Five years ago

A trend has been afoot on the internet for quite some time,

something called  Throwback Thursday

and although I've never participated, I have on occasion enjoyed friend's postings.

Which is what happened today.  After having a good giggle over some ancient history 

I saw on Facebook [it does have its upside from time to time] I thought to myself

 what the heck, let's see what was going on say five years ago

in my own neck of the woods.

A hop over to my photo archives from January, 2011 & it appears

not much was happening different from now ...

I was out photographing a lot of frost,

was taking lots of chilly, storm-ridden walks with this one 

[that year we could have ice skated on our pond!]

and I was enjoying some extremely pleasant hours weaving cloth scraps

which coincidentally, I've returned to a bit of late because of my '52 week project' ... 

but I'll tell you more about that in my next post

 where I'll share my first 3-inch explorations for the month of January.

Stay tuned, I'm very excited about it!

Nope, aside from the aforementioned activities which pretty much echo present day,

the image that has led me to write my first  Throwback Thursday  post

is

the

following...

Our dear Quinn.

Five years ago, right after Christmas, my fella and I drove to Oregon

to pick up this special being.  Black dogs are notoriously difficult to adopt out

and this little girl was no exception.  Malnourished, unsocialized, scared of

everything & everyone, we spent that first January gently introducing her to our world

and showing her as best we could that life had a better side

than living in a chainlink enclosure

by yourself.

Quinn is so skinny in this picture!  Weighing in at 47 pounds she was only

five pounds heavier than my small collie back then.  But no longer - now she is 65 pounds 

and a powerhouse of solid swimming, ball chasing, long distance hiking muscle. 

Best of all, she's found her person to be devoted to

and he has the dog he's always wanted ...

 intelligent, curious, playful, steadfastly faithful & incredibly loyal.

It was a long road - is STILL a long road - training & helping this girl to be comfortable

 in a world she previously mistrusted.  None of that was her fault and we've had many a

discussion about what kind of dog she would have become if she'd had a better

start in life.

It is rarely ever too late to help a dog.

Please consider adoption for your next choice of fur friend.

You may actually inherit an angel in disguise. 

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National Black Dog Day

October 1st is  National Black Dog Day.

It's a special day devoted to highlighting the plight

of black dogs in shelters around the country.

Around our place, EVERY day is black dog day

but to put a special note on it since

black dogs are notoriously difficult to re-home,

a warm hearted backward glance might be in order ...
an ode to some lovely mugs & the humans they owned.

~ archive photo, photographer unknown ~

~ Mary Miles Minter, 1917 ~

~ from George Eastman House ~

~ Queen Victoria, by W. and D. Downey, Getty Images ~

~ cabinet card from Germany, c. 1915 ~

~ Jet ~

[ 7/21/42 - 10/18/49 ]

Jet was an Alsatian who assisted in the rescue of 150 people

trapped under blitzed buildings.  Born in Liverpool, he served with the

Civil Defence Services of London and was awarded the Dickin Medal

and the RSPCA's Medallion of Valor for his rescue efforts.

He trained at the War Dogs School in Gloucester at 9 months in anti-sabotage

work and relocated to London.  Cpl. Wardle and Jet were the first handler and dog

to be used in an official capacity in Civil Defence rescue duties.

~ archive photo, Harris-Ewing ~

~ vintage photo, photographer unknown ~

~ Duchess of Fife with daughters, c. 1908 ~

~ Edwardian lady with her dog, French postcard ~

~ girl & her dog, Stockholm, Sweden, by Wilhelm Lundberg, c. 1865 ~

~ Helen Keller, archive photo ~

Whenever it is possible, my dog accompanies me on a walk or ride or sail.

I have had many dog friends - huge mastiffs, soft-eyed spaniels, 

wood-wise setters, and honest, homely bull terriers.

At present the lord of my affections is one of these bull terriers.  He has

a long pedigree, a crooked tail and the drollest "phiz" in dogdom.

My dog friends seem to understand my limitations, and always

keep close beside me when I am alone.  I love their affectionate ways

and the eloquent wag of their tails.

~ Helen Keller

~ Malvina Longfellow by Bassano, 1918

:::

~ our black dog, Quinn ~

... grateful you came home with us, girlie.

You may be a handful 

and a training challenge, to say the least,

but you're all heart and smart as a whip.

It's only your fears holding you back ...

same as with the rest of us.

:::

Can't adopt a black dog today?

That's ok ... it can be a big decision.

Here's something easy:

Click here for an easy and free way to help care for those in need at The Animal Rescue Site!

