No news from here...

Just more happy pics - I was busily taking pictures of the gloriously green Hunter Valley on Sunday (did I mention, Gentle Readers, that it's as green as I've ever seen it?  That would be a good name for a book, don't you think?  "How Green was the Hunter".  Might be a best seller. I should write it.  Ahem.), and the pooch, the very gorgeous Zoe, decided to run into my shot just as I clicked the button.


She's got excellent timing, that dog:

So of course I had to take a proper picture of her - dogs are normally hard to photograph because they never want to sit still, and they never look at you when you've got the camera in your hand (with the possible exception of Zeb, who knew she was a movie star, and knew how to hold her chin and knew when to smile and how to work the red carpet)

So I persuaded Zoe to do the same, kind of:

And she's laughing her head off at me.  Smart dog!

Best Dog in the world... gone to Dog Heaven

My good friend Zeb.B.Dog has swum off to Dog Heaven, where, if there are any rewards for good behaviour in Doggy Life, there should be an endless supply of golf balls, tennis balls, soccer balls, hard rubber balls, soft stress balls, frisbees, sticks of all shapes and sizes, bread rolls to be eaten only on the carpet, raw turkey necks and bowls of other doggie's food, just waiting for her. No arthritis, no pain, no competition from the owners of that food, just lots of big fluffy dog beds, big dams full of warm water, birds to chase, passing walkers and joggers to bark at, and nobody to stop her, an endless supply of people to throw those sticks and balls and hand out the turkey necks on demand.

Even though she wasn't mine, she felt like mine. She loved to sneak up behind you and stick her head under your arm and toss her head, and too bad if you had a glass of wine in your hand. She loved to drop wet sticky slimey balls at your feet for you to throw, especially if you were sitting with something that needed clean hands. She loved to stand right next to you after she'd been in the dam, and shake all that lovely cold water all over you. She wanted all your attention, and she was worth it. She was smart and funny and if she loved you, you knew it.

She was my friend and I'm going to miss her.

And on a slightly more cheery note...

I have to share this with you people out there! Sorry Kaz, if you didn't want it out there - it's too beautiful to leave unposted somewhere on the fancy young people's internet (thanks, Tony Squires...)


This is the label my lovely friends Kaz & Az are going to put on their wine this year - they normally sell all their grapes to these people, and have a few bottles kept aside for themselves prior to it being blended in with other quality grapes - and they've had a label in the past, but nothing as spectacular as this:

How could anybody resist? And it has two of my four favourite dogs in the whole wide world on it - just beautiful. It is slight, ever so slightly not quite but nearly geographically correct, but who's going to quibble? Everybody will be so taken by the gorgeous doggies that they won't even twig that the water is not really there... and who cares?

And, do I hear you say, what about the other two favourite dogs in the whole wide world? Well, seeing as I haven't done any sewing since Sunday (shame on me), and no material arrived in the mail (and what's that about?), it's down to the dogs - or is that "we've gone to the dogs"? Sorry. Couldn't help it, you know how I love a good pun...

This is Gus. He's a boy. Anybody who didn't notice needs to have their eyes checked very very soon. He was a pound puppy, can you believe it?

And this is Jarrah:

She has the sweetest nature, and puts up with all sorts of crap from Gus, who constantly teases her, chews her legs, flicks her ears, worries her tail... and she just happily sits there, until Gus goes just that little bit too far. Then she growls at him, he runs away and peace is restored. For about 10 minutes.


Love it. Love those dogs.