A Dog's Life...

Today's post is a look back at the life of a wonderfully special family pet, our beautiful Golden Retriever, Casey. Sadly, she left us a couple of weeks ago, but as I looked through all of my photos of her, I just had to share a few (okay, more than a few...but you can stop looking any time).

Casey was an adorable puppy who loved to play hard, get dirty, and thankfully swim (which cleaned her up nicely).

She was a wonderfully gentle, loving soul and great companion to all her friends, two legged and four legged!

Her favourite place was at our cottage, where she conveniently forgot how to drink from a bowl in favour of walking chest deep into the lake for her drinks, and a bit of a swim!  She loved boat rides and snoozing on the dock or the deck!

And she'd even car sit when my friend Heather came up to the cottage!

Happy New Year!!!

We hope you're recovering from your New Year's Eve festivities...

And we wish you a very Happy New Year full of wonder and joy!

Have a safe and 

happy 2014!

Merry Christmas...

Those flashing Christmas lights are especially meaningful today.  As a result of the big ice storm, we were without power for over 70 hours, so we're thrilled to have it back in time for Christmas!  It came back on yesterday evening, so we did have to postpone our family Christmas Eve (we always host my whole family for Christmas on Christmas Eve...a German tradition...which will now take place this weekend instead), but Christmas Day festivities with our immediate family are back on for today!

I hope you and yours are having a great, warm day too!

Playtime...

Yup, I just had to play with captions this week.  Needless to say, Casey and Dime are really enjoying one another!  And when the play is done they catch a few zzz's together too!

Casey and Dime...

The day I took the above shot, I thought it was so funny.  Dime had discovered he could sit inside the ring at the bottom of the kitchen stool, and he sat there for the longest time.  If I had put him there I'm sure he would have jumped right out...but since it was his idea he just sat there like that for about 10 minutes!  Too funny!!!

Some days Dime seems like he's getting so big, and other times he still seems like a little puppy, but when I look back over the weeks, I can see him maturing so fast! It seems especially evident in his adorable little face!

And he and Casey are never far apart.  When Dime and I go out, Bill tells me Casey looks around the house for him, and when we return the two of them always have a wonderful reunion!

Here they are...both 13...Dime at 13 wks. and Casey at 13 yrs.!

Oh Look...A Distraction!

We've got a new little fellow in our lives.  I've become a foster 'mom' for a future dog guide puppy.  His name is Dime and he's 8 wks old.  He's very clever and is adjusting well to our home.  I do laugh at him when outside because he's very easily distracted by every leaf he sees, thus the title of the post.  Needless to say, being fall there are a lot of distractions outside. LOL

Casey seems to like him and they've already had a few great play sessions.  It's really hard to believe she's 13 yrs. old when you see her romping and wrestling with Dime!

Although he's crate training, and therefore sleeps in his crate, sometime after playing he does snooze with Casey for a bit before going into his crate for nap time.

Linking up with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.

Our Pets...

It's been a pretty rough week around here for our pets.  Arbour, our 11 year old cat, has gone missing and we fear she may have fallen prey to a fisher.  We've learned since her disappearance that there are more fishers around this area than usual this year. 

Casey was two when we got Arbour and she's always been a bit of a mom to her cat.  As a kitten Arbour would just climb into that little nook in Casey's 'arms' and that's how they'd sleep. Needless to say, Casey has been missing her cat as have we.

To make things worse, Casey started limping on Wednesday and she spent last night in hospital, having had to have a minor surgery to have her damaged 'toe nail' removed.  The claw may grow back, but in the mean time the limp is almost completely gone and she's happy to be resting comfortably at home!  How do you like that cute bandage.  LOL

 Earlier in the summer, when my friend, Heather came to visit, she asked me to back her car down our large hill as she's not as comfortable with it as I am.  Casey, always by my side, followed me up the hill, so Heather told me to invite her in the car and give her a ride back down.  Well, Casey happily jumped in, and when at the bottom of the hill she just curled up on the seat and went to sleep.  She slept there for an hour before we were able to coax her out!  Silly old puppy...(she turned 13 in June, but will always be my puppy!)

Puppy Dog Eyes...

Okay, she's actually 13 years old, but to me Casey will always be my puppy!  Inspired by Kim Klassen's prompt, like I need an excuse, I've been shooting Casey in various poses.  Notice the ears in the breeze...she sure loves her boat rides...








as evidenced by that wonderful smile as she relaxes on the back seat of the boat.

I just might be biased, but I think she's just the sweetest dog there is!

Better Than A Groundhog...