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Really, truly listening

These two girlies aren't friends and they probably won't ever be ...
they're as different as salt and sugar, with different needs
and quite opposite approaches to living in this world of humans
where they depend on us for most everything.
They both crave human companionship
but you won't find them trying to acquire it in the same way.

What do you see when you look at this photo ...
how would you interpret Quinn's busy-ness with her stick
while Isla stands nearby on such high alert?

They are about six feet apart.
I'm inside the house with a long lens - Quinn is watching me through the window
because she knows from past experience [see that light green ball in the right foreground?]
at any moment, I may come out the door to play fetch with her.
Isla, on the other hand, is ruled by a fierce prey drive
and has her attention focused on the lower branch of a nearby tree.
This drive - stronger than her drive to play - keeps her fixated on her "prize" ...
which on this morning is the resident bald eagle who's just landed on the lower branch
of the fir tree on our southern boundary.   She's prepared for a chase.
[Don't worry ... this game has been going on for years ... the eagles pay her no mind.]

What struck me today when I re-found this picture from winter 2012
was how these girlies communicate so perfectly via body language.
How they read each other [I know you're there, but I need some distance],
read humans [I know you're there, wanna play? ... or ... I'm busy right now],
read their environment [it's a cold, frosty morn but I'm so happy in the sunshine] ...
all the while watching for signals to interpret and react to
in one millesecond.

They speak Dog     and
I speak English ...
but I ask you, what language do we ultimately speak together?

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Putting one less-heavy foot in front of the other

We're easing into high summer ... plentiful sunshine,

zero rain (33 days & counting), warm temps and mornings influenced by

an abundant marine layer.

It's splendid being out on the water,

especially when someone else is driving.

The islands are crawling with tourists now but back on our own patch

it's dozing as usual ...

and chores

like watching the beans grow

and the wild blackberries ripen.

I made a little decision back in April - a decision that I didn't want to carry around

any extra weight anymore.  A monumental [gulp, or so it felt] birthday was

looming on the horizon, so I decided to give myself one of the biggest

gifts there is ... a lighter foot-fall. 

No one but me could give this gift.

It was high time. 

My mom struggled with her weight all her life.  We have similar small frames and

neither of us very tall.  She used to say that she imagined her extra weight as

holding 10 pound bags of potatoes ... and then she'd set them down

one by one as she worked towards her goal.

Here's my favorite cheerleader for most any venture.

So I've set down one and a half bags so far ... think I might continue on

till I'm back to my college size.  The  *lightness*  is addicting,

not wanting those spare pounds to have the better of me, a driving force.

'Specially when I need to push wheelbarrows uphill, heft pruners hither & yon

for more hours than I wish to count

and well, we won't even talk about that dang lawn mower ...

In the meantime, the front field is all ready for the Dog Club get-together

and the girlies are being put through their paces ...

good thing I left some of those potatoes behind.

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On the move

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For the love of a good nose ...

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Sun ball ...

... the day is so short on the winter solstice,

it fits between my paws.

~ December views ~

For those who care about the techie mumbo-jumbo:

original photo

(of one very wet Quinn, confined in the mudroom & quite anxious to escape)

 shot with iPhone,

altered with Wood Camera + Jazz!

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Interior motives

The best laid plans, as they say...except when it comes to mark making with plants

and other sundry items,

it might be best to put ones expectations aside.

Here is the outcome from  last week's science experiment...

Things were going along quite swimmingly with my idea to stuff two pieces of cloth

~ one, 100% silk, and the other 100% ramie ~

with identical ingredients:  red cabbage, fresh young bracken leaves, a spiral coil of copper wire.

The wrapped bundles looked promising when they first came out of their simmered cabbage "soup"...

that is, until I got the not-so-bright idea of dribbling a tiny amount of full-strength vinegar onto Bundle #1

(shown in its "before" state on the left, HERE)

aaaarrrrgggghhhh,  the whole thing immediately went  P I N K

and worse still,

bleached out every mark except for the copper spiral.

Since you never learn anything the second time you're kicked by a mule,

I decided to leave well enough alone...

Bundle #2 was put up to dry

and Bundle #1 was, well, put out to pasture?

In the meantime, a potful of gorgeous darkblueypurpley dye was still sitting there

and I couldn't bear to throw it away...what if...

so I tore the sleeve from a silky thrift store blouse, wrapped it around a chunk of driftwood 

with some rusty metal bits

and after a good stew overnight and five days rest,

the binding came off...

time, oh yes, time is your friend.

These are priceless words from a wise, wandering alchemist.

The driftwood soaked up quite a lot of color.  In fact, the cloth felt quite dry as I peeled it open

while the wood was still heavy from the moisture.

