Friday, May 29, 2009

Puppy Class

Twice a month we drive one and an half hours to our 'puppy classes' to help Giant to get ready to become a guidedog. There are interesting aspects to guidedog training, I am learning just as much as the dog does.

 


'Yes, your dog can sit, but can your dog sit on different footing? Can he sit on wooden slats, can he sit on bubble wrap? Can he sit with many distractions?'

 


There is time to play too. Twice during class the dogs have running around and PLAY time. The trick is to have more toys than dogs, and even then, there often are more dogs attached to one favorite toy.

 


Yes, at the moment we have only black puppies in class, which makes it sometimes hard to recognize who is who during play time. Maybe some day we'll take the wrong dog home...

 
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Geocaching

Geocaching always enriches our life, bringing us to many wonderful spots we would not have known about otherwise.

 


Not that we ever found the cache.

 


Finding the cache is secondary to our enjoyment, but I still LIKE to find them, because otherwise I feel like a big old failure. Kind of. Not really, but almost.

 


Guess I still have some work to do on my self image, eh?
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Thursday, May 21, 2009

We Planted Our Garden!

The day after the last frost (yes, that was last Tuesday) we did tons of digging and raking and planting and our garden has been planted! I feel so organized, it is not even June yet.

 


Let the zucchinis grow!
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Wordless Wednesday

 
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Smiles

My friend gave me a new mug.

 


It makes me smile every time I see it and drink from it.

 


It fits into my plan of surrounding myself with positive energy.

 


Life is good!
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Monday, May 18, 2009

Brothers

 


Make up your own story.

 

 

 
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Crumpets

Lately, we have been making sourdough crumpets, which I mostly started to revive Robert, but are so good, that we now make them more regularly.

 


Last week, Dawn made them with cheese. Pour the batter in the rings and add grated cheese. The cheese will sink in while making them. They turned out well.

 


Maybe I'll experiment with blueberries too. These crumpets are super easy to make, I might make some for breakfast right now, since writing about them makes me hungry ^^
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Monday, May 11, 2009

I Love Spring!

Flowers everywhere.

 


I am so happy the snow is gone and the girls were able to finally finish the pond they dug last year. It looks pretty good, and we even have added some fish now. Also we took tadpoles from the 'old pond' to populate the new pond a bit more.

 


The cats love spring just as much as I do. It is soooooooo much nicer to roll around in the grass than it is to roll around in the snow.

 


Hammock time.

 
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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Love Is Alligators

Late March my good friend Greg Giro passed away. A few years ago he came into our lives, when I was playing go and he walked past. 'What kind of game is that?' A question many people ask, but most of them stay for a few minutes or a few hours, and then move on. He not only was interested, but stuck around and became a good friend. He never actually played go though.

 


He would visit us regularly, and always was full of interesting stories. How he worked on the Obama campaign. How his truck was stolen in Montreal, and recovered minutes before it got shipped to Africa. He told about apple cider parties and about his building houses. He shared many pictures of his trip to California, where he got to sleep in an amazing tree nest / house. I have fond memories of him sitting on our couch, surrounded by my kids, listening to his stories, and watching his pictures.

 


He loved alligators. He would have an alligator holding his phone, another alligator living in his truck, and alligators everywhere. During March I found a perfect purple alligator in our local thrift store, and knew it was for Greg. Sadly enough, he passed away before I could give it to him. This alligator is now living in my bedroom and I consider it a gift from Greg instead, to help us remember his love and kindness. He was such a sweet and special person.

 


He spent his last few months in a hospice house in Vermont, and I am happy we got to visit him there a few times, and be with him during the last months of his life. The second and third pictures of this post have been taken in his room in the hospice house.

 


When the kids heard he had passed away, the littles told me that now he must be somewhere with many alligators. Sylvia made sure to clarify it by saying 'Nice alligators!' She has been sending positive energy to him by imagining him on a beach and other peaceful and calm places. She felt that he would get great pleasure out of the sand and the water. I agree.

Happy Love Thursday! We miss you, Greg.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Puppy


 

 

 
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Hoops

 

 

 

 
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