SPRING!

My online American friends on one of the dog forums I frequent, as well as some of my friends from eastern Canada, are griping about the amount of snow they have to shovel.

So, it is time to post the photos I took around my adopted home town this Sunday:

Pussywillows

Snowdrops

Viburnum?

Primroses

Crocus

Camelia

Lily - Glacial lily, I think?

?????

As well as spring flowers, the birds are saying spring is here:

Ducks are pairing up and showing signs of mating

Little birds are house hunting

Oliver thinks it is warm enough to go wading:

And, of course, the most telling sign of all:




So, all I can say to my snow-bound friends is: Nyah-nyah-nyah......
(heeheeheeheehee).

Mah Princess is not well

By OLIVER

So I iz gonna stay rite by her side to look after her!!

[Explanatory note from Oliver's mama: Princess Belle has been ill for the past week. I think it is a flare up of her pancreatitis. We have been managing it alternating fasting and diet (Jasmine rice), peptobismal, and today will add cottage cheese as she has now been a week without any protein. If we don't see some improvement by tomorrow, the vet will be coming over to run further tests and discuss options. Please keep her in your thoughts. It is only her insides that are affected - her attitude (shelti-tude!) is completely intact! ]

Watercolour World

When I was a young teen, I used to dabble with art – mostly charcoal pencils or oil pastels. Primarily I copied pictures I liked or tried my hand at exercises in the “Learn to Draw” books my aunt gave me for Christmas. But my talent was meagre, and insensitive art teachers in junior high soon persuaded me to pursue other interests.

I don’t think I ever tried watercolour, yet I am constantly drawn to watercolour originals and prints in art galleries and stores. It seems to me the most magical of art, that which captures nature most realistically, most perfectly in all its hues and subtleties.

There is not a morning sunrise that I do not long to paint – would that I could! There is something mystical in soft greys and blues of water and sky, ever changing as the sun climbs out of bed and stretches its rays. Magic happens as those rays, feeble at first then stronger, embrace the world and change red and pink to gold and yellow before flooding the bay with the full light of day. I wish that I was gifted enough to capture such beauty and splash it across my livingroom wall to brighten a gloomy day or calm a chaotic mind.

Here, from my sunrise walk with Oliver today, is the magic that paints my watercolour world:

A stinky smelly yucky gooey silty soggy mess

The Wednesday Walk was NOT pleasant. Swallowfield flooded in recent weeks and while the water has receded, it left behind a silt that is ripe with rotten fish. The trail was slippery and the air was overpoweringly stinky. Fifteen dogs thought nothing of it, trotting happily through the muck, into the fields and bushes, running back with decomposing fish parts, rolling in stink and swamp and poop and fishguts. The six humans were holding their breath, covering their noses, and trying hard not to gag. And they say dogs have the more acute sense of smell!

However, even stinky smelly dogs can be photogenic, so here is a short photographic summary of today’s outing.

In the "Looks Nicer than it Smells" department:

Pretty scenery

Quinn in Orange

Amie in Red

(Amie is a Turtle Gardens Alumni, and she says "don't forget to vote in the Shelter Challenge!")

The dogs still had fun:

On the Flats

Dolly and Amie

Charley, Kabuki and Amie

Down by the River

Vimy takes a break

Soon it was time to head home:

Dog sled candidates - or "how to keep them from rolling in the stink".

Two Tired Dogs

I think we will steer clear of Swallowfield until drier weather prevails for a significant length of time... or until we pick up our government-issued gas masks.

Dogs, Cats, Pigs and Boats

It was a pleasant enough day - sunny with cloudy patches, mild temperature, and easy travelling. I had made ferry reservations as I had an appointment in Duncan in the morning and an appointment to see Emma in Abbotsford in the afternoon. I needn't have bothered - with the reservation, that is. There were approximately fifty cars on the whole ship. In fact, I had the very front position, on the main deck centre prow.



I arrived in good time and spent my half hour with Emma, my yellow lab that lives with my ex.



I spent the time refreshing her training, rewarding her with bits of her dinner kibble and a new squeeky toy. She's a happy girl, though I think a very lonely one in her big back yard all by herself. From the large boards nailed to the top of the fence and gates, I'm guessing she has been escaping, looking for company or adventure. Her boredom has also led her to dig many holes in the yard - a new behaviour since my last visit. She was always a social butterfly and I so wish she had a canine companion. At five, she still has the energy of a puppy. But then, that's a lab for you - they outgrow puppyhood somewhere around eight or nine!

I spent the next day thrift-store-crawling with my friend Ann, and the following day checking out more thrift stores with Janice from Hearts on Noses. I finally found the stereo cabinet I have been looking for, and a few other treasures, and still have lots of time to visit with the piggies.

I think they were happy to see me:










I spent some time taking photos of the pigs while Janice was busy feeding:















And of Janice's dog Buddy, too:




We sat in the Great Room where we were entertained by a very vocal Mouse, who is now a House Pig after receiving post-surgical nursing care indoors and being smart enough to realize when she was onto a good thing! But she is very well behaved, housebroken, and asks only for a pile of blankets for her "nest" and as many treats as she can manipulate from soft-hearted guests.



On Friday, I visited my friend Ellen, where Kinley and Finnia kept us entertained:





I like these two shots in black and white:






Most entertaining of all was watching Finnia use Kinley's tail as a toy - Kinley didn't seem to mind in the least, even when Finnia taste-tested it:




The weather turned drizzly on Saturday, when I took mom for lunch and then for a drive around White Rock and Crescent Beach. We stopped at Blackie's Spit for a while, where the gulls joined us watching a barge pull its load of machinary across the bay.








The ferry home was as light as the one there - I counted 47 cars and 5 big trucks. Once again, I was front and centre at the prow. I can't help but wonder how much longer the Duke Point-Nanaimo run will be continued, with routes operating at such a loss.

Home to my dogs and cat, who greeted me with great enthusiasm as usual. And another month has flown by.

It's good to be home. It's always good to be home.