Pattern Play

There are times when I simply want to have a day without spending a ton of time online, and this is the year when I will try and put that into practice. On such days all you will find here is the daily photograph I take for the Blipfoto site without any comment. The days are very full at the moment with Flora related activities. The first 6 months are vital to develop our routines and to teach her about life in her new home. I know that the more I put into those months the happier Flora and we will be.

However I had rather overlooked the fact that the last time we had a dog to train up was 14 years ago and of course we were rather younger then. My fitness had definitely waned when Rueben and Troi became old dogs so in that respect too it was a bit of a shock to the system. Despite her small size Flora can't half shift and I am succeeding in keeping up with her more and more.

It all eats into my studio time and I don't mind at all. In fact I was prepared with a hand stitching project that I can pick up and put down easily. And Flora is so good already. She loves her periods of running in the garden and going for her long walk in the forest but in between she sleeps, mainly under my work desk so she will make the ideal artist's dog! Also she is not a pup (she was estimated to be between 2 and 3 years old by the Barking Mad Dog Rescue charity), and she needs her rest.

My word for 2017 is: UNWIND, and I am very determined to live up to it. Rather than setting myself all kinds of unattainable goals I'm only aiming to achieve more time for relaxing, reading and dreaming. Wish me luck! It goes against the grain both of my upbringing and my workaholic gene and this is not the first time I have set myself that goal but if I am ever going to get through the pile of unread magazines and books in this house, I need to concentrate on it again!

I am so looking forward to sharing another year with you all, with and without words. Thanks so much for viewing this blog.