Pet Urns, Butter, Yoga and Counter Surfing Dogs?

Yesterday was National Pet Memorial Day. In honor of the memory of dear countersurfing Bobo, I'm rerunning this blogpost that was enjoyed by so many of our readers.

I love butter! I'm proud of it and I enjoy it at room temperature.

Okay, so here we are at the beginning of another year. Another year of promises to take better care of ourselves. My husband plays basketball two nights a week so I should be able to squeeze in a yoga class one night a week, right? He can handle bathing the kids and getting them to bed with their teeth brushed without all hell breaking loose, right? Of course!

And what happened the first night that I tried to leave, by myself, and go enjoy an evening of exercise? . . . all hell broke loose.

So the hubs starts out feeling great about his night of babysitting. He's got the kids in the bathtub, all is going well until he here's a CRASH! He runs out to the kitchen to find that Bobo, our 100 lb, counter surfing, golden retriever, has pawed the butter bell (what you ask is a butter bell? explanation below) to the floor -- a lovely, handmade, coveted by Colleen, butter bell, shattered all over the floor. Bobo proceeds to grab the broken shards, desperately licking the butter off of them, and spreads them all over the house. Oh well, gotta get back to the kids in the bathtub thinks the hubs, I'll have to just clean it up later.

And then the phone rings. It's ADT. "Sir, the smoke alarm is going off in your garage. What is your six digit password?" Hubby - "I have no idea." "Well we need your password to turn it off, or we have to call the fire department." "Listen" says the hubs, "my wife isn't home, I have no idea where the file is and I have two kids in the bathtub. I can't hear the alarm, can you just clear it?" "Well, if you don't know your password, can you tell me the 4 emergency contacts you have on your account . . ." yadda, yadda, yadda . . . Of course, the hubs gets them all wrong, pleads with them not to call the fire department and hangs up the phone.

Not 5 minutes later he hears sirens and according to him, the largest fire engine he has ever seen pulls up in front of the house. He has to explain that there's no fire, he didn't know his password, he's got two kids in the tub and he's so sorry to waste their time!

When I arrived home, he was sprawled out flat on the living room floor, flanked on either side by two freshly washed children all cozy in their jammies watching TV. Oh, and he looked comatose.

So what is a butter bell? For you other butter lovers out there who prefer soft butter, the butter bell is the answer to your prayers. It is two pieces of pottery, one that fits into the other. The butter goes in one piece and a little bit of water goes into the other. When the smaller, butter filled piece is placed into the bigger piece, the water in it forms a seal that keeps the air out, the butter fresh, and the butter soft!

The most exquisite butter bells that I have found are made by hand by Lucy Fagella, a truly gifted potter. We've been selling Lucy's pet urns at Peternity.com for quite some time now and each time that I see a new piece that she's created, I am once again, thrown a bit off center. I just sit there and stare at them. Each piece is so beautiful.

Today my new butter bell arrived, along with a lovely Lucy Fagella coffee mug that I purchased to make my morning coffee ritual just that much more special.

Again and again, I am blown away by Lucy's creations. I've heard her work described as ethereal and I can't think of a better word.