Yesterday was a spectacular day...Spring is in the air and the temperature was up around 5ºC so I spent a few hours outside 'strolling' with Casey, our golden retriever.  Casey has always loved playing in snow and burrowing her face in it.  Ever since she was a puppy (she's getting close to 13 yrs. old) she signalled the start of Spring for us by insisting that she walk in/on all of the snowbanks.  Last week she was content to walk on cleared sidewalks, but now she has to have her feet in the snow.  It's as if she knows that it will soon be gone and she has to enjoy every last bit of it. Like I say, she's been doing this since she was a puppy...she's more reliable than the groundhogs as far as I'm concerned!


In addition to spending time outside enjoying the weather, I also worked on this art quilt for a few hours. I'm really pleased with how it is coming along.  You can see I've been sewing the painted Lutradur text onto it, word by word.  I've been working from the bottom and therefore have to recreate the message backwards as I go.  My cat was 'helping' by knocking words to the floor and just generally mixing them up for me, so for the time being she has been banned from the studio.  I'm having enough trouble and have to constantly re-read the statements as I go to ensure they're making sense.




And, as things go, the longer I work at it the less things sound right so I've had to walk away from it for now.

Puppy Love...

Last spring, our neigbours got Buddy, a Shih Tze puppy.  From the first day they got him, as they tried to walk past our back yard (we're on a corner lot), Buddy saw Casey and just walk in through our fence to visit with her.  It was love at first sight for all of us!  Casey was about to turn 12, a senior for a dog her size, and here was this tiny puppy that just wanted to jump up on her and give her kisses...so adorable!

As you can see in the top left image, Casey was quick to get in on the pouncing fun.  Although we certainly see signs of her age at times, when Buddy's around Casey just becomes like an over grown puppy herself.  It's so fun to watch them wrestle and play and I really think he helps to keep her young.  However, notice the very centre image...that's Casey's way of imposing a short break to get a little rest.  Has she captured an adorable little sleep toy or what!

These days its a bit of a tight squeeze for Buddy to get through the fence, but they still play regularly, and right now they are loving the snow!

This photo collage was creating using the print module in Lightroom 4.  I then exported it to  PSE 11 where I added a subtle soft texture called Cora, by Kim Klassen, at a soft light blend mode and lowered the opacity.  I put a layer of the digital scrapbook paper with the musical notes over the lower part only, and again lowered the opacity to allow the text to show through.  The final step was to use a variety of heart brushes to stamp on the little hearts on the last image as well as over the text area.  Love is in the air...

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday and Photo Art Friday.

What a Day!

If you saw my previous post, you know I have computer gremlins and some strange things have been going on.  All of the images on my blog disappeared, to be replaced by a black circle with a minus sigh!  I've been working to restore some and try to figure out what's happening, but it's time for a little 'zen photo time'.

Sometimes the stars are aligned since this week is an 'anything goes' week over at Texture Tuesday and I'm certainly not up for the challenge of a theme right now.

I took this shot in July, while kayaking at our cottage.  I just loved the beautiful red of that new leaf sprouting out of the driftwood.  Hard to imagine that Mother Nature chose to start a new tree right there...

And now I'm off to follow Casey's lead and just go and relax!  The fight with the gremlins will have to continue tomorrow...

These photos are being linked to Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Photo Show Off,  This or That Thursdays, Photo Art Friday, and Fabulous Friday.

Look Up...Way Up...

Kim's challenge this week for Texture Tuesday was to have us looking up.  This is the perfect time of year for this as the colours in the autumn trees are spectacular!  I added three of Kim's textures to this image: Just Stitched, Trust, and Warm Sun.  I love that bit of zigzag 'stitching' at the sides. I brushed away some of the texture from the centre of the image so that the colours of the leaves were a little more intense in the centre.  

This next image, of my dog Casey snoozing on the dock, was taken a couple of weeks ago, the day before we closed up the cottage.  Bonnie's challenge for Photo Art Friday was to use her Leafy Landscape texture to create our 'photoartography' (that's my new word for today...Have you read the book Frindle?...just saying...).  I started by adding a gradient map to take the original image to black and white.  After adding the texture, I added a 'sponge' filter and bumped up the hue/saturation levels. 

Notice my signature?  That's another neat trick Kim taught us in Beyond Layers!  And, I just found out that Kim is starting the third session in January!  I highly recommend it if you want to learn more about how to use Photoshop Elements or CS!

These photos are being linked to Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Photo Show Off,  This or That Thursdays, Photo Art Friday, Shoot, Edit, Submit, Fabulous Friday, and Photo Friday Link Party.

"In The Doghouse!"

Photos missing thanks to computer gremlins.  Sorry...

Okay, here's the story...

The other day we decided to leave Casey alone in the 5th wheel for a couple of hours while we were out.  Well, it turns out that she has developed some separation anxiety issues and while we were gone she decided to get out and look for us.  As you can see from the photo, she ripped the screen and then bit (yes I said bit, not scratched) her way through the fibreglass door and into the styrofoam insulation.  When we got back, there were bits of fibreglass, pink bloodstained styrofoam and a very relieved dog waiting for us when we opened the door.

