Compostable Kate

This is Moet, the dog I lost for three days. He was found safe and well, but I will never forget how distressing it was, or ever stop feeling guilty about it. It was supposed to be a simple thing, puppy-sitting little Moet for a few days. I've been looking after other people's dogs and puppies for years, and apart from having to clean up some messes I've never had a mishap. Moet had been to visit before he came to stay, and had a good look and sniff around the unit and the back yard. My yard isn't big, just a patio and a scrubby garden bed, imbued with years and years of dog wee, with shrubs to wee on, and the occasional possum or neighbourhood cat to sniff out. I did have one escape artist previously, but Donny (cocker spaniel) only managed to squeeze himself into the neighbour's yard, through the little gap where the water mains taps are. He couldn't get back again, but he couldn't get out, either, so it was easy enough to retrieve him, and he neve...

I spent all of 2011 trying to get used to the fact my Dad was no longer around, having died suddenly in November 2010. It’s taken a lot of getting used to, and although I’m not altogether resolved to it, I don’t seem to be constantly reminding myself of his absence.  It’s been a long time since I lost a family member, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for Dad to go, even though he’d been ill for a number of years. He was only 65, after all. Dad and Alex, not long before Dad died. They got on extremely well!  Although I was literally incoherent with grief – after being bizarrely calm while my poor brother Damian was breaking the news to me – my awesome friends, Karen and Steve, came and collected me and my furkids, and looked after me for several days while I processed the news. As Dad lived in the UK, and I am in Australia, I couldn’t be there for my family, and I wasn’t able to attend his funeral. However, I was in constant touch with my siblings, and my Mum (who w...