Look Up Mancat Monday
Things are looking up. Some say it’s always better to look up.
It’s been warm enough to sit outside in the garden without a coat. Yesterday Merlin luxuriated and I happily sweated in the sun on our picnic blanket. He may have pulled another rabbit out of the nine lives hat. His litter box score was bulls-eye perfect this week. And we spent quality time snoozing and meditating together when a mountain of stress threatened my sanity. Cats are better than most shrinks.
Odin and Domino are cavorting happily all over the property. Odin who has not traveled in a car since he arrived here three years ago (thanks mobile vet) suddenly expressed interest in auto interiors. Maybe he knows something I don’t?
I began creating a memorial garden for Gris Gris and Odin stopped by to pay his respects. Spring is a wonderful time to create or revamp a pet memorial garden. it doesn’t need to be big and if you have no garden, a patio planter and some creativity can substitute.
So far, I’ve used some old bricks, transplanted some bulbs and moss, plus added a wrought-iron owl to keep watch over our dear boy. it will take shape and transform organically. During the winter when he was buried under the snow, I felt some of my grief safely compartmentalized like food in a freezer. Once the snow melted and the dull brown ground emerged, i felt the sadness seeping to the surface. The burial mound like the rest of the winter worn garden reflected my mood but I didn’t feel like moping. There was too much outdoor work to be done. There’s a time sob under the covers curled in a ball and a time to unfurl and feel something different. The promise of spring and renewal urged tendrils of hope to reach out.
All the mental planning of what the memorial garden would look like felt good but it wasn’t as rewarding as the physical exertion of moving garden furniture, rolling birch tree stumps, digging the ground and carrying bricks. Like grieving, it’s a work in progress but every act symbolizes love. Every action is a step towards healing.
Have you created a memorial garden or special spot for your pet? If you’d like to participate in a future post I’m doing on memorial gardens, please email your images to [email protected]
Please include your name, the name of the pet and any other details of interest. Thanks! No matter what, I hope things are looking up for you this week!
34 Comments
meowmeowmans
What a beautiful memorial garden to Gris Gris. We don’t really have a place here at the townhouse to build a garden, but we have all of our angels here with us, each in a box selected just for them, depending upon their unique personalities.
Angie at Catladyland
The memorial garden is just gorgeous. I’m glad it brings your comfort. We have special rocks on top of the burial spots for our cats who’ve passed. 🙂
Deztinee High
Vewy purretty fotos. Glad ya’ll had a good time.
Luv and Hugs and Kitty kisses 🙂
Dezi
The Swiss Cats
Mum doesn’t build memorials : our garden border has concrete pillars. Every dead cat is buried in front of a precise pillar on one of the garden’s sides. We know where is the place of every angel. Mum and Dad are thinking of doing something that doesn’t look like a cemetery, but rather like a celebration of life and happy memories : annual flowers ? A flowering shrub ? Nothing is decided yet… (since 4 years !) Purrs
Penelope
Oh! That memorial garden is beauteous! Wes has one for Licorice and it has a beautiful Don Juan Rose in it . When mes passes over the bridge, me has asked that mes get buried beside him. Odin, mes sends yous much Love!
Kisses
Nellie
Katnip Lounge
I think it’s so vital to have a physical place to know where your pets are. I have a special table where I keep my furkid’s ashes and photos.
Kathie
I love your memorial garden for Gris Gris!
Sue Brandes
Your memorial garden is so pretty.
Cathy Keisha
TW used to bury her departed goldfish in her backyard when she was a child but we don’t have photos. The backyard later became the burial grounds for cats. Again no photos. After she moved, the new owners may have paved over the yard and all those memories.
Brian
I agree, that memorial garden is very special. I like looking up, it really makes my sisters wonder what I’m looking at.
Skeeter and Izzy
Layla, the garden is looking beautiful like Gris Gris. I am trying to create a garden here too for all of those that have owned my heart and for one that owned my soul. I haven’t been able to start a garden yet for her. I fall apart every time I try. It was 5 years April 4th and I will never forgive myself for causing her death.She is as much a part of me as the heart that beats in my chest.We shared this world for 11 years. This is a story that I just can’t fully speak yet. I am broken forever.
