Category Archives: Animals – especially dogs

Animals - especially dogs, Nature

Beautiful, Mercurial January: A Sapphire Sky, Liam through the Ice, and a Snowstorm

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Gideon, little guardian of the yard, with a snow cap
Gideon, little guardian of the yard, with a snow cap

This year, January has been such a variable month. On Monday, when I went to a library meeting, I was dazzled by the night sky. It was just past dusk, shading into night with a sapphire blue horizon.  Into that beautiful blue came the rising moon, a glimmering sliver, a slice of brilliance.

On Tuesday, knowing that a snowstorm was coming, Clif and I (and Liam!) took to the woods, where the ground was nearly bare. There were patches of ice on the trail, which meant we still had to walk carefully. To borrow from Paul Simon, the sky was a hazy shade of winter. When we got to the brook, we found that ice had been thrown this way and that, just perfect for taking photographs, some of which were featured in this week’s Wordless Wednesday.  While I was taking pictures by the brook, I heard a mighty crash.

“What’s that?” I asked, whirling around.

“Liam fell through the ice, but he’s all right,” Clif answered.

Already on the shore, Liam was shaking his back legs. This confirmed one of my worries about Liam and winter ice—his basic unawareness of thin ice. When we have walked by the Narrows, where the water is deep, I have watched him carefully, only letting him on the ice when it was completely frozen. With the brook, there are no worries. The water is shallow, and the current is gentle. Still, this was a reminder that my concern is genuine.

We came home and had fresh homemade bread and leftover red bean soup. While we ate, it snowed outside, and before I went to bed, I turned on the porch light. “A nice little snowstorm,” I thought, seeing several inches on the porch.

On Wednesday, we woke up to find that about six inches of perfect, light, fluffy snow had fallen. This, of course, meant clean-up, with Clif on Little Green, me with the shovel, and Liam to leap, bark, and supervise.

Clif with Little Green
Clif with Little Green

 

Liam, Dog of the North, in the backyard
Liam, Dog of the North, in the backyard

Somehow, January is never long for me. I don’t mind the cold, and I don’t mind the snow, as long as it’s not heavy, and we don’t get more than a foot with any one storm. I suppose it’s because I was born in central Maine, and I have lived here for most of my fifty-eight years. To me, snow and cold are a normal part of life.

Then there is the beautiful winter light, which my small camera cannot always capture. Brilliant during the day, deep and mysterious at nightfall, this light makes January a month to look forward to.

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Animals - especially dogs

Dogs of Our Lives

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This weekend Shannon and Mike went to North Carolina to look for a place to live—they’re moving the end of December, and how we’ll miss them! Therefore, Clif and I took care of Shannon and Mike’s dogs, Holly and Somara, while they were away.

Each day, into the woods we went so the dogs could sniff and run and play. How lucky for us to have such beautiful trails so close by. And, I must admit, even though it is freakishly warm for December in Maine—in the fifties, no less—I was grateful to have bare trails for our doggy romps.

Somara running lickety-split
Somara running lickety-split

 

Clif and the gang
Clif and the gang

 

Waiting at attention for treats
Waiting at attention for treats

 

More lickety-split
More lickety-split

 

Shannon and Mike aren’t the only ones we’ll miss. We’ll miss those dogs, too.

Animals - especially dogs, News

The Craft Fair in Mount Vernon: A Very Good Day

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As someone who likes to look at the bright side of things, I’ll start this week with the good. (Tomorrow I’ll write about my ongoing oven woes.) The craft fair, in Mount Vernon, was a success. Lots of people came, and we sold enough cards and calendars to make it very worthwhile for us.  Our card of snowy Liam was the hit of the show, and we could have sold double of what we brought.

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Many people thought he was a bear, and I had to explain, with a smile, that Liam was a dog, albeit one who loves the snow. I also added that I would never get that close to a bear.

We got lots of positive comments and some very helpful suggestions. Just recently, we have added quotations to some of our pictures, and one woman said, “I love quotes on cards.” Other animal cards, starring family dogs and cats, were also a big hit.

While we will always make cards that feature pictures without words, we have decided to branch out and make cards that have quotations on them. We will also make some that simply have “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Anniversary” on them. We are learning as we go.

Anyway, we were extremely pleased with the results of the Mt. Vernon Craft Fair, and we will be looking for other venues to sell our cards.

 

Animals - especially dogs, Home

Dogs in the Yard

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Last Saturday, Clif and I took care of the granddogs while Mike and Shannon visited with relatives. The day was dry and warm, perfect for yard work, perfect for dogs to frolic in the yard.

Holly and Somara are both young dogs, and how fun it was to watch them race and chase each other. Liam, who at nearly eleven is, ahem, a senior dog, mostly just watched. However, once in a while Liam would rouse himself to join in on the fun. All too often, when I should have been raking, I would just stand and watch the dogs as they played.

I wasn’t able to take pictures of the dogs as they raced—too fast for my little camera—but I was able to get a few shots between frolics.

Liam, the senior dog
Liam, the senior dog

 

Somara, surveying the yard and the unraked leaves
Somara, surveying the yard and the unraked leaves

 

Holly, alert and always ready to have her picture taken
Holly, alert and always ready to have her picture taken

 

Dogs, leaves, a fire in the fire pit at night, S’mores. November, too, has its delights.

