Still raining....

The March rains continue....still no going outdoors for Marley and Jasper. They stay close to the house and sleep a lot. We had visitors staying last weekend and we took them sightseeing for the day. I made up a nice warm bed in the cubby house and hoped and prayed that our puppies would be smart enough to go inside when it started raining. As it turned out after five hours we returned home to two very dry dogs...seems they're not so silly after all. It had rained here, Marley was scraggly around the ears so I knew he had been wet but dried out and the big old towel I spread out on the dogs mattresses in the cubby house was soaking wet. They must have gotten soaked but then spent the rest of the day drying off and sleeping in a nice warm nook. Good dogs....good dogs.....they were very happy to see us when we got home.

No soggy doggy photos to show you today so I'll share a few pics I took in the cute little hinterland town we visited instead.

 

I loved this gorgeous little girl and boy statuette outside of one of the shops. It rained all day but everything was so green and the flowers were all open.

Absolutely loved the lace work on this place

Such intricate detailing

A small offering to Mummy from her favourite little Princess

Home and happy to be warm and sleeping again

Looking for Sunshine...

We're into week three of the great March rains. My husband and I were married in March 15 years ago and so far every year except one - last year, it has rained in March. Not just a little rain either, but downpours that mean no hanging washing outside, no playing outside for kids or dogs, no work for my husband who is a contractor in the building industry and so no rain, no work, no pay...still we manage.

It's just the dreariness of it when it drags on that for a few weeks that is annoying. I shouldn't complain really. The rest of the country has been suffering from severe drought for a few years now and we seem to have an over abundance of rain, especially this time of year. We had a very dry winter last year and then spring and summer were no better, so now that Autumn is here the heavens have opened and the floodgates are pouring forth.

I feel for the puppies though, as they are house bound and hate being locked outside in the rain since our new room was added on (see earlier post for explanation). I wanted to go and do some shopping today as it's been over 2 1/2 weeks since I've left the house with all the sickness we've had in the family...but then...after only one day of sunshine yesterday it started raining again very heavily and I just didn't have the heart to lock Marley and Jasper out there. I was worried they'd be too silly to run and hide in the cubby house which is so nice and warm and dry and that I'd come home to two soggy doggy's again.

Happily, my husband came home around 1pm and so I ducked out for an hour or so leaving the boys inside with Daddy.

When they're inside at times like these I often find them sleeping somewhere they can find a little bit of sunshine streaming in between the downpours. It must feel so comforting for them to have the heat of the sunshine streaming in through a window. They will follow the sun from room to room as the sun shifts over the horizon...

I took some of these images since the puppies were small to show how they just love laying in the sunshine.

Shhhh....fast asleep....in the living room

In the bedroom....

and back to the living room again...

Puppy Smiles to Brighten Your Day...

An Adorable Smile.....

A Happy to See You Smile....

A Ready to Lick You Smile....

A Mischievious Smile....

Patterns...

It's been raining so much here the past two weeks that everything in the yard is just slush and mud. The puppies haven't wanted to go outside much and so they've been catching up on a lot of sleep inside. On top of that sickness has spread through the family and it's meant as a mother and wife that I haven't been out of the house for almost 14 days.

Yesterday we had a reprieve from the rain for a few hours and I was bursting to take photos. Jasper followed me outside for a few minutes but then went straight back inside to the dry zone....so no good puppy photos from him either.

So I decided to take photos of anything and everything and patterns started to catch my eye. My daughter was taking happy snaps of things around the house the other day, you may have seen the small image on my side bar that I've labelled "French Provincial". It's from a candle lantern and she snapped just the design on the front glass panel door. I thought that was such a nice idea and so we happily walked around the house taking photos of all different patterns.

 








It started me thinking about design and how talented some people are to think of creating things and incorporating design and patterns in the things they make and the sometimes perfect symmetry they incorporate in their designs. It got me thinking about the thought process that goes into making something truly beautiful as well as functional.

The talent, the intelligence the sense of order that is needed to do this....

Even small children can have talent, artistic ability and use their wonderful imaginations to create patterns. It got me thinking too about the reasons, the motives that people have in creating works of art.

A gift of LOVE from my son when he was 9.

Made with LOVE by my mother when I was 16.

Another work of art made for me by my son.

And then.....we noticed that ART often copies reality....

And patterns and design and order exists in nature.....

So then that raises the question ???

Whose intelligent, organized, artistic and imaginative mind designed these?

Even some puppies have perfect symmetry in their markings.

Can it really be reasoned away that design in nature "just happened?"

What do you think?

A Very BIG Guinea Pig

I don't think I've told you yet about the day I first brought Brinkley home. It was a Sunday and I had spent a few weeks looking for a puppy. This Sunday I finally heard from a reputable breeder three hours drive from here. Her dog was the father of a litter of puppies and there were three available still. She led me to the home of the mother dog which by chance happened to be only ten minutes from home. I rang the owner of the puppies and I was able to view them that same day.

 I left my children with their father who kept them occupied while I snuck out for an hour. On the way to picking up the puppy I stopped by the shops and picked up some puppy food, a bowl and some other bits and pieces.

I took along a big picnic basket, one of those cane types with the two flaps that open each end. I put the puppy into the basket and then casually walked in through the back of the house and placed the basket on the kitchen floor. My husband and the children were still playing in the living room and they had no idea where I had been. Before I left I arranged for my husband to have the video camera ready in the kitchen so that we could catch the childrens reaction to their new "little brother." I called them into the kitchen and then asked them to please go and get some things out of the picnic basket for me. They approached it unawares but then heard a small sound coming from inside so they became anxious.

My daughter very slowly opened one end of the basket as my son opened the other end. At the same time my son asked "What's in here?" my daughter caught a glimpse of the tail end of something and declared "I think it's a really giant guinea pig!" My son then said all bewildered.... "Somebody put a puppy in here...." and then the dawn of realization came over his little face and he looked up at me and very slowly said "Is.....it....ours?"

That moment caught on tape was so precious....

Heaven On A Stick

Mmmmmm.....our favourite. Sharing the end of Mummy's ice cream

Making sure every last drop is gone!!!

Brinkley's Dress Ups

Take two small children and one Cavalier and you have the perfect combination for a dress up party. Poor Brinkley never complained though - he just endured it with his usual calm and placid nature.

"Oh No! what have I gotten myself into. Not even here for one week and already they're dressing me in human clothes."

"Sigh....looks like they're planning on taking me out in public like this too..."

"Do they really think I need a teddy bear...

I know I look cute...but please someone stop them now."

"How humiliating...they do know I'm a boy don't they?"

"Oui Oui mon ami....I am a French Cavalier...."

"I'm off to the snow fields any moment now....watch out snow bunnies...here I come."

"Sssshhhh!.......if I keep my eyes closed maybe they won't see me..."

"Okay...enough is enough....this is the ultimate in humiliation...what am I supposed to be now?"

"Okay, now this is more like it....now we're talking!

I'm being treated like a King at last...dress up party is over!"