Susie had a dog, Waltzing Matilda, known as Tilly and a cat named Banjo (after the author of Waltzing Matilda). The cat went to live with a friend of mine and has since died. But Tilly is living a happy life in the Methow valley and when I visit the valley I go to see her and Susie’s friend Brad who has given her such a good home.

A few years ago I had this great idea – I would get her paw print and make a rubber stamp. Then Tilly would have a tree-gram on the trees for Susie. Brad and I tried to get her to step on the ink pad but she was too excited and too muddy. I left the pad in hopes that Brad could catch her on a dry day. I didn’t hear from him.

Last fall at the dedication of the Susie Stephens Trail, Brad handed me a slightly wrinkled piece of paper with a purple paw print on it. YES! – but. There was so much hair between the toes that I didn’t see how a rubber stamp could be made. Could he try to clean up a foot and try again? I didn’t hear from him.

Then I used my brain; I scanned the print it into the computer. But, as usual, this ungeeky person couldn’t get the machine to print where I wanted it to. You can’t make tree-grams with the print right in the middle of the page. I scanned again and this time I made it work and got three prints on a 8.5×11 piece of grocery bag.

On Sunday Jack and I went to visit Susie’s newest anniversary tree in Ruth Park and hung a beautiful purple paw print.