Poppy and Flora

Doggy Play Date

Juno came to stay with us for the day and she and Flora had a great time chasing each other.

Nico

There can only be one blip for today and it is our second Romanian Rescue dog Nico. Like Flora he was rescued by Barking Mad Dog Rescue and arrived last night after an epic journey. Very tired and frightened but with such beautiful and loving eyes! There is a long road ahead but like Flora he’ll get there!

First Gotcha Day for Flora

Today was Flora's first Gotcha Day. She arrived with us exactly one year ago as a shivering, frightened little dog scared of just about everything apart from her mummy. She and I had an instant coup de foudre and we have been in love every since and will be forever. 

She is virtually unrecognizable from that dog now. She has her confidence back, loves her daddy (almost) as much as her mummy, goes for long walks, darts around the garden and considers herself the mistress of Penicuik Estate where we go for our daily walk. She loves meeting other dogs (specially large fluffy male ones) and enjoys being petted by all and sundry even boisterous children. 

For her special day we took her first to Pets at Home where apart from her usual food we stocked up on some special treats including a winter jacket and doggy cupcakes. From there we made our way to Pentland Garden Centre where there is a special area in the coffee shop for people with dogs. We had our treats and she got her cupcake. I was going to photograph that moment but by the time my finger hit the camera button, the cupcake had already vanished into Flora's mouth as you can see below. This girl loves her food!

The afternoon brought the usual walk in Penicuik Estate and on our return home we met up with a neighbouring doggy and they had some play time in our garden.

Although all the diversions from her usual routine slightly unsettled her I think she enjoyed her very own, very special day. We can't imagine life without her anymore and are looking forward so much to another fun filled year with her.

Temporary

Today the weather is dismal with endless rain showers. Flora was quite insulted that I took her for a walk along the old railway line this morning and personally I thought I was mad too! Fortunately the forecast had foretold these conditions yesterday so I took the opportunity then (on a much nicer day) to take some pictures of our latest (and last) prompt on Artful Adventures, Stroll through the Hood.

I think Nathalie left the hardest prompt till last. Temporary is a difficult concept to portray, despite the fact that everything in life (including this photographer) is here only temporary (that goes for the results of our UK election too, which might be consoling to the losers!). A human lifespan is but a blink of the eye compared to humanity's existence on this earth and the history of the earth itself. Somehow I have always find this a very soothing thought. Whatever happens, it won't last!

However I am far less sanquine about the length of life of my pets! The thought that they will probably die long before I do  (and indeed many have already)  makes me very sad on an almost daily basis. On one hand it's good. Hopefully Flora will be loved by us and looked after for all of her life. But that also means that one day she (like all our dogs, cats and chickens) will no longer be with us and that is an unbearable thought I try not to think.

I am not the only one so attached to her dog(s). There is a lovely pet cemetery in Penicuik Estate, tucked in by the side of the Lime Walk, in honour of pets from the past. How peaceful a place they have to rest after their temporary existence. I'm sure Toby, Monkey  and all the other animals must have been very beloved!

The Artful Adventures have now come to an end, and I for one will miss them. The strolls through the neighbourhood will continue, of course, apart from very rainy days! Many thanks to Nathalie Kalbach for thinking up such a fun project. It has left me with an arsenal of pictures to use as inspiration for future projects.

Not a Home

I've long known I have a dog fixation but wasn't aware of my huge collection of house imagery to collage, till I started looking for houses prompted by the theme on Joggles Art Journal Adventures this week which was: home. And then I thought of a way to combine them and used the quotation: "A house is not a home without a dog".  The dog image was a recent find in a magazine. It's a dachshund and the face looks so much like Flora's face. Should I get her a hat?!

The background started with gesso (into which I scratched random patterns) and collage using some of those house images coming from a variety of sources. I then added Distress Crayons as well as acrylic paint and the L167 Houses Stencil by Stencilgirl Products. I added some stamping with one of the stamps from an ImpressMeNow stamp sheet.

I found the words of the quotation in a wide variety of magazines ("without" was particularly difficult to locate!) and added the focal point house and dog.

Dinah Wakley's new line of washi tape was used to point in the direction of home. And hurrah, that focal house had another dog being walking in front of it. Sometimes the universe is kind!

This spread was done in a small (6 x 8) notebook journal with peacocks on the front that I received as a gift for Christmas. I'm glueing the pages together in pairs and using heavy gesso in order to make the pages sturdy enough for all the wet media and glue I'm applying. It's standing up so well, and I love the size.

Sunshine in the Forest

Amazingly this is the same forest we walked in earlier this week when the snow was thick on the ground.

