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| Tika in Australia, 2003 |
Dear Friends,
I have stopped and
started this post so many times in the past weeks... a loss for words,
until now. Many of you would have seen on my Instagram post that our dear Tika
passed away peacefully. Her 14.7 adventurous years had come to an end
at Tahilla Farm in New Hampshire…a long way from her birthplace in Melbourne,
Australia. We all take comfort that she is resting with us and is now part of
the Tahilla Farm story.
I could cry you a
post and the words would run deep but I won’t. Instead, I would like to take
this time to remember a wonderful loving pet, a soulful girl who followed us around the globe again and again. She loved us all but her true love was Connor and he returned that love year after year.
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| Connor and Tika...puppy love in Australia, 2003 |
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| Connor and Tika measuring up in New Zealand, 2006 |
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| In the swim in New Zealand, 2008 |
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| Tika laying claim to Hadrian's Wall in England, 2010 |
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| Reading time in England, 2011 |
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| Tika wins in Vietnam, 2013 |
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| Tika of Chateau Mango, Vietnam, 2016 |
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Tika with her 'second family' at Chateau Mango in Vietnam, 2016
Mr. Khai, Mr. Thuan and Ms. Huyen (missing Mr. Tam) |
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| Last photo, Connor and Tika in USA, 2017 |
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| Tika of Tahilla...long may she roam |
We will miss Tika dearly but are so very happy that she could make the final journey from Vietnam to Tahilla Farm to be with us. She is now woven into the story of Tahilla, roaming the meadows and woods, always by our side...in spirit.
Thank you all for you very kind words
Hoping you are having a wonderful start to the New Year,
it certainly came in with a roar.
Jeanne xx
Tika is a beautiful family member always
ReplyDeleteThe intensity of Tika's love for Connor in the last photo of them is beyond words.
Sympathy and prayers
Thank you May...xx
DeleteYour Tika had a wonderful life full of love and travel!
ReplyDeleteHugs to you all -so hard when a beloved pet dies .
From Tika's birth place - Melbourne , Australia.... hot today 37c !
Thank you for stopping by LadyJicky...there is no question that Tika had that great Aussie spirit...she was a traveling girl. Stay cool...ouch, 37c!
DeletePlease, please get the book The Tenth Good Thing About Barney. You can get it on Amazonn-a children's book about a little boy losing his pet. A real family keepsake!
ReplyDeleteThank you Brenda...I have added it to our Amazon shopping cart and look forward to reading it. Much appreciated. xx
DeleteI'm greatly saddened Jeanne to learn here of losing Tika. She certainly was the most traveled and loved dog ever - her 'passport' must have been stamped more than any other canine! Knowing she shared a fabulous life with a wonderful caring family is lovely - and now she is in her final resting place in beautiful NH where delightful memories of life with her around the world will always be awaiting your family when they come home.
ReplyDeleteThe photos with Connor are precious -
Love to you all at this difficult time of loss.
Hugs - Mary
Thank you Mary, I so appreciate your comment...hugs back to you! xx
DeleteDear Jeanne, I do know how you feel. Your Tika looks so much like our Lucy. I am so very sorry for your loss. Tika had a most fulfilling life. To see the photos with Conner is heart warming and seeing her roaming through the Tahilla Farm fields is so lovely.
ReplyDeleteTika has found the perfect answer for you to be with her forever and ever.
Thank you Gina, I never fully appreciated what losing a pet would be like until now, especially when you have to make the decision for them. She was a wonderful dog and I feel her presence even now, a few weeks on. A comforting thought. xx
DeleteTenderly beautiful and entirely heartbreaking, all at once. This is one of the most difficult parts of life...I am so very sorry. My prayers for your wonderful family! RIP, precious Tika......until you meet again.
ReplyDeleteThank you Vickie, truly appreciated. xx
DeleteLosing the family dog is incredibly difficult, but Tika lived a wonderful life with you all. So many good memories! Glad she'll be at the Farm waiting for you forever. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteThank you Webb, much appreciated. Nice to know we are still coming home to her. xx
DeleteGORGEOUS ALL YOUR PHOTOS.................
