Pet Pride: my man's best friend

Lindy's favorite person is her daddy. Here he is sitting on the floor instead of in his recliner, holding her front paw while she sleeps on her ottoman.

Photo by Kay Davies

Posted for Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "Hi, Bozo. This is my daddy. I love him sooooooo much! I love my mom, too, but I love Daddy best."

Camera Critter...didn't notice Lindy

Dick and Lindy have seen this cat before when they've been out walking, and the cat wasn't impressed by the sight of a short, fat Golden Retriever. This time, however, the cat posed prettily because it didn't see Lindy.

Posted for

Camera

Critters

the meme hosted

by Misty Dawn.

Photo by Richard Schear, 2012

http://camera-critters.blogspot.ca/2012/06/camera-critters-220.html

Thanks, Misty!

Thursday Theme Song...makes me happy

Sunshine on my shoulders
makes me happy

Posted for
Hootin' Anni's
musical meme


Thursday
Theme
Song




Thanks, Anni!
Thursday Theme Song
almost always
makes me happy,
unless I miss it.

Sunshine in my eyes
can make me cry

I spent most of my adult life living and working in or near Vancouver, British Columbia.
 
 
Residents of that beautiful and vibrant city have access to concerts by many of the world's greats.
 
One such singer was John Denver, who died much too young, and I am grateful I was given the opportunity to see him perform.
 
My friend Judith had tickets for the press box, and we had to walk across a high catwalk to reach it. I was terrified, and almost didn't get there, believe me. But I'm very glad I did.
 
 
This is one of the songs John Denver sang that night, modified only slightly for Thursday Theme Song.

Sunshine on the prairie looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me sigh.

Photos by Richard Schear, southeastern Alberta, June 17, 2012

Lindy with reflections and shadows

Richard Schear photos, June, 2012

Dick and Lindy went to the Redcliff Days Show'n'Shine this afternoon, where Lindy posed with this other "beautiful beast" — a 1958 Buick Special.

Posted for
Weekend Reflections
Shadow Shot Sunday 2
and also for Pet Pride

Pet Pride: Lindy and her friends

"Hello," says Lindy, "what are you doing in Sarge's yard?"

"This is my friend who is visiting me," says Sarge. "Maybe you can visit me some day, Lindy."

"Hi, Lindy," said the Portuguese Water Dogs, "we're up here on our balcony watching you!"

Lindy has lots of friends to talk to when she walks with her daddy.

Posted for Pet Pride

hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India,

on their Pets Forever blog

"Hi, Bozo," says Lindy, "these dogs live near my walking path, so I see them quite often. I don't know when I'll ever get to Mumbai to visit you."

Lindy for three memes

Look what I caught for Mom. She'll love it!

Richard Schear photo, April 2012

How could she know I love old Mustangs?

Lindy was actually happy to find a shady place to rest during her walk with her daddy to the post office. Sidewalks and roads throw off more heat than the red shale paths in their coulee walks, but it's easier to find shade in town.

Posted for
Camera Critters HERE!
Pet Pride HERE!
Shadow Shot Sunday 2 HERE!

Pet Pride: slow down, Dad!

Seriously, Daddy, your legs are much longer than mine!

Photos by Richard Schear

Posted for  Pet Pride

hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family at their Pets Forever blog

in Mumbai, India.

Lindy says, "The weather is starting to warm up. It's nice for walking, but not for running! Are you good at running, Bozo?"

Shadow Shot Sunday 2: Lindy and other dogs

This little dog is almost hidden in Lindy's shadow on the brown grass, but it makes its presence known quite loudly, telling Lindy to go away.

The little dog's companion, a laid-back Chocolate Labrador Retriever, comes along behind it. Lindy smiles at the Lab, but he's not paying any attention to her.

Also not looking at Lindy that day was Sarge, the husky who used to love her. Lindy stopped and looked at him, but he ignored her, as she always ignored him.

Lindy and her dad did have a good walk that day, however, and saw plenty of lovely shadows in the coulee.

Posted for
Shadow Shot Sunday 2
and for
Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's pal Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.

