Mug Shots

Hello!  Long time no blog post, but thought I would share today a couple of Shutterfly projects I recently completed.  I made a Wally coffee mug for Rich a couple of years ago (pre-LuLu) and have always meant to make a LuLu mug, as well.    Each mug has two puppy photos and one adult photo.



I never seemed to have just the right adult photo of LuLu until last month.  I was looking for a fall photo which would coordinate nicely with the puppy photos.  I would have liked more autumn leaves in her photo, but this one works okay, I think.



Also, Wally and LuLu finally have their own calendar.  Here’s Mr. November:




The calendar turned out beautifully with its 12 x 12 photos and color coordinated pages.  Throughout 2013 we had a Golden Retriever calendar on our wall and I kept thinking that should be Wally and LuLu up there.  Well, next year it will be.

I also made a 48 page 12 x 12 photo book with the year’s favorite pictures, most of which you’ve seen here on the blog.  I’ll make this an annual project.





By now I’m sure I’ve removed all doubt as to how completely over-the-top nuts we are about Wally and LuLu.  Then again, I probably did that a long time ago.

I’ve started a file on my computer with possible candidates for next year’s book or calendar.  When the time comes I’ll sort through them and only take the best of the best.  The enlarged printed photos do look much better than I anticipated.



Gosh, I’ll try to not let a whole month go by before my next post.  Our kids grow up so fast, don’t they?  Have a beautiful day!

After the Rain

Fall got off to a thundering start with record rainfall and ferocious wind, but over the weekend we had blue skies, warm temps, and photo ops.  Here’s LuLu looking all pretty in the sun’s warm glow.



She sure would like that big stick up there, but she can’t quite reach it.



Big Wally gives it a try.



And brings it down to a manageable level.



Where he can share it with LuLu.



And everybody went home happy.  I hope you’re enjoying a beautiful fall.  I love how we can expect a little bit of everything in regard to the weather this time of year, and I appreciate each new day for whatever it brings.  I’ll see you again soon!

Warm and Cozy

We’ve had our first fire of the season.  The pellet stove has been serviced and we’re ready for come what may as the cooler weather approaches.  I anticipate this change with the same enthusiasm as I feel for spring when its time comes.  There will be beautiful days and dreary days, but any day is good when I’m home with my family.



I’ve spent this past week on a staycation.  I honestly have no desire to venture far from home.  After 30 years on the job, very stressful at times, it means more to me than anything to simply enjoy the quiet.  Monday morning I’ll be back in the middle of a pile of work I can’t finish before the end of the day, and all the while I’ll be surrounded by a cacophony of ringing phones, multiple simultaneous conversations, babies crying, questions coming at me from all directions. . . I’m so ready to retire, but that’s not in the picture for a few years yet.  Today I’ll enjoy the peace of home and hearth and stock up on enough Wally and LuLu love to see me through that first day back at work.  I hope you have a good day, as well.  Love to you!

What Goes Under Must Come Out

Oh, my goodness, the ball rolled under the deck and not another single thing can be done until it comes out.











And this is how important the ball becomes when someone’s making a sandwich in the kitchen.



What we don’t do for our furry families!  Have a good day!

Beating the Heat

Are you ready for some cooler weather?  I am.  Living here on the Oregon coast I don’t say that often, but I’m a lightweight when it comes to heat and it’s been unusually warm and humid for the past month.  LuLu’s paw is all healed up now and we’ve been giving the dogs a chance to beat the heat whenever possible.  They’re in the shallows here, but there’s also a nice deep swimming hole at this spot.  You can bet we were right in there cooling off with the dogs.





Of course, there’s always the baby pool for a quick backyard cool down.  Not quite the journey of discovery as a trip to the swimming hole, but they still enjoy it.



Wally loves the toweling off almost as much as the getting wet.



All fluffed up and it looks like LuLu’s ready for a nap.  See those sleepy eyes.  She doesn’t have Wally’s stamina by a long shot. 



I hope you’re enjoying these last days of summer.  They’ll be gone soon enough and we’ll be hunkering down for winter.  Take good care, and I’ll see you again soon.

Yellow House and Other Things

Here’s a little peek at one front corner of the finally finished yellow house.  I’m hard pressed to come up with a photo that doesn’t focus too much on the battered and bruised flower beds.  I would love to have a summer that for once doesn’t involve a home improvement project that wreaks havoc on the garden.