Today it was bathed in glorious sunshine 

A Few Isolated Snow Showers

When the weather forecast told us to expect some isolated snow showers overnight, I didn't think I would be greeted by more than 5" of snow when I opened the door this morning to let the dog out. In some places there was substantially more due to drifting. The birds were desperate for their food so I duly obliged.

It was still snowing heavily at that stage and the above picture was taken through the window. Technically it is rubbish but I love the effect and this is what it truly looked like.

Would Flora want to go for her walk? The answer was a resounding yes. It seems we have acquired a bouncy Romanian snow dog. In some places the snow was higher than her but she didn't let that deter her and she soon figured out that walking in our footsteps was the best way to go. However at time she bounced ahead, jumping up above the snow. I didn't manage to capture those moments because I was too nervous about the effect of all that snow and wind on the camera.

 Here she is though: one very small dog out in the big white world. 

 It's now some time later and the sun has come out, interspersed with more snow. Frost is forecast for tonight so it should be an interesting time tomorrow morning. Time to start shovelling some of that snow before the drive becomes a skating ring.

Flora and I however are already looking forward to our next snow walk!

Flora loves the Sun

 Flora has found all the best spots in the house in which to sunbathe. 

New Bandana

Flora is wearing her new bandana from Barking Mad Dog Rescue 

Forest Dog Walk

Flora

Flora and Flowers

As you can tell, the ground is frozen at the moment, a gritter came by just now but on the plus side the sun is high in the sky. I greatly prefer the cold to the wet and grey. Flora too enjoys being out and about and is getting to know all the nooks and crannies of our garden. So far, the fencing seems to be adequate to contain her but we are keeping a close eye on it.

Looking back over the 3 months or so she has been with us the difference is astonishing. Her eyes are so much brighter, the coat so much softer and that tail is no longer between her legs. She is beginning to know she is much loved and is giving all her love back. The two of us bonded as soon as we met, but she is now very keen on John too and goes and greets him when he arrives back. She remains wary of other people (specially men) and also of large boisterous dogs. She barks ferociously in her own defence! There is still a long way to go and some remains of her traumatic early years will probably stay with her through her life but the transformation so far is nothing short of miraculous.

I could have been cheeky and entered Flora's picture for today's Flower Friday challenge on the Blipfoto site (her name after all stands for flower) but instead I will enter a picture of this gorgeous amarillis that has come into flower. Mine never seem to make it in time for Christmas but instead they brighten up the dark days of January and February. This one is the first one to make an appearance and it's one that I kept over from last year. There are another 3 to come out.

Flora

New Beginnings

And so we start again! Hopefully with hope and joy and ready to embrace 2017. I'm not one for resolutions or for attaching too much importance to this day. After all, every day brings new beginnings. Some of them will be bad and others good but one thing is for certain. There will be surprises in store. I don't think many of us saw the events 2016 brought us, coming!

You may remember that I wrote on this blog back in October when we walked the nearby woods without a dog in tow after losing Rueben, that we were intent on making new memories in this place where I have walked everyone of the previous 4 dogs we have had. And today we did. That is already a very good start to this year

Flora still has moments when she seems to have a complete panic attack and just stands still but these are getting rarer and today in the woods she had a wonderful time, running, sniffing and trotting alongside us like she had done that all her life.

The best 2016 gave me

Already life without her is unimaginable!

By the Gate

Life outside our gate is still pretty scary to Flora but she is doing her best!

Happy Christmas

Flowers, Food and Flora

It's Flower Friday again on the Blipfoto site and today there was an extra challenge to combine the flowers with food.

I eventually got a result (as seen in the top picture) but was rather handicapped in my efforts by my assistant's sense of smell. Flora clearly was aware of the truffles present.

Flora's 1 month anniversary

It's exactly one month ago since we collected our darling Flora from a service station on the M74 where the Barking Mad Dog Rescue charity had brought her all the way from Romania. In that time she has completely conquered our hearts and has become the centre point of the household. She has settled in beautifully, has received some visitors and has paid a visit herself to our friends where she behaved so well.

For the first few weeks we thought she didn't bark at all but she has since found her voice and a very loud one it was too! A courier appeared suddenly outside my studio window and all of a sudden there was this tiny roaring lion defending the premises. I shouldn't have laughed (very uneducational) but it was just too funny: the courier completely surprised and looking at the level of a big dog and then his gaze falling lower and lower till finally he spotted our little heroine.

The outward dog walk remains challenging for her as she is still a frightened little girl at times but the walk back is a pure pleasure. She stays by my side and trots off home very happily.