a big bag of green peas. Pea salad! I was getting real tired of eating it when the electricity came back on. So I threw it in the blender and voila! recycled inot pease porridge cold.

Recipe

1 32 ounce bag of frozen peas, thawed, not cooked
1 cup celery, finely diced
1 red onion, finely diced
1 cup midget dill pickles, small diced
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, small cubed

Combine all these in a bowl and add

Non Fat Dressing

2 8 ounce cups of non fat yogurt
1/2 cup fresh dill, finely cut
1 lemon - scrape zest, squeeze the juice, and add
Salt and pepper to taste

To serve put the pea salad into romaine leaf canoes. Enjoy! And the RECYCLE it into soup. Pease porridge in the pot nine days old.

At the ratio fo 2 cups of pea salad to 1 cup of canned low sodium chicken broth, puree it in the blender. Add romaine leaves after cutting off the white ends. Decorate with a sprig of fresh dill and a dollop of yogurt if desired. And because some DO like it hot, you can warm this but do not boil.