 Naturally, at first we were not too happy, but we realize it is human error.  Casey will be 12 years old tomorrow and she has been crate trained, but we forgot to bring her crate with us.  At home, when ever she is unsettled by something she goes into her crate and she feels safe and secure.

As you can see, we were able to buy a bit of fibreglass, some screws and some screening and the problem is fixed.  It's not perfect, but then again what is in life?

Fibreglass sheet, screws and screening=$8.00
A new dog crate=$69.00
Piece of mind for Casey and us=PRICELESS!

As soon as I set up the crate and put her stinky old bed inside, Casey got in, lay down and snoozed for 2 hours.  Everybody's happy! :~)

And the added bonus is that now we done have to lug a crate back and forth to the cottage.  We can leave one at home and one up at the lake.

Having Fun with Photo Collages!

These photo collages or storyboards are addictive.  I did a search online for storyboard templates and found The Coffee Shop Blog.  It's wonderful!  Rita is passionate about photography and sharing her creations.  That's where I found this storyboard template.

In Beyond Layers, we've been encouraged to explore 'vision & blur', visual time capsules and storyboards.  I decided to combine all of these in this piece.  I especially love the top left photo in which the interesting texture on the tree is crisp while the background is blurry.  Last weekend my husband and I went to visit our friends, the Woodill's, in Michigan and although we arrived to green grass and spring-like temperatures, Saturday morning we had a big snowfall.  I wandered their huge property with my camera in my hand and Casey at my heels.  I couldn't help my self with the text - I just had to go for alliteration!  I think that's what Casey's laughing about in the top centre photo :0)

Sketchbook Challenge Journal

As you may know, I've been participating in this year's Sketchbook Challenge, but with my own fibre twist.  Although I have recently started playing a bit with a pen and paper sort of journal, when the year started and I decided to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge, I decided to make a fabric journal using my interpretation of the monthly themes.  In addition to the Sketchbook Challenge pages, I decided to include some of the wonderful art quotes that I had collected.

You may have seen some previous blog entries as I finished pages, but the last 6 months were sort of neglected.  Well, I finally got back into it (art everyday!) and the journal is finished.  All of the images were altered/enhanced using Photoshop before being printed onto fabric and then incorporated in the journal page.

January's theme was Highly Prized.  Casey, my dog, represents the unconditional love and natural mothering instincts (even to a kitten) that I prize.  She knows how to relax, loves to go for walks and even at 11 years old, she romps like a puppy in new fallen snow.

February's theme was Opposites.  For this one, I played with light and dark and experimented with the effects that changing the background colour would have on the colours I was using.

March brought the theme Spilling Over.  It also had me struggling through some real frustrations with my health and the image literally represents what was going on with me.  Enough said.

Branching Out/Out on a Limb was the April theme.  I decided it was time to take a risk and try journalling on paper.  I drew a silly character, did some writing then photographed it.  I added the title text in Photoshop and it was ready for printing.

May's theme was Resists so I went back to using paper and paint for this page.  As always, I added the title text in Photoshop.

The theme Pathways for June had me playing with photo collage.  Yes, that's me as a little girl, but since our road trips involved 9 people when I was a kid, we travelled in a big station wagon and not a VW bug.  However, later my oldest brother did have a bug and it's just so much more fun than a Galaxy station wagon!

 July's theme was Elements. Since I procrastinated on this page, it wasn't done until recently, thus allowing me to use a photo I took of my Chinese lantern's late this fall.  I love the intricate lace and the bright orange seed exposed inside as the orange skin erodes away.

 For August's theme, Everyday Objects, I cheated a little by taking a photo of a piece of fibre art I had recently finished on which I had thread sketched a pair of scissors.  I guess it's not really cheating since the original art is mine too!

September brought the birth of another great niece.  The theme was Unfurled, and I couldn't help noticing that the first photos of Abigail had her fits tightly clenched but as time passed her little hands seemed to unfurl.  

October's theme was Views.  This theme had me going back into my photo archives for this photo which I took in a church in PEI in 2007.  I love the reflections and shadows that the design in the window created.

Imaginary Animals was the November theme.  Last week I went to see the Marc Chagall exhibit at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario).  Chagall seems to incorporate a chicken in many of his pieces and he had other interesting animals, some certainly imaginary.  When I got home I was inspired to draw this imaginary creature using the bright colours Chagall used in some of his works. I also loved the quote, also by Chagall.

December's theme is Trashed, Ruined and Decay.  This summer, the town of Magnetawan suffered a tragic fire that ruined the old historic general store as well as June's Restaurant.  For the town folks and all the cottagers in the area, it is a tragic loss.

And the final quote.

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