And it smelled like a big boiled cabbage, tah boot!

Dry down knocked that pink back to a pale lavender, but the blues stayed quite true.

The next thing that happened

reminded me of school days.  Ever try to use that line,

"Sorry teacher, but my dog ate my homework"?

True to her nature, Quinn ate my bundler.

But the "homework" was safe.

: : : :

Special thanks goes out to Dianne, who recently posted a series of photographs

from her time in San Francisco...all processed with the Snapseed app.

They are glorious and she inspired me bigtime ~ I used the app for this post.

Please go see her images HERE.

: : : :

To everyone stateside celebrating the 4th this week, Happy Independence Day all!

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Someone's turning three today...

it's a BIG day.... because she's also graduating from 'Zoom to Zen'...

if ever there was a dog who needed a little less zoom and a lot more zen,

'tis our miz Quinn.

(Please remind me I said that when I'm wanting her to 

****zoom**** 

on the agility course in the future!)

You're awesome, Quinn...love ya to bits

May you never lose that amazing focus.

SMOOOOOCHES on that sweet nose...

Happy birthday, girlie!

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Texture Tuesday...perfectly perforated

Dunno how I got on this garden tool kick all of a sudden...in my previous post you had to read

all about my hori hori obsession and now this...

a portrait of my tried and truest, most favored and special watering can ever.

She's tough 'cause she's galvanized.

Doesn't she have a charming rosette?  THE BEST for sprinkling new seed beds.

And her handle swivels...oooh lah lah.

I once had a dark green plastic can that I loved so very much.  The pour spout was exceedingly long,

styled after those traditional ones from England...with a similar rosette, but upward facing

so the water came out like a small, delicate fountain.

Quinn chewed it tah bits shortly after she came to live here.

"Who me???....I only chew really big sticks."

Now I ask you, is that a face that could tell a lie?

: : :

Linking up with another of Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday parties...

used Kim's lovely watercolor texture, 'Oh my', on both ~ added 'Heirloom' from French Kiss 

(Glorious Grunge Collection) to the black munchmouth.  

Click HERE to see what everyone else has been up to,

so much creativity!

p. s.  I promise for next time that I will not write about another garden tool.

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Not just like old times...

...hours in the darkroom manipulating an image till it's juuuuuust so.  Cross-eyed from dodging & burning.

Nostrils aflame from hanging ones head over chemical soup of the unsavory kind.

Nope.

Black dog in white snow might have taken hours in days gone by

but now...

ok, it's no secret, this

 loveHATEloveHATE  relationship I've been having with digital photography.  I've had the odd rant or six on that

tired & worn subject.

Sometimes it's best to just not give up...so here's some news...

{{{{  drumroll  }}}}

I think I might be getting over it.

I hope my fiber & stitching friends are hanging in there with me during my recent photo madness...

it's finally gelling and things are falling into sensible places - that's my hope anyway.  Winter has been

such a good time to put nose-to-Photoshop.  Soon enough it will be spring again

and I'll be out in the garden, under the umbrella,

with a basket of threads and a pile of scraps...

In the meantime, I'm in the digital darkroom.

I'm participating in a couple of online workshops simultaneously ~ it's so great,

these teachers who teach this way.

The best perk as a student...what could be better than practicing an assignment in your pajamas???

Susan Tuttle is teaching Toy Camera...how to replicate toy camera & old fashioned film processing effects

using Photoshop (or PS Elements).  Remember the Diana cameras, pinholes & Holgas?

Oh, it's such a blast!

The black & whites above started out as color, which you remove & tweak & add a layer of milky texture, 

mimicking the silver gelatin process on glass plates...

My fine feathered friends up there were  willing  suitable subjects for a vintage polaroid effect.  Years ago,

I probably would have taken their picture with my really clunky SX-70 Folding Land camera anyway...

 what a fortune I spent on that film!  These are residents of my local historical museum...a western screech owl

and a (very rare) albino red-tailed hawk.  I normally never prefer to see birds in this way

but in this instance, they are a kind of teacher as well.

I've recently learned that the Samish (one of our local Native American tribes) say

we shouldn't display night birds and day birds together...

I'd like to know more about this...if anyone can tell me, please do.

Till next time...

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Inside all of us is a wild thing...

...some just show it better than others.

: : :

Linking with the theme 'Free & Easy' for Texture Tuesday, using Yesteryear

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Story ingredients

It's been said that telling a good story is like baking a cake.

This doesn't bode well for me...I am (utterly hopeless) a lousy baker.

There is one point that I think I understand though...

and that is,

every ingredient counts.

So, in no particular order...

one basket of tea dyed scraps,

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