A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely.

An older sister is a friend and defender - a listener, conspirator, a counsellor and a sharer of delights. And sorrows too.

If there is a heaven, it's certain our animals are to be there. Their lives become so interwoven with our own, it would take more than an archangel to detangle them.

A horse can lend its rider the speed and strength he or she lacks - but the rider who is wise remembers it is no more then a loan.

A teddy bear does not depend upon mechanics to give him the semblance of life. He is loved - and therefore he lives.

Medicines may be necessary. Flowers lift the heart. But your smile is the best restorative of all.

Horses lend us the wings we lack.