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Dr
Breen's Study - Tessa
A
Way to Say Thank You!
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Tessa has given countless hours working with
everyone at the worst possible time. She works with each person
who submits a sample to the research lab. She is dealing with
the most emotionally trying of circumstances, and she does it
with grace and care. Dr. Matthew Breen met with the people who
had come for the Berner-L get together Monday night in
Gettysburg. He claimed that Tessa knew the name of each person
and each dog that has participated in the research. Several of
us raised eyebrows - we know there have been hundreds of
participants. He asked Lori Simidian the name of her boy who had
died in 2008 as an example. He called Tessa and asked if she
remembered Lori Simidian's boy - on speaker phone, no less. Yes,
his name was Mallomar, and he participated in the study four
years ago. What could any of us have said, but WOW!
Tessa retired from the sample collection process several
years ago, it was too emotionally draining. Several of us got
together and sent her two dozen long stemmed red roses as thanks
for all she had done. She decided that she couldn't quit after
that - those turned out to be the best roses anyone ever bought!
To that end, I would like to find a meaningful way to thank
her for all her efforts. I thought that a scrapbook might just
do the trick. Lynn Alvarez has volunteered to put the scrapbook
together for us (for which she may hate me later!). I thought we
could send cards and photos to Tessa, things such as:
- thank you's for her work with participating dogs
- photos of puppies with thanks for helping to ensure that
they live long happy lives
- photos of older dogs with thanks for working to ensure
all Berners get that chance
- fun cards
- beautiful photos
In short, anything to which she can turn in the evenings
for emotional recharging, something to let her know just how
much we appreciate her work.
Tessa doesn't have a Berner, so let's make this scrapbook
the next best thing. Share puppy antics, performance events,
adult clowns, stately double digits, all the many faces of the
breed she's working to help. (Lynn can print photos sent
electronically as well!)
If you would like to send something, send it to:
Lynn Alvarez
100 E. Clarendon St.
Prospect Heights, IL 60070
lynn.alvarez@comcast.net
If you include your email address, Lynn will let you know
she got it.
Thank you one and all!
Pat Long,
Berwyn PA
From
Lynn, August 2nd '12
Pat… I took a great picture of Sophia’s page
square on. However, Lottie then decided she needed to lie on
the piece of kraft paper and perhaps eat it. So, I retook
them up on my worktable, safe out of Lottie’s reach. I
am going to put the Rainbow Bridge card on the inside cover
of the book and that isn’t done yet. The page with your
Christmas card is elevated with foam tape and the greeting
pulls out with a piece of ribbon and a felted heart-shaped
brad. Hard to explain, but the pull out doesn’t come
out all the way, but is braced so it stops at the end.
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Liz Caldwell's Sweet Sophia
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August 3rd '12
Three pictures of Pat Tackett’s pages. One side is
the card she sent which opens to her message. The other side
is a picture of Samson in the 9-11 Sweeps.
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August 4th '12
This one is Andrea Carlsen’s Maya. I was hoping
she sent this picture when I got the email from her… I
just love the litter portrait and all the puppies are
wearing their colored ribbons. I knew exactly what I wanted
to do with it and the 10 ribbons on the side of the picture
are the colors of the puppies from the litter. I really had
fun putting this page together… and yes… we
definitely have a rainbow theme developing!
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August 6th '12
I ran with the birthday theme of Kathy Deyo’s card
and pulled out some stickers I used about 10 years ago for
some of my own birthday pictures. I had a little creative
crisis thanks to Lottie and Floyd. As I was working and
coming up with the final layout I had put the 12 candle
stickers on the edge of my work table. One of the two
swished a tail and I had only 11 stickers! Oops.. have 12
again and Whisper has earned every one! The cake sticker on
the card acts as a tab inviting the reader to open up the
card and Whisper’s name is spelled out on the banners.
