Dogs Have 'Aha' MomentsToo - A Memory

My old dog Harvey 1986 - 2004.

Harvey was a special dog, all dogs are in their own way, but he had definitely had quite a life! He travelled extensively and joined in on lots of adventures. He went from a nervous defensive young dog to a wise, chilled out old dog. The time I want to tell you about is when he and I escaped a busy noisy party, full of family and their respective dogs at my Mothers house.

He saw me from the corner of his eye about to leave the room and by the time I was halfway up the stairs he was there with me, I reached down and grabbed his ear and gave it a gentle squeeze and he nudged my leg in our familiar routine. When he was a tiny puppy he had the hugest ears and paws, he was such an adorable little thing, over the many years since that time, he had grown into both his ears and paws but still had the same look in his big expressive eyes.

We reached the top of the stairs and I settled myself on the single step on the turn to the next part of the landing. I could hear the music and laughter from downstairs and was glad of this moment of quiet. I felt Harvey sit down next to me on the step and lean into me, I put my arm around him, we had certainly been through a lot together him and I. On the wall opposite was a huge full length mirror, it was quite disconcerting seeing myself in such detail! I looked at my dress which had seemed a good idea when I had got ready earlier in the day but now looked incongruous with me squatting on a step, as the party raged downstairs.

I was staring at my reflection in that big mirror, when I took my eyes from my own face and looked at dear Harvey sitting next to me. And then it happened. . . a shared moment that sent shivers down my spine and gave me a tingly feeling all over.

As I caught his eye in the reflection, I smiled at him and watched as he instantly wagged his tail in response, then I watched, as he 'saw' his own tail wagging and as he looked at it I saw a flicker of something in his eyes, as he stared back up at himself in the mirror. In that moment of recognition, something changed, I saw the realisation in his eyes, he had actually recognised himself in the mirror. He knew it was him!

He then looked at me and back at himself, then at me again, as I burst out laughing and hugged him while getting my ear well and truly licked.

Dogs have 'aha' moments too.

Journeys Close to Home

It will soon be Summer!

To keep me going through these icy days I have reading back over some of the days out we had last Summer.

It was wonderful to see the sun, all of the greenery and the flowers.

If you are suffering with the cold and longing for Spring and Summer why not join me and read back and look at the photos along with me and enjoy some of last summer.

Start here - when we had a day out very close to home. ----> Link

Share more stories and photos from last year - Journeys Close To Home - Hop on board. :-)

Awaiting The Return of The Sun

It has been a long Winter this year . . .
I can't remember the last time I walked around my garden. I visit it through windows, imagine it under the snow, holding on, dormant, poised and ready. Waiting for the warm touch that will spark life and signal the start of another cycle. I'm longing for the return of the sun - dreaming of fresh green leaves unfurling and burgeoning life everywhere. . .

"The Sun, the hearth of affection and life, pours burning love on the delighted earth."
- Arthur Rimbauld

February

Moss.

Verdant hillocks alive and in miniature.

Beauty in unexpected places.

Wet slate, cobwebs, crevices.

Lichen,

yellow and grey,

modern art

adorning twisting branches and old walls.

Damp,

grey green spaces.

February.

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That is When Real Love Starts

"Love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image... otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." - Unknown


That is perhaps one of the most difficult things we have to learn about love when we are young, to let a person be perfectly themselves and love them anyway.

It is the nature of love to project onto the object of our affection, we do not see faults in the whirl of romance, it and they are perfect - but eventually the drug of love that intoxicates at first, dissolves to leave the reality of two very real people.

Masks fall to the floor, the perfect projection fades into the light of day, that is when real love starts.

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." - Zora Neale Hurston

Here's another entry about love - Giving and Receiving Love
Image - No need to be afraid by Susannah Bec

A Process Of Becoming

All movement is change and I believe that is what keeps us vibrant and alive, to remain unchanging is to become stagnant.

Though, at our very core I think we all have a strong unchanging anchor point to which we are tethered, I feel it's important that we flow with life.

We are always in a process of becoming, like a kaleidascope twisted by circumstance to show yet another new and beautiful pattern.

"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life." - Federico Fellini

Image - Sanctuary by Susannah Bec

Leaving Things Behind

"If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having." - Henry Miller

Over the last few months I have been having one of my periodic purges. I am by nature a gatherer and although in recent years I have curbed it somewhat, I always seem to have a never ending amount of 'stuff'.

It is always beautiful things or books that I have a plethora of - but even beautiful things can become a burden if you are swamped in them. Books too, though I find it easier to part with those, probably because as a child I was an avid reader and visited the library regularly, so in my psyche I don't associate books with owning them particularly, though you would never think it to look at my three full bookcases! They are filled with the books that I couldn't part with and those I am yet to read.

With this last editing of my possessions I went deeper than I ever had before (surely a good sign?) and let go of things that I had always passed over in the previous purges. In the end 12 boxes full of beautiful things went to the local charity shop! On Sunday, I gave more things away, I finally realised that the space created by NOT having these things felt better than holding on to them.

Do you gather stuff?
What kind of things do you hold on to?
Do you find it easy to let go?

Cake

I have never really understood the meaning of the saying -

"You can't have your cake and eat it too"

Mmmm.

Why is that then?


(I observed Joe quite closely, as he easily managed to have this cake and then eat it too! ;-))