Ginger the Wonder Dog

Ginger the yellow lab sits on her ridge in San Rafael, surveying the neighborhood from our house to the ridgetops where she occasionally gets to run free after the odd jackrabbit or turkey. When she is at her appointed station, the family of deer that live in the open space respect her authority, and don't try to sneak into the garden to nibble on a new rosebud.

Ginger was diagnosed with bone cancer and given four months to live without invasive treatment, eight with. We elected not to do surgery or chemo, but I included her in my own daily self-healing regimen and gave her some of the nutritional supplements that I have been taking to aid my own recovery.

That was more than three years ago.

Now, as I watch her chase a tennis ball or jump into her favorite pond, it's not hard to believe that she is the happiest dog in the whole world.


(cool PhotoShop filter art by Ellen Goldstein)