Luvs
Skeeter and Izzy and the Feral Gang + Twig and Peanut and Romeo
Layla Morgan Wilde
Oh such heartbreak especially with the recent anniversary of your soul cat’s passing. Once you begin to work on the garden for the others, you may find a small stone or other natural object to wedge a tiny crack towards forgiveness. She has forgiven you and you have begun to speak of it so perhaps healing can begin?
Flynn
Your memorial garden looks lovely and natural. The photo of it only came up after I posted my previous comment. (Slow broadband)
Flynn
I am glad Merlin is feeling good.
I have a memorial garden for all the cats who came before. Each has a rose planted by their grave and there is a clematis on the fence. It is not looking so good after the very wet winter but I have taken the winter pansies up and started weeding ready for the summer bedding.
Sometimes, Cats Herd You
What a beautiful memorial garden. We don’t have one, but the head peep doesn’t enjoy gardening. The act of creating the garden, the ongoing curation of plants and symbols, is part of the therapeutic value of the memorial garden, and it would be kind of lost on someone who uses HBO words the whole time she is doing what’s necessary not to embarrass the neighbors. But for those who feel more of a connection to nature, a memorial of garden is a touching expression of remembrance.
Oui Oui
What a lovely thing to do! And Gris Gris must be looking down in pleasure. I have a terra cotta cat planter which reminds me of all the kitties who have passed since I have a very small townhouse yard. MMM would hiss at it when I first adopted her. {{eye roll}}
Layla Morgan Wilde
Must be life -sized. Extra purrs to MMM today.
Glogirly and Katie
Your memorial garden is beautiful. We live in the city, so no real gardens here. But Glogirly has many memories she keeps in special places.
: ) Katie
Angel AbbyGrace
I’ve been hung up on finishing Abby’s garden. There has to be reasons for that. But, I finally found a piece of what I wanted to help not finish it off but compliment it and give it an Abby touch. Also I am incorporating Grace into the small flower bed I had originally set for Abby. I think it will morph each season as new things are added and old things taken away. I just want to see Beauty as I look out my window and see this space that is very important to me. To my eyes, Abby was the most beautiful cat in any universe and I know I am seeing her with my soul. I miss her so Layla.
Layla Morgan Wilde
I left you a long reply at your blog :-0
Anonymous
Cats ARE better than ANY shrink. Good to know Merlin is doing WELL!!!! He is a gorgeous statesman
LOOOVE the memorial garden!!!
Something I should think about … in due time. The boyz are 12.
Fur Everywhere
I think it’s a great idea to have a memorial garden to remember your dear friend. <3
Caren Gittleman
LOVE the new blog look! Great improvement!
Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101)
You mean the new logo and header? Thanks. More changes coming.
Marilia
Great post… i need to show this to my unsensible mom!!
da tabbies o trout towne
doodz…de garden yur mom did for gris is awesum….we noe him apurreciates it….
once spring iz troo lee heer….we knot sure it act shoo a lee iz yet….all de brown will be in full colorz….
gram paw dude & sauce’s gardenz R both still that way yet….funkee brown…soon as we see sum signs oh plantings…we will send yur mom sum snapshots !!! ♥
Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101)
Great! I look forward to seeing your pics!
The Island Cats
The memorial garden is really looking great. We can’t wait to see it finished. We don’t have a memorial garden, though we do have an angel kitty in our yard that looks over all of us.
Laila and Minchie
We are anxious to see the finished memorial garden. Mom would love to be able to do that, but we live in a condo in a concrete jungle.
Tamago
The memorial garden is looking very beautiful. I love the owl watching over your Gris Gris.
Glad Merlin is doing well and had perfect litter box score 🙂
Have a wonderful new week!
Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101)
Thank-you! We’re enjoying the process and hoping it’s a good week for all.
Sammy
Great post……it’s sometimes difficult to pull ourselves out of that “ball under the covers” stage but Spring helps a lot…..new beginnings….I’m happy that Merlin is feeling good – Sam seemed to withdraw a lot from everything this winter but now that the weather has warmed up a bit he seems more “himself”…..it makes me happy too!
Hugs, Pam
Sparkle
My human is actually pretty unsentimental. She doesn’t do memorial gardens or anything else like that. She says it would give her too many reasons to feel sad and look back instead of looking forward.
Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101)
They aren’t for everyone but many find them a comfort during grieving.