This is the back.  It’s our dog yard and utility area, but it’s also where we like to drink our morning coffee in the summertime.  Next year there will be flower-filled pots hanging outside those windows and sitting on the steps.  The brown lattice on the wall in the background will have baskets of flowers hanging on it as well.  I’m hoping I can talk Rich into painting the lattice white, but I hate to mention it at this point.



There’s a treat bush in the dog yard, growing on a stump by the back fence.  They’re salal berries, a native plant.  If you’re familiar with Saskatoon berries, you’ll have an idea of their flavor.  Saskatoons are plumper, easier to pick, a little more sophisticated.  Salal berries are quite good, but it’s almost impossible to pick them without squishing them.  Wally and LuLu simply strip them off the bush.  Funny, as much as they love treats, they don’t pay any attention to the treat bush until I point it out to them.





I cut back a hydrangea the other day.  It was overdue and most of its flowers were done, anyway.  It sits in the sun and blooms and finishes earlier than the others.  I filled a vase with the salvageable blooms and added a couple from another bush.  They are gorgeous, aren’t they?  I hardly ever cut a bouquet, but hydrangeas do last well as cut flowers.



There’s LuLu in the shade with a lace cap hydrangea beyond her.  There are still a few blooms on the butterfly bush.  The purple and blue are a cool and restful combination, certainly prettier when both bushes are in full bloom.



There’s not much to this photo, but I love how the sun dappled path draws you into the woods.



I’m glad you could come visit today.  Let’s enjoy summer while we can, okay?  See you again soon!

Feeling Better

LuLu’s feeling better.  Can you tell?  That’s her attacking Wally.






There’s only so much roughhousing allowed until her foot heals a bit more, though.






These photos were all taken on Wednesday, a week and a day after LuLu cut her paw pad.  Once the healing got underway it progressed nicely.  She had some help with that.  One evening I was sitting on the couch and the dogs were on the floor just the other side of the ottoman where I didn’t have a full view of them.  They became awfully quiet and, just like little kids, that sometimes means they’re doing something they think they shouldn’t be doing, like pulling the stuffing out of a toy.  In fact, it’s okay to pull the stuffing out of a toy, but they still get a guilty pleasure from it.  I peeked over the ottoman and there was Wally licking LuLu’s wounded paw over and over again while LuLu sat with the sweetest little happy face.  I wished I’d had my camera.  Later he nuzzled her paw and laid his face against it.  They are truly the best of friends.

Thank you so much for all your concern and well wishes.  You are sincerely appreciated.  Have a beautiful weekend!

Wounded LuLu

Hello, friends.  I’m afraid we have a wounded LuLu this week, and I’m not sure when she’ll get back to her regular Golden Retriever style running, playing, and swimming.  Rich took them out to the sand dunes on Tuesday – a favorite spot for its wide open areas, many small lakes and ponds to swim, and pine groves to explore – but, unfortunately, it’s also a favorite spot for gun owners’ target practice, and there are a few irresponsible people who use glassware for targets.  One minute LuLu was running all happy and carefree, and the next she was bleeding and limping.  She has a big gash on the pad of her foot and she’ll have to take it easy until it heals.  Just look at that sad face.





The cut went all the way into the delicate meat of her paw across two toe pads.  We removed the bandage after it stopped bleeding so the air and her own tender ministrations could help with the healing.  Dog slobber is the best salve for a wound.  Just when Rich finally finished painting the house and we thought Wally and LuLu could run their hearts out the rest of the summer . . .   It will be a while before the wound is toughened up enough for that.  I’m keeping a close eye on it and sitting quietly with her whenever possible.

I hope you all have a good weekend, and maybe the next time we meet here I’ll be able to report on happier times.  See you then!

Let’s Go Paint!

See my paint-splattered Rich and his faithful dog, Wally.  You can be sure Wally is thinking, “Oh, no, not this again.”



He knows what he has to do – just slip away with the paint rag.  It guarantees a little scritchy-scritchy before getting back to the boring stuff.



Don’t worry, Wally.  It will be done soon.  Hope you all had a good weekend!

Who Swallowed the Swallowtail’s Tail?

Poor Swallowtail’s wings look a little ragged.  The tails are gone and there’s a whole chunk missing from the left lower wing.  A narrow escape from a bird’s beak, perhaps?



This one appears to have had better fortune to date.  So pretty!




Just one more. . .



Swallowtails only live in their beautiful adult form a couple of weeks at best.   That’s not a lot of time to accomplish the very important task of carrying pollen from one flower to the next, not to mention posing for the camera and still finding time to reproduce.  Remind me not to complain when I feel pressed for time.

Have a lovely day, and take time to enjoy the moment!