dogs, photography

Adventure…


I love dogs. They are always on an adventure of sorts: sniffing, hunting, playing, searching or simply being the beautiful beings that they are…

life

Weekly Photo Challenge: Split-second story…


On seeing this week’s photo challenge I thought of time spent driving through the French Alps with my son, Rob. After pulling over to take a few shots of the scenery, a little dog appeared. He didn’t bark, he didn’t protest our presence: he simply watched and waited.

On a train in Geneva…

life, photography

If we take the time to look: life truly is AMAZING…


How often do we take the time to strip away what can be defined as difficult times, only to reveal a different truth to the one we thought we knew?
Yes, that sentence is quite complex. But think about it. We can often think we’ve been dealt a tough hand, a bad deal, a horrible time.
Define it how you will, but it comes down to thinking life has not always been kind.
This may well be true in part.
But look deeply. Look hard. What do you really find?
Personally. At this moment, as I sit here listening to music and lolling through old images on the 23rd of May, 2014. I come to a realisation about life.
I’ve had an amazing life.
I’m truly one of the lucky ones.
I’ve travelled. I’ve lost. I’ve cried. I’ve laughed.
I’ve LOVED. And I’ve been LOVED.
What more could I want?
Here’s a few of my favourite images, taken by me and for me that depict a great life.
Life truly is amazing!
Embrace it!

Always…

dogs, photography

Oscar & Stanley…


As we travel through life, we find many who walk beside us and share our journey. Some stay a moment, some stay a lifetime. And in that lifetime, there are lessons.
Lessons of love, lessons of laughter and lessons of loyalty.
My journey with Oscar and Stanley is just that: a lesson in love, laughter and above all, loyalty.

life

And as expected, the tears flowed…


I knew it was inevitable I would shed a few tears,  after all I packed up my life in just 10 days and the emotions associated with such a life-changing move were bound to boil over and explode. I just didn’t know when. What follows is what happened this morning, when without warning the floodgates opened and as expected the tears flowed.

Interestingly, my morning begins well, I wake feeling happy and decide to rearrange my apartment. Inspecting an adjacent unused room, I find a tall table, perfect for my cooker and wok. Putting this in place, I move the small bar fridge for better access and arrange all the other pieces to create a workable kitchen space. As I shuffle furniture, Angus & Julia’s calming voices and gentle tunes filter through the room, keeping me company and mixing beautifully with the scent of burning incense.

My 'new' kitchen...
My ‘new’ kitchen…

In my bedroom I move the bed so it faces the window, in this position I can watch a myriad of stars dance in the night sky. And as dawn breaks I will see the dark sky brighten as it bathes in the sun’s early morning light.

When I finish, I feel good and make my first coffee for the morning in my newly ‘designed’ kitchen. Taking my coffee to my desk, I open Facebook to see what friends and family have been up to in another part of the world. It is this moment when I see my cover image of Oscar & Stanley that tears begin to well. My eyes fill and my emotions erupt, I begin to sob and I cannot stop. I’m letting go. Not of my beloved family, friends and dogs, but of the emotions I have suppressed since making the decision to take my life to Penghu. I have expected this outpour of emotion and I let it come and allow it to wash over me for it refreshes and renews.

As I write this now, 3 hours later,  I am not lonely or unhappy for I like it here and after spending the last 3 days getting to know my kids and the teaching role I have undertaken, I am happy with my decision.

Quite simply, I just miss those who I love most in the world and as expected tears flow…

dogs, life

Silence of the Lambs ahem, Dachshunds…


Oscar & Stanley are my much-loved wire-haired Dachshunds.
More often than not, when I’m on the computer, they will lie with me on my bed if I’m on my laptop, snooze on the couch if I’m at the desktop, wrestle at my feet, or in quieter moments, simply wait and watch.

A quiet moment...
A quiet moment…

This morning was no different, they lolled about as I posted images for this week’s photo challenge, and as I was engrossed in posting, I failed to notice their departure. It was only on finishing my post that I noticed I had obviously become the proud owner of two highly skilled, 4-legged interior decorators. And their choice of material? Toilet paper: here are a few snaps of their silent, yet somewhat creative handiwork.

dogs

Introducing Oscar…


In an earlier post I wrote about Stanley’s (my beloved Dachshund) issue with being left alone.

Oscar & Stanley: happy days...
Oscar & Stanley: happy days…

So I researched a number of different sites relating to separation anxiety to find methods that would help overcome his problem.

After following some of the suggested remedies, Stanley has improved, however I feel the main reason his behaviour has improved relates directly to the new addition to our family: Oscar, an 8 week-old Wire-Haired Dachshund.

Stanley is now one happy pooch.

And Oscar, well he is quite simply, divine…

Rob & Oscar: he's fitted in  well ...
Rob & Oscar: he’s fitted in well …
dogs, life, photography

Dogs can speak, just ‘listen’ to their ears…


Dogs can speak. Just as humans use sign language, I believe so do our 4-legged friends, but instead of using their paws, they use their ears. And if you take the time to listen to their ears, you’ll see they actually speak volumes.

With that in mind I decided I would write a post about doggy ear language. On deciding, I thought who better to demonstrate doggy sign language than my beloved Stanley? However there was only one problem with that decision: I needed Stanley to cooperate, but he was too busy sniffing, sleeping, catching a few winter rays or stopping to chat to one of his friends on our daily walk.

So please excuse the quality of the images, it was not an easy task to manipulate leads, IPhones etc to get that perfect shot.  But I was persistent and did manage to capture a little of how his dogship communicates.  Here goes, with a little caption ‘translation’…

And a final note: as Erica says; dogs definitely make everything better. ❤