my three dog life

Jake, baby Winnie Dixon & my golden girl Emma Jane Louise - Em for short circa 2003 at the Gulf Shore Picnic Park Beach

People say bad memories cause the most pain, 
but actually it's the good one's that drive you insane. iliketoquote.com

I received an email on the weekend from someone named Tim who'd been using a metal detector at the Gulf Shore Beach and found a dog tag, Jake's dog tag with my name & address & phone number but minus the postal code. He Googled my name, instead of calling me (of course he did after all it's 2014 ;-) found this blog, found out about Jake - the much adored red retriever and also that Jake had passed on. He wanted to know my postal code so he could return the dog tag to me - how sweet & thoughtful. He and I exchanged a few emails and a few photos - I sent him this one he sent me one of his swimming fetching Corgi's (a rarity apparently ;-)

Back in these seemingly carefree & wonderful three dog days I was so much crazier braver ! I would take all three of them in my tiny little blue hatchback Mazda 323 early in the morning to avoid people or disturbing any non-dog people they do exist among us - be warned !  We would park, walk down the huge, long, grassy hill & onto the beach and I would let all three of them off leash !!! today I shudder at the thought (in fact I've shuddered often at the memories of all the potentially awful what ifs that could've been but thankfully never were - a nasty symptom of my affliction).

As you can see by this photo of very happy, wet dogs we would walk, especially far at low tide when the sandbars stretched on & out forever, we would fetch sticks, they would swim. We would all pile back into the car and be home before 8:30 & they would be beat at least until mid to late afternoon.

When I was young, elementary school age my best friend was Joan Henry and I spent practically all my non-school time at her house, her very motherly mother Mabel would ply us with mugs of tea (always made fresh in a pot which was then covered in a homely knit tea cozy) and homemade tiger cookies. Joan had older brothers, something extremely exotic and thrilling for me who had only one sibling a younger sister. Her older brothers used to play The Best of Three Dog Night* on repeat - Joan and I got so we could sing along to every song. This was my favourite song. * oh youtube I think I love you as much as I love google

dreams of 3

daisies along the grassy lane

and perfect dreams of times gone by ...

Dreams of a freshly mowed grassy lane, the lane that leads down the hill to the back shore beach. A lane that separates huge rolling pastures from the tiny woods where the blue herons nest. The place where all my love still lives on in dreams and memories. If I close my eyes it seems like only yesterday ... racing along sandbars with three dogs in tow, over rocks and through fields of wildflowers, climbing red clay cliffs to stand, the three of us, in the bayberry and wild rose pasture so we could better view this magical place. Red, golden and black fur wet and dripping and glistening in the sun. Contented happy dogs. My dogs, my pack ... of three

sweeties

Em, Jake and a very young & trim baby Dixon

I think that's a big ol' full moon high up in the sky and shining in on us this early morning. I guess it was full yesterday. Missy D and I love to walk in the moonlight so we won't linger here this morning. I'm still in the thick of les tres challenging design project. Challenging in a mostly good way, but by times also challenging in a frustrating way - sometimes I get such a crystal clear image in my head of how I'd like design to be, to look and I don't quite have the drawing skills to put that idea to paper. I'm struggling with that dilemma at this time.

Tidy desk, portions of brain turned to off position and we'll carry on. We'll rock on !

LOVE her voice

snow dogs

snow dogs - Em, Jake & Winnie Dixon

Love, LOVE, love

Cocoa butter bubbles are pouring, and there's big snow to be shoveled. I read yesterday that shoveling snow burns 89 calories per 10 minute session. We didn't really have a storm, here in this little village, as much as we had a steady but gentle, all afternoon and through the night, snowfall. I like to shovel in darkness another of my favourite things so I must get going this early morning. It looks to me like it might be the light and fluffy kind (I can hope) as I do believe that the snowplow fairy my neighbour Roger is away. After a snowfall, of any substance, he will magically appear on his John Deere tractor with the snow blower attachment and he'll blow away that terrible big hump that the snowplough leaves at the end of the driveway and walkway ... and in return I feed his cat Jessie (Yessie to us) a snack as he's out and about on his feline travels around this little village. He'll jump up on the kitchen windowsill and stare in at me, at us, until I ready a little plate of salmon Florentine or shrimp & crab medley to put out on the porch for him. Yessies' one of those cats that likes to stop for a bite here and there and everywhere - he's made a lot of friends and 29 Black Street is a favourite daily haunt of his - much to scaredy cat Bleet's chagrin.

And another day of drawing, drawing, drawing here at the teak topped desk. And perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, M. Universe a petite breakthrough in our (Oliver and my) current & tres challenging design project would be lovely ... and very much appreciated. Merci.

My pink peonies are part of this etsy treasury. How nice. Smile.

wider than the sky

my pack - Jake, Winnie & Em

My love is warmer than the warmest sunshine
Softer than a sigh.
My love is deeper than the deepest ocean
Wider than the sky.
My love is brighter than the brightest star
That shines every night above
And there is nothing in this world
That can ever change my love

Petula Clark

A perfect morning adventure with my pack of three captured forever on film. This is a repeat image on this blog and my most absolute favourite photograph. One that I tucked away in my journal while on design trips to far away lands - Hong Kong, Paris and Los Angeles while the sweeties waited together in our local boarding kennel for me to return home. I loved them and I missed them so much it felt as if I wouldn't live, without them. Every night, after days filled with the thrills of big city exhilaration and adventure, tucked in my heavenly hotel bed somewhere, I would count the number of sleeps until I would see them again. This photo was taken with an old fashioned film camera, the summer of 2003. I remember that day vividly, our early morning trip to the beach. With perfect golden warm sunshine. I think I took at least 36 exposures to get this one ... most perfect picture.

Hard steady rain and rumbling thunder, kittens on windowsills, bubbles and scent, a second mug of coffee and my pack of one, Winnie Dixon snoring softly in her bed under my desk - it's another early morning here at 29 Black Street.

a little video of les chiens

movies

Em, Winnie & Jake from a few summers ago

I watched American Beauty last night on television. I taped it from HBO earlier in the week. Which is strange because apparently HBO is not available in Canada, but that’s my little secret - I have HBO here in my little village in Nova Scotia. I watched American Beauty soon after it was released on video back in 2000 and I remember thinking then that it was an amazing movie, one of those movies that you want to watch again right away because you’re sure you must‘ve missed things you were so engrossed (by everything - the characters, the dialogue, the sets, the cinematography ...). Well 7 years later and I finally watched it again and remembered what a fantastic movie it is, written it turns out by Alan Ball creator/writer of Six Feet Under which certainly now comes as no surprise. If you haven't seen Six Feet Under rush out to your nearest Blockbuster and rent a season at a time (5 seasons in total) and watch some of the best television ever.

American Beauty reminded me of other movies of this genre that have been favourites over the years. Dark, sad thoughtful movies that leave you wanting to be silent and keep you thinking for a long time after they’re over. Movies that are hauntingly beautiful and that truly make your heart ache. Five others that instantly come to mind that felt unforgettable after seeing them the first time and seem to be always on my list to see again.

The Ice Storm
Babel
House of Sand and Fog
Paris, Texas
21 Grams