The Gift

We in the states just celebrated Thanksgiving, a time of  reflection on the things we are grateful for and with the approaching holiday it is a time that signifies hope. 

I, Sweet William The Scot, went to my post office box and found I had gotten an envelope from Wally & Sammy & Ella all the way from South Africa by way of Sweden.  My this envelope was racking up the milage.

 Inside I found the 2012 Sunflower Fund Bandana. The tag says Thank you for being prepared to "SHARE A LITTLE, to SAVE A LIFE".  Become a bone marrow stem cell donor.  South Africa has eleven official languages and the word HOPE is written in those languages on the bandana.  They raise money through this bandana to give hope to those needing a bone marrow transplant.

 In the United States  we have The National Marrow Donor Program a nonprofit organization founded 1986. 

 The Match registry is one of many registries of unrelated donors and cord blood units in the world. Most large, developed nations have such registries. Large registries of unrelated donors are needed because only about 30% of patients with diseases treatable with hematopoietic cell transplantation can find a suitable  donor among their family members.

The remaining 70% require an unrelated hematopoietic cell donor as a transplant source. Because the odds that two random individuals are HLA matched exceeds 1 in 20,000, a registry's success depends on a large number of volunteer donors.  Those donors give us HOPE.

They sent me the bandana because their Grampy and my Lee have the same health issue, their marrow produces large amounts of an abnormal protein. WM is  rare about 1,500 new cases occur annually in the United States.  My Lee if she needed a bone marrow transplant has no family at all and she would have to rely on the registry totally.

 

Two bloggers one in Johannesburg and one in Cincinnati found out they were connected by a rare disorder and the one in Johannesburg sent us a bandana of HOPE.

 

Thank you Sammy & Wally & Ella for The Gift. 

 

They also sent me a fridge Magnet that says South Africa.

Hope ~ English

iThemba ~ Zulu

Hoop ~ Afrikaans

Holofela ~ Sepedi

Fhulufhelo ~ Venda

Tshepo ~ Setswana & Sesotho

HOPE

 

Signing Off

Sweet William The Scot

 



Take That You Pumpkin

No pumpkin is safe in my community.  We send pumpkins into the stratosphere!  Yep we have  two trebuchet and we have Pumpkin Chuck Day at Stanbery Park to raise money for our park.

 There goes my pumpkin.  I had a white pumpkin this year. See it high in the sky.  Lee caught the photo of  it in the air.  Pumpkins are turned into compost by flinging them to the bottom of the hill.  My pumpkin went high and long.

We make a festival out of the affair. 

 

Animals are brought out. Here is a Barn Owl that had a badly wounded wing and now has to live in captivity.  Owl is safe and cared for, but I know he wants to fly free his eyes told me.

Two wonderful friendly little goats. They knew  their names just like dogs.  They walked on leashes like me.  Lee loves these little goats they remind her of the ones her grandmother raised on her farm.

This Hawk never took his eyes off of me.  I think he wanted me for dinner.  No you are not picking my bones!

Now one last look at Halloween. 

I promised my little friend to show these pictures.  I know they are late, but this is the Halloween Costume Contest for dogs.

My friend showed up to cheer me on in the Halloween Costume Contest.  She is becoming a very good reader and I am so proud of her.  Love her lots and see how she loves me.  I sit just like this to listen when she reads.  Where is the book?

This dog was the winner of the costume contest.  A criminal won!

What is this contest coming to when a criminal wins.

Sophie took second place, she was a princess and I, Sweet William The Scot, took third place with my donkey costume.  I was behind her in line and I followed her tail wherever she went.  Jazzi, I just had a small crush on Sophie and I told her all about my girl friend.  Sophie said if you dump me she would like a date.

Thanks for being a friend

Traveling down the road and back again

Your heart is true and your a friend of mine.

Signing Off

Sweet William The Scot

Fall In My Town

The path I take most often.  It winds back through Stanbery Park,  which is in walking distance from my home.  We call it the jewel of my community.  One hundred twenty five acres of undeveloped land.  I am always happy when we walk this way.  Lee can tell I am happy because my tail wags the entire time I am on the path.

 

The path circles around or you can drop down into the woods and follow a dirt path around the creek that circles through the park.

The leaves are beautiful.  On our walks we think of you and pictures you have showed us of your walks.  We wished this season lasted longer.

This clock in the hillside tells perfect time.  The flowers change with the season.  Well the clock is telling me it is time to go.

 

Thanks for being a friend

Traveling down the road and back again

Your heart is true and your a friend of mine

Signing Off

Sweet William The Scot

I Have A Winner

The winner of the last tote in the fish bowl draw is none other than Mitch and Molly.  Yep they played every game and had the correct song title three times, so they had three chances in the fish bowl.

Well the song was The Rose, sung by Bette Midler.

When the night has been too lonely

And the road has been too long

And you think that love is only

for the lucky and the strong

Just remember in the winter

Far beneath the bitter snow

Lies the seed

That with the sun's love, in the spring

Becomes the rose

"The Rose" is a pop song written by Amanda McBroom and made famous by Bette Midler, who performed it in the 1979 film The Rose.
 

Well Mitch and Molly you have won a rope pull toy and a rope ball plus a bag of treats.  Also you have in the tote the bird, the Ohio State bird cardinal windchimes which shines a light on the bird.  Gosh I even put a pack of batteries in the tote.  Also I put in some chocolate Godiva candy for your Mom.  Plus you get our own designer tote which Lee sews herself.  Thanks for playing.

Everybody who played thanks, we enjoyed seeing your answers.  Some answers made us laugh, but we considered every answer a good try. 

Thanks for being a friend

Traveling down the road and back again

Your heart is true and your a friend of mine.

Signing Off

Sweet William The Scot

It's Back ~ Name That Song

Your clue

Remember you must leave me two comments one that I can post now and one with the answer to the song and the artist who made it a hit that I can post at the end of this round which is Friday.  So get crackin and give me your answer.   The rules for playing my game are in the August 13th post.  Out wit and out play your fellow blogger.  Play RESPONSIBILY as they say in the lottery!

This is the last round. This is the last chance you have of getting into the fish bowl draw.  This is the draw tote.  Yes I originally had a fourth tote, but I needed it for a shop window, sorry.

I want to thank  Husky's Life,  Echo and Link, for giving me the Super Sweet Blogging Award!  Echo and Link live in France and they are new friends to me.  They are both rescues.  If you don't already know them please take a moment to go and say hello. Now for the pomp and circumstance ~
1. Cookies or Cake?   Cake Birthday Cake with lots of icing.
2. Chocolate or Vanilla?  Vanilla dogs cannot have chocolate you know.
3. What is your favorite sweet treat?  My favorite is whatever we are having right now.
4. When do you crave sweet things the most?  Mid afternoon treat.  But truth be told I really crave salty.
5. If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be?  Well my name is Sweet William The Scot so I am Sweet already.
The last duty was to nominated a “Baker’s Dozen” (13) blogs.  Well I am just going to name one and that is my Sweetie Snazzi Jazzi.  Jazzi is my whole baker's dozen you might say.

Thanks for being a friend

Traveling down the road and back again

Your heart is true and your a friend of mine.

Signing Off

Sweet William The Scot