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August 7th '12
Carolyn Paige had sent a lovely page in memory of her
Sam and I had to change the page size and font to match the
other pages. It was just missing a little something and I
finally found a red “stitched” border frame to
use. This was kind of fun as it is mostly a digital page,
but I did print out the pictures on photo paper. So, this
one took me a little longer than I had anticipated.
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I also finished two pages
featuring Barb DeKay’s dogs. On the left side will be
Tony in his down-stay for a draft test. Barb told me that
Tony refused to practice the stay for three months before
the test. But on that day, he was perfection. On the right
is Taylor standing on a heart-shaped rug.
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August 9th '12
I am sending pictures of three more pages for Tessa’s
book today. The first is Erica Hartt’s boys: Jack,
Timmy and Fender. Remember the page with Maya and her 10
puppies? Fender is one of those puppies, I think the black
puppy, from that litter. I asked Erica for her words for the
sticker… Things I love about you: Nose bumps, hugs,
snuggle time, ear nibbles and tail wags.
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The second set of pages
features a card and pictures of Lori Simidian’s
Berners, Mallomar, Jake and Murphy. I followed the fall
theme on the pictures of Murphy for inspiration here. It
needs something on the ends of the hemp twine… but I
haven’t figured that out yet.
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August 14th '12
At last, the snow page with pictures of Nancy Smalley’s
Karma
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August 15th '12
Erika Rankin sent me a huge care package loaded with
pictures and notes about her Berners. I was able to use 16
of the pictures (!) and copied her comments about the dogs
into the middle of each foldout. This is the left page. Most
cases, the dog’s name is on the semi-circular tab.
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This is the right side. Each
of the foldouts has four pictures and the text in the
middle. I grouped the dogs on each one… Alex & Lexi
one one (with puppy Zeus); Zeus and Zena (siblings); Riker
and Denali (siblings) and then the current pair of Yukon and
Karma.
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This is the Thank You card
Erika sent along with the cache of pictures. It is place
first, then the next two pages have the pictures of the
clan. It is anchored with a ribbon so that Tessa can read
all three sides of the card.
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August 15th '12
I started hatching the plan for this page yesterday…
and I love the way it turned out. There will be a companion
page with Camber on the other side… but I am so tickled
with this I had to send the picture to Jean right away to
share with everyone. One of my favorite things at the
Specialty is Team Obedience. In 2010, I think I laughed so
hard I was crying at the nuns and the dog that went into
crazy spins and was then threatened with an exorcism. So,
when Alice sent me this picture, I knew I wanted to do
something special. Well, this page has VIDEO! Just scan the
QR Code with a smartphone and viola! You are linked to the
Marilyn’s doing Team Obedience in 2011. It is so hard
to explain what exactly makes Team Obedience so fantastic…
so I figured we’d SHOW Tessa. T
here is a pull out card behind the picture and I tried
to put some words down that would explain why this is so
special:
Just what exactly is team obedience? It isn't anything
like regular obedience classes. It is at once spectacle,
variety show and improv humor. There is a set course and the
participants are judged for their execution of the various
skills... but the participants are in costume and the
perform with music. The best part comes from the dogs
themselves... there are four on the field for each team and
typically the dogs have proven their mettle and have earned
or are working on obedience titles. Somehow they seem to
sense that this is tongue-in-cheek obedience and provide the
humor. They talk back, break their sits, run away and make
everyone laugh and remember just why we love these dogs. The
QR Code will take you to a now classic performance at the
2011 BMDCA Specialty.
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click to enlarge
the opened card>
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Run Free 2
Tee Shirt Fundraiser 2012
Tee Shirt Fundraiser to Benefit Berner Cancer Research
If you are planning to send in an order for Run Free 2
shirts, why not add a picture of your Berner(s) and a note
for Tessa in the envelope!
http://www.bernese.biz/2012RunFreeFundraiser.htm
Berner-U - May 8th 2012
Dr.
Breen's Presentation
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