Pet Pride: hotel-happy dog

Last September I took Lindy to a hotel for the first time, and she philosophically took it in stride. She wasn't too sure about the little metal room whose door closed automatically, and was a bit surprised when the room started to move upward, but she got used to it quickly, and she was very happy to share a large hotel room with two ladies. We were there with our friend Mara (of the blog Weighty Matters) from The Netherlands, and she was pleased to find out Lindy didn't bark or misbehave in any way.
In January, Dick and I took Lindy to the Red Deer Lodge in central Alberta, to meet two of Dick's daughters and three of our grandsons. Again, she was a perfect hotel guest. In the photo below, she is on the floor, sleeping contentedly on a sheet we brought from home.

Posted for
Pet Pride  hosted by
Lindy's pal Bozo and his family in Mumbai, on their blog Pets Forever.

Saturday's Photo Hunting: creative this week

Whoever created reflective snow boots for dogs probably had to endure a lot of laughter and teasing at first, but they really do work! Wearing her boots, Lindy doesn't get painful chunks of snow between the pads of her feet during a winter walk, so she doesn't need help getting them out of there.
When she sees her daddy with her boots, Lindy knows it's time for a walk, just as she knows her harness means a car ride. We have rigged up a rather creative "seat belt" system in the back seat of my car for her, but I can't find any photos of it.

Kay Davies photos 2012

Sometimes Lindy doesn't even wait for her boots to come off, or for someone to dry off her snowy curls. She just climbs up onto her seat in the living room and goes to sleep. Winter walks can be tiring. We were hoping there wouldn't be any more snow, but this afternoon there was a bit of snow mixed with rain, so we can't be sure the boots can be retired for the season yet.

Posted for "creative" — 
the word of the week for the meme hosted by our friend Gattina in Belgium...
Saturday's Photo Hunting

For Real Toads: a poem for Spring

It is nowhere near Spring in southeastern Alberta, or in any other part of Alberta, I'm sure, but Kerry of the writers' group Imaginary Garden with Real Toads has suggested we might want to submit a poem about Spring.
It seems to me I've only ever written one poem on the subject of Spring. It is old, and small (44 words) and even though I'm sure I've used it in my blog before, most likely for Open Link Monday, I'll post it here again to see if it inspires me to write a new one.






Rock Poem


poets speak
of birds,
and trees,
and flowers
when Spring comes.
not I—
I love
a rock
new warmed
by mountain sun,
that in
the night
becomes a
lonely, lost
and windswept cliff
and then,
at dawn,
the place
where young
Tomorrow is born.

© Kay L. Davies

Can I write another one while I watch the snow melt, the sun set and the dog sleep in early March all these years after I wrote this one?

*

We were in Paris last Spring. I've written about that before, too, definitely for Real Toads. It was at the end of February, much much more recently than the rock poem, and my labels said usefully searchable things like springtime in Paris. There's something wrong with the Search feature on my blog archives, that's for sure.

*

New Poem for Spring

*

When Spring comes to our house,

we'll likely be home, 

it doesn't arrive here 'til May,

but then, when it does,

the air is a-buzz

as everyone plants in one day.

The ground is unfrozen

and so are our toes 'n

we're happy to be out of doors.

The dog's underfoot

and the air's full of soot

from folks who barbecue early.

Now if we could teach Lindy

to dig holes for trees, not for fun,

our Spring would be happy

and not full of traps she

has burrowed behind us, then run.

*

© ? Why?

(Uh-oh, nope, this isn't going to work at all.  I'll get back to Real Toads with a Spring poem sometime around May 24.)

K

Saturday's Photo Hunting: fluffy tummies

Our friend Gattina in Belgium hosts Saturday's Photo Hunting, and this week the word is fluffy.
Here are a few photos I found of fluffy tummies, from our archives.

Dick's old cat, Igor, who lived to be 20 years old. He wasn't a fluffy cat, but he had a fluffy tummy.

Gao Gao, the daddy panda at the San Diego Zoo. We'll see him again at the end of this month.

Gao Gao's daughter, Su Lin, in 2006 at the age of 5 months, spent most of her time up in a tree, and we could see her tummy from below. Su Lin now lives in China.

Buttercup, the official resident sloth at the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica.

Close up of a Capuchin monkey in the rain in Costa Rica.

This fluffy-tummied youngster is a baby frigate bird in the Galapagos Islands.

I was very surprised when this fellow jumped onto my shoulder in Casablanca.