Animals - especially dogs, Nature, People

A Day at Local Breweries for Himself and a Day at the Beach for Me

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Yet again, Clif celebrated his retirement, and this event was orchestrated by our son-in-law Mike, who arranged a Maine Brew Bus tour of several local breweries in the Portland area.

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Raise the glass high

 

While Clif and Mike had a jolly afternoon sampling beer, Shannon, the dogs, and I had our own jolly afternoon on Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth. (Shannon and I are, ahem, decidedly unenthusiastic when it comes to beer, which means that an afternoon on the beach appeals to us far more than an afternoon drinking beer.)

Like Popham Beach, Crescent Beach State Park is relatively undeveloped. No condos or shops crowd the beach, and it is a lovely slip of sand, water, waves, and rocks. There is an inn by the beach, but it is back far enough to give the seaside plenty of breathing space. Crescent Beach doesn’t have the grand sweep of Popham Beach, but it is nevertheless one of my favorites.

From October 1 to March 31, dogs are allowed on the beach, and the five us had a splendid, sparkling time of crashing waves, gleaming rocks, warm sun, and blue sky.

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Beach grass by that lovely slip of beach

 

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Shannon and the dogs on Crescent Beach

 

Shell and foam
Shell and foam

 

Wood and shell on sand
Wood and shell on sand

 

After the beach and breweries, we gathered at Shannon and Mike’s for pizza and homemade apple crisp. It was a finest kind of day.

Animals - especially dogs

Fed-Up Friday: Let It Snow

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All right. Even for someone like me, who loves summer, this high heat and humidity has gone on a little too long. I am ready for cooler weather.

In fact, this is starting to look pretty good.

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The picture, of course, was taken last winter when Liam looked a little frosty. And while I don’t really want it to snow—not yet—I have been thinking ahead to Christmas and to cards, which I love to send.

This will be our Christmas card for 2015, and I have found it very soothing to look at it during this extreme heat and humidity.

The card is a good reminder that the seasons change in Maine, that it won’t always be this hot, and that instead of melting down at around 2:00 every afternoon, soon enough I’ll be putting wood on the fire.

 

Animals - especially dogs, Flowers, Food for Thought, Nature

An August Walk Up the Narrows: Or, the Various Aspects of Anne

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Yesterday, Clif, the dog, and I went for a Sunday walk up the Narrows Pond Road. It was one of those beautiful August days that was so perfect—so warm, dry, and sunny—that I wished I could hold onto that day and just keep it for use whenever the weather is bad, which it often is in Maine. But alas, good weather, like good times, cannot be held.

Clif and Liam walking up the Narrows Pond Road
Clif and Liam walking up the Narrows Pond Road

Up the road, on the right, there is a small meadow that is full of August wild flowers—black-eyed Susans, purple loosestrife, golden rod, and Queen Anne’s lace. I knew the light would be good, and I brought my camera along. When I go for walks and take pictures, quite often I am alone with the dog, and I have to put the retractable leash between my legs while I take pictures. I must say, it is much easier to take pictures when Clif has the dog.

I came to the little meadow, abloom with flowers. Clif and Liam continued walking while I took pictures.

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The other day, I was taken by Susan. On this walk, I was taken by Anne. I didn’t plan this, and I was reminded of Gabriel Orozco’s “The poetic happens when you don’t have expectations.” I’m not sure if my fascination with Queen Anne’s lace was poetic, but I certainly didn’t have any specific expectations on this walk. There was only a general sense that I wanted to take pictures of the wild flowers. But on this day, Queen Anne’s lace took center stage.

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On another walk, it might be something else.

It seems to me that one of the best gifts we can give us ourselves is the freedom to notice. And from this noticing, who knows what will happen?

I’ll end with a quotation from the great essayist Verlyn Klinkenborg, who was writing about the eighteenth-century naturalist Gilbert White. “He recorded what he noticed and in the pattern of noticing lies the art.”

We can’t all be be great artists, but maybe by noticing we can bring a little art into our lives.

Animals - especially dogs, Community

A Walk Around Winthrop: August 2, 2015

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Our daughter Shannon and her husband Mike have gone camping for a few days, and, as a result, we are dogsitting their dog Holly. (Their other dog, Somara, is a more easy-going dog, and they took her with them.) Much of the day was spent in our fenced-in backyard, but Holly is a young, energetic dog, and we decided to take her and Liam for a walk around town. We started at the library, where I had Clif sit on the bench with the dogs close-by.

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We walked around the corner to Maranacook Lake and the public beach. Maranacook Lake is fairly large. It spans two towns, has a twenty-two mile perimeter, and comprises 1,844 acres. I am happy to report the water quality is above average.

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We came across a plant that I have never seen before, and one that the bees certainly seem to like. If anyone is familiar with this plant, do let me know what it is.

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After walking by the beach, we turned up a side street, where we admired a sculpture made from a tree trunk.

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And a lovely yellow door of an old house.

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Then it was back on Main Street and around the corner to the library, where our car was parked. Not a long walk, but an interesting one with many things to look at.

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