A very very fine House

Our house is a very, very fine house
With many dogs in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
'Cause of you

-with a nod to CSN and a minor change in feline to canine lyrics line 2


We attended Old Westbury Gardens Dog Days on Sunday, April 18, 2010. Two weekends a year, the grounds are open to leashed dogs and their owners unleashed or leashed. Since Saturday was chilly, raw at times, with grass still wet from morning showers, Sunday brought the big turnout. Dogs of all breeds, and temperaments, lazed, leaped, marched, rolled, sniffed all through the house grounds., some held close, some running ahead, creating a temporary elite dog park.

Some history-
The construction of Westbury house was started in 1904 and was ready for its family, the Phipps, in March 1907. http://www.oldwestburygardens.org/
Old Westbury Gardens, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the former home of John S. Phipps, his wife, Margarita Grace Phipps and their four children. Completed in 1906 by the English designer, George A. Crawley, the magnificent Charles II-style mansion is nestled amid 200 acres of formal gardens, landscaped grounds, woodlands, ponds and lakes. Westbury House is furnished with fine English antiques and decorative arts from the more than fifty years of the family's residence.

Liam loved the thatched cottage, the view of the main house the reflective West Pond. He was mistaken for a lab puppy several times by other dog owners, which caused us to puff with pride announcing that he is 4 dogs in one. Liam lived up to this blog's name by licking and leaping on all who appeared interested in him. He met Maggie and Sadie; he seems to go for the big girls, but also was cordial and sniffy to his smaller dog strollers. He pawed his respects at the Phipps doggie family graveyard, wagging by each headstone, noting from the headstone inscriptions that many had lived long cherished lives

One of our LiamLicks blog members and fellow SSA retiree has an online collection of photos that are vivid, professional, and indicative of all the Old Westbury Gardens has to offer and shows its best qualities as well as his incomparable talents. See link following.
http://www.pbase.com/jimrob/oldwest
a very very fine exhibit.

Another house on our minds this week is Arlington. That would be the little house built to honor George Washington, inhabited by Robert E. Lee and then dedicated as a National Cemetery.
All this took many years.

Arlington House another very fine house

On a Virginia hillside rising above the Potomac River and overlooking Washington, D.C., stands Arlington House. The 19th-century mansion seems out of place amid the more than 250,000 military grave sites that stretch out around it. Yet, when construction began in 1802, the estate was not intended to be a national cemetery. It started as a memorial to George Washington and down the line ended up as the residence of Confederate general Robert.E. Lee. and his wife, a descendant of Martha Washington.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/historical_information/arlington_house.html

Now Arlington has one of the larger Columbariums for cremated remains in the country. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment (meaning not in ground burial) if she or he served on active duty at some point in her/his career. So my father is the vet and my mother gets to join him. see Columbarium courtyard next

On Friday April 23, 2010, my mother, Ruth McNiff, will join Charles McNiff in their niche-together again.

Amanda from Arlington (that is how she announced herself in the message on our machine), informed us that Ruth arrived at Arlington, Thursday, April 15, 2010. and that her remains will be placed in the niche on Friday, April 23, 2010. So her name will join his on the plaque tomorrow

We invite you to join us in a toast this Friday for Ruth's journey's end, wherever you are, with whatever you drink, virtual or real, whatever time!

As my dad, would say, "Happy Hour is in session, what is your pleasure?"

"Death leaves a heartache, no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal"

-from a headstone in Ireland - (from a dear friend's sympathy card)

Granddogger Liam dedicates his first grass roll over of the season to his grandparents Ruth and Charlie at rest in Arlington.

here we go on back other side, where is my head? done, aah

Woof, Woof