A baby puffin looks at photos of other puffins during my tour of Sea World in Florida.

My school friend Carola and her husband Ken have two Maine Coon cats named Dash and Lily.
This is Lily in the laundry basket.

These two doves in Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii, are all fluffed up because it was a tiny bit chilly one morning, although not by Canadian standards!

Our favorite fluffy tummy in all the world belongs, of course, to our dog Lindy!

© Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear

Pet Pride and SSS2: Lindy in the sunset

"Ooh, that sun is so bright, it hurts."

"Maybe it will help if I close one eye."

"No, the only thing to do is to close both eyes."

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday 2
hosted by Gemma, Rose, and Magical Mystical Teacher
as well as for
Pet Pride, hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai
"Hi, Bozo," says Lindy. "I'll bet you get some very bright sun in India. Does it ever hurt your eyes?"

Camera Critters; Pet Pride: foes, fans, flight risks

This little dog (above) barks and barks and barks whenever Lindy goes by (see her footprints outside the fence) but Lindy just ignores all the fuss and bother.

Lindy waits patiently in last month's snow while her daddy takes a picture of the little dog, although she doesn't understand why he would want a photo of such a noisy dog. (She forgets she barks at dogs going past our fence, too.)

This dog comes to his fence whenever he sees Lindy. He doesn't bark, he just wants to be friends with her, but her daddy couldn't even get a photo of Lindy looking at him. She just walks right by, and that makes the dog cry. He loves Lindy, but she'd rather walk than make friends. Not a good attitude just before Valentine's Day, Lindy. He might have shared a bone with you!

© Photos by Richard Schear

Another little dog and its buddy were enjoying an unsupervised run as Dick and Lindy were on one of their walks this week. Lindy didn't understand what they were doing, until their owner came along and asked if Dick had seen two little dogs. When he said yes, she sighed and said, "I know they'll come home, but at least I get out for a walk while I'm looking for them." Ah yes, hide'n'seek!

Posted for
Camera Critters
hosted by Misty Dawn. Thanks, Misty!
and for
Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's pal Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "You sure do look comfortable and happy on your blog today, Bozo. My comfort zones are (1) my bed; (2) my window seat; (3) my TV seat; and (4) the middle of the kitchen floor whenever anyone is trying to cook in there. Thanks for asking!"

Shadow Shot Sunday 2: under the moon

© Photo by Richard Schear

During their walk today, Dick and Lindy saw the moon high in the blue sky, and below it the sunset-shadow of a house on the wall of another house.

Posted for
Shadow Shot Sunday 2
now hosted by the team of Gemma, Rose, and Magical Mystical Teacher

Pet Pride: Lindy and daddy snore with TV

The family that snores together, stays together.

— Lindy Davies-Schear

© Photo by Kay Davies

"TV? Are we supposed to be watching TV? Isn't it a commercial right now?"

Posted for Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "Do you watch television, Bozo? Even when they have dogs on there, I find it puts me to sleep. It does the same thing to my dad, too, and sometimes even my mom."

Wonderful reflections: would you believe...

...my husband got a photo of this sunset...

...reflecting on our dog  as well as on the fence beside her?

Posted for James at
Weekend Reflections
and for
Camera Critters  hosted by Misty Dawn
and also for
Pet Pride  hosted by Lindy's buddy Bozo in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "Look at me, Bozo, all lit up like a Christmas tree, but too late."
*
Lindy's golden curls really shone like gold in the sunset earlier this month, and the shadow of the fence fell on her at the same time. So I am posting this, too, to
Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Our World Tuesday: we missed the deer

We often have deer feeding at our ornamental crabapple tree when there's snow on the ground and the weather is very cold (it's -21C or 5.8 below zero F today) and some deer did visit last night but we missed them.

Looking out the new window in the door by my desk, I could see the footprints in the snow. Too bad we didn't see our visitors.

Above, the wind just about filled in the footprints between the little Alberta Spruce and the wide Spreading Juniper behind it.

Some of these footprints were left by deer, some by Dick and Lindy.

In the back yard, all the footprints belong to Lindy.

Here she is, waiting for someone to answer the door after she scratched at it.

"Mom! Why are you taking pictures when you could be letting me in?"

Posted for
Our World Tuesday