A Story - "A Dog's Life" - and Some Special Dogs

 A Story

A Dog's Life

From the time he was a young puppy, Marshall was in training.  Marshall had to obey his owner: no chasing cats, no jumping on people.  He always came when called.  His owner gave him fun things to do: searching for objects, playing frisbee, navigating obstacle courses.

From the time she was a young puppy, Molly did whatever she wanted. She chewed shoes, pulled on the leash and never came when called.  Her behaviour meant she rarely played with other people or dogs.

One day Marshall found a lost child.

One day Molly ran into the street as a car came.

Since we are on the theme of dogs,  here are some photos of dogs that have lived and visited with us.  This is Bonnie who was my daughter's dog.  Bonnie was energetic, mischievous and fiercely loyal to my daughter.

This is Bella, my neighbour's dog.  She comes for walks with me.  She looks a bit like the Littlest Hobo from TV fame years ago and she also has a very independent spirit.

Our two Labs that we had for about 12 years.  Ginger and Snap were sisters.  Ginger, on the right, was the bossy one but she was afraid of the vet and couldn't handle car rides.  Her sister Snap loved to play find the Kong outside and didn't mind the vet. I thought Snap would be very sad when Ginger died but we had our son's dog at that time and that eased the transition.

They almost always slept touching each other.

This is Jaws, who my son took in from a shelter.  He was extremely stressed at first but my son won him over and he became a real cuddlebug. He was much smaller than the Labs, only about 25 lbs. but he never felt that he was a little dog and happily played with them. He stayed with us for several years when our son's job didn't fit with keeping a dog.

Sullivan is a newer addition to the family and belongs to our other son.  He is playful, gentle, well-behaved and a bit of a chicken.  A good friend to our young grandson.

A Story - "Wasted Life" - Purple Aster, Red Leaves

 A Story

Wasted Life

September 19, 1970, was the day that Linda decided to waste her life.  It was the day she told her mother she was pregnant, the father not interested.

"You can't keep it.  You'd be wasting your life."

Linda moved in with her friend's family who helped her stay afloat.  Eventually she became a teacher.

September 19, 2015, Linda cradled her delightful newborn grandson in her arms.

"Grandma, play with me."

"Grandma, look at my picture."

The two older grandchildren vied for her attention.  She loved spending time with them.  They were precious.  It was wonderful to be a young grandmother.

The last wildflower to die to a hard frost is the purple aster.  It is the fall bookend to the purple crocuses in the spring. The asters are one of the last food sources for the wild bees before winter comes.

I don't know what kind of tree this is but the dark red leaves are super nice contrasted against the rough cedar bark.

A Story - "Silence" and Dried Flower Arrangements

 A Story

Silence

After the funeral, friends hugged James,  They promised to deliver casseroles, arranged to do chores, shared memories of his lovely wife who had died just before her sixtieth birthday.  His daughter assured him she'd call every day.  His son encouraged him to come with him on holiday.  Robert was glad to see his friend being supported.

Reluctantly, Robert returned home because the carer was due to leave.  His wife was still sleeping.  He mindlessly made a sandwich after noticing the message light wasn't flashing.  Silence engulfed him.  The lonely emptiness of caring for someone with dementia left him swaying precariously.

It can be fun to experiment with drying various flowers.  I was surprised at how well pink peonies dried.  They're the main feature in this arrangement. As well as the usual statice,  some astrantia, sedum, ornamental onion seed heads fill out the arrangement. For some longer wispy accents, I used coral bell seed heads and grape hyacinth popped-open seed stems.

This little posey has quite a few dried roses - some regular size, some miniature. In the back are some ornamental onions that still have petals, some yarrow and some astrantia.

This is a more traditional collection of dried flowers.  I didn't grow them. So there is strawflowers, statice, gomphrena, and a bit of wheat. I have in the past had good success growing gomphrena and the flowers keep their colour for a long time. Gomphrena usually comes in pink, red, and white.