This is for Marie!

Today I had a lovely visit from my friend Marie. If you read the comments on my blog, you'll know she is one of a small handful of people who actually leaves a comment fairly regularly. And if you've followed my blog for a long time, you may remember her dog Sparkle, who I wrote about back in 2013. Okay, your memory probably isn't much better than mine, so in case you want to check it out, here's the post called "A Little Sparkle on the Island" (just click on that title).

But I digress. Marie came to visit today - her brother lives just a couple of blocks away, and when I bumped into him the other evening and he mentioned she was in town, I jumped at the chance to see her. Sparkle didn't come this time - Sparkle is happily herding horses and chasing chickens on her favourite dog-sitter's farm back home. But Marie and I had a lovely visit, and Maggie decided she was an okay person (I think the treats had something to do with that - bribery, sheer bribery! 😄).  In the course of our conversation, Marie mentioned how much she missed my blog when I go for long stretches of time without a word or a photo. 

Marie is one of about three followers of this blog who have not yet been dragged into Facebook.  And therefore she, and the other two followers, don't get to see the photos I post there. So I promised her I would post something either tonight or tomorrow night. 

All you facebook people can move along now - you've seen these photos already.  This is for Marie.

About three weeks ago, on May 25th, my friend Pat and I took Maggie and the Poms to the beach at Parksville,  Given how much they loved our recent trip to Saratoga Beach, we figured that was a good outing for a beach addicted sheltie, a water-addicted pom, and a pom who hates to hike. It also happened to be Maggie's Gotcha Day (one year since the day I adopted Maggie home from the shelter), and when I asked Maggie what she wanted to do for her 1st Gotcha Day, she said 'BEACH'.

Or maybe she said 'TREAT'.   Or 'SLEEP'.  Who knows?  I'm not fluent in dog. But I'm guessing it was one of her three favourite things.

We had a wonderful day, but I never really processed the photos for the blog, because while I was thinking about it that evening, I received a message from Pat with sad news - her third and oldest pom, Chrissy, had passed away.  Chrissy was sixteen and was Pat's husband's constant companion.  I seldom saw him without Chrissy in the crook of his arm.

She was also my very favourite pom ever, as Pat well knows. She was feisty and funny, a girl with attitude and a Phyllis Diller hairdo.  I just couldn't post about a fun day at the beach after hearing that sad news.

Bye, Chrissy.  Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge!

And that news was followed three days later by the news of my nephew's sudden death......so Maggie's Gotcha Day blog got sidelined by more somber things in my life.

Last week, we took the dogs back to Parksville Beach for another fabulous day, and this time I did get around to editing the photos.  They aren't as spectacular as the Saratoga ones, but they capture the joy two poms and a sheltie have on a sandy beach with oodles of sand and very few people.

Maggie goes from sedate to exuberant the minute her feet touch the sand! 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!
(or:  barkbarkbarkbarkbark)

Pat and the Poms - she really did have two with her - one is out of the frame!
(I chose this image because I liked the reflection).

An assortment of sea treasures: going clockwise from top left - fine fish skeleton left by the eagles; jellyfish; sand dollar; seastar; sand collar (egg ring of Lewis's Moon Snail); red coloured crab moving sideways with sea grasses under water - probably a red rock crab; sole in sand; clam shell. Centre photo is a kelp crab.

I took this photo because I liked the couple's
 brightly coloured jackets against the blue sea and sky.

At the far end of the long expanse of sand, the shore becomes rockier.  There, many eagles were scouting for food among the rocks and shallows.  I counted six, but when I downloaded the photos to the computer, I realized there were at least a dozen, including several babies I'd not noticed through the lens.

Eagle

Eagle and two young, who are learning to hunt and fly

Young eagle - possibly his/her first hunting lesson, judging by the fuzzy head

Trio of eagles

By the time we ate our lunch, the tide was so far out we could hardly see the ocean. It was one of the lowest tides of the year, a combination of a new moon, and the moon being in its northernmost orbit and at its closest position to the earth. There will be two similar low, low tides this summer - one on July 13 and one on August 11.

And there you have it - the missing entries (or some of them) that Facebook friends got to see and you missed out on.  I'll try to do better.  Really. 

And I'm already working on my annual July 1 Canada Day blog post. 

Have a safe trip back home, Marie.  And give Sparkle a gentle hug from me.