ReplyDeleteIT IS HARD I KNOW.................but SHE HAD A GREAT LIFE and YOU HAVE FOND FOND MEMORIES.......XX
Indeed we do, thank you Elizabeth....xxx
DeleteJeanne, I cried a post for you while reading this. I did the same when I saw your update on Instagram. It is so very hard to loose our family member pets. My Munchen was 14 years and 10 months and although I felt like everyday was a blessing and believe me I would have done anything to keep her alive, in the end I thought it was best for her and probably me too to put her to sleep.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing your beautiful Tika through the years and the love and bong with Connor. A special relationship across the continents to be sure. Thank you for sharing your beautiful Tika. Following along all these year on your blot I felt as if I knew her too!
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
xo
Thank you so much Elizabeth and I feel for you, knowing how much you miss Munchen. Making that final decision is excruciating, we debated for so long, looking at every movement as a 'sign' to wait. In the end, we had to do what was best for her, it just wasn't fair. She left our family as she came in, loved from the very first minute to the last...and beyond. Tika has been a continuous thread in the Collage of Life story...I miss the updates. I am sure we will hear the hear the pitter patter of puppy paws again one day, when the time is right. Thank you again for your comments, so very much appreciated. xx
DeleteGreetings Jeanne, I'm wiping away some tears over here and sending love and sympathy. Those photos of a boy and his dog growing up together are precious indeed; there is never another friendship quite like that one. Your post is a beautiful tribute to Tika and to your dear son and the special bond they shared. Thanks so much for sharing these images and memories with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you Katrina, so very much appreciated. xx
DeleteThis really makes me so teary. We lost our neighbor's dog whom we had grown to love so much. Then, our Chester was suspected of having heart disease. He went downhill quickly right before Xmas but then bounced back fully and the diagnosis ended up being a very bad case of kennel cough. Tikka is so beautiful and I am so pleased to see that she had time roaming the beautiful countryside of our beloved New Hampshire.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah, what a relief for you and Chester. Happy to hear he bounced back. I am glad we were able to transport Tika from Vietnam to end her days in New Hampshire. If we had waited much longer we may not have had the opportunity. That is a blessing in itself. xx
DeleteAs I know the heartache of losing beloved pets and I have yet to sign up for Instagram, I knew this post was forthcoming from another blog which I recently came upon and I've been dreading it. I owned a Springer Spaniel for 16 years and I miss him still everyday along with an Eskie whom I rescued and who passed away two years later. There is a quote which sums it all up: “Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.” Dean Koontz. My heartfelt sympathies for you and your family.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan and I could not agree more with the quote you mentioned. You had two wonderful dogs so I can just imagine how much you must be missing them. I wonder...is their another dog or two in your life now? That of course is the great debate in our house. We will have to wait until our lifestyle settles down but I have to say.. first chance I get...Tahilla Farm will hear the pitter patter of puppy paws. Many thanks for your kind words..xx
DeleteHello Jeanne, So sorry for your huge loss and for dear Conner too. Tika wormed her way into my heart and I will miss her greatly. What a blessing that she had time to roam the fields at Tahilla Farm . Her spirit will linger and live on. Keeping you in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteHelen xx
Thank you Helen, so sweet of you to say. So true...even now, I can feel her spirit within the house. xx
DeleteJeanne, when my dear Berkley died, I found comfort in these words from Irving Townsend:
ReplyDelete“We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our
own, live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
I am so very sorry.
Thank you Barbara, so true, we would still live no other way. A blessing to have her here for the short time that we did. xx
DeleteWhat a sweet tribute to a wonderful dog. She will be missed but you have great memories of her.
ReplyDeleteThank you Loree, indeed we do. xx
DeleteOh Jeanne...what a wonderful tribute to your wonderful dog. That is what life is about "making memories" is it not? We just put our beautiful Cavi, Sophie, down yesterday. We both feel like part of us has been ripped out. She was also 14 and had a life full of many travels and adventures with us.
ReplyDeleteMay they both rest in peace.....they are waiting for us.
xo
Jo
I am so very sorry Jo, I can feel your pain, it is such a hard decision to make. Indeed they are...waiting for us and until then, they are still with us in our heart and in spirit. xx
DeleteI'm having a delightful time, learning about you and your family, but am so saddened to hear of Tika's death. In January I lost Molly and in February, Sam. They were my last living family members and it nearly took me down for the count. Tika was obviously loved and cherished, and she returned that love. Thank you for sharing her with us. Brenda
ReplyDelete