New Day 56 – New Puppy – Old Friend?

Introducing Oliver.

This is my new excuse to head outside for some exercise. Oliver is a four month old Morkie. So far he is a spectacular little dog. As long as I take him outside every half hour or so, he does not do things inappropriately in the house. He sleeps on the bed beside me in his little crate and sleeps through the night – no accidents! He loves to play and to walk which is an answer to my prayers. He fetches endlessly as Buddy used to do. He eats, sleeps, and plays. What else could you want in a dog?

I’ve had him now for four days. He’s been out for short walks down the road with me and follows along perfectly. The harness I bought is too big for him, so I made sure he was close enough to scoop up if a car approached – but no cars so far on our walks.

Today I made him a little coat and took him out on the trail across the road to see if he was up for the hour’s trek.

Here he is on my side of the road, just checking out the dead bracken.

We.re on the trail now, and he’s sticking very close behind me as we walk along. When I stop, he investigates the surroundings. There’s a lot for a new little puppy to discover.

I’m wondering what he’ll think about the water.

It’s frozen over and he stays safely on shore. (But for a moment I was afraid he was going to step out.)

Note to self: We need a harness and a leash.

We continue along the winding trail, me turning to be sure he’s with me every half minute or so. Every time I check he’s right there, only inches from my feet. I can’t hear him, so I need to keep checking.

But suddenly, when I turn to see if he’s there, he’s gone! I look back along the trail and he’s standing there, maybe 40 feet away, looking at me. I start running back to him, calling his name.

Either he no longer recognizes me, and I frighten him, or he’s fed up with the walk. He turns and runs as fast as he can back along the trail the way we came. I run like a mad woman, but I cannot catch up with him. Soon he’s completely out of sight. I say a few prayers as I’m terrified he’ll just dash across the road and get hurt. We live on a dead end with only three houses, but still – there are cars occasionally.

I’m praying he’s gone home, but I can’t really believe it can be possible. This is the first time we’ve gone left out of the driveway and down the road, and he’s never been on the trail before.

I exit the trail, rush panting up the hill and into the driveway. Then I hear him barking. He’s at the back door and want’s me to let him in. He seems confused when I appear behind him.

My conclusion is, he didn’t recognize me when I turned and ran back to get him. so he ran for safety – back to the home he has known for only a few days. How is that possible?

Reincarnation?

Now Here’s a Question? Do you think Dogs Reincarnate to be with a former person? This little dog reminds me so much of Buddy that I find myself wondering if it is possible that he is the reincarnation of Buddy’s soul.

In my search for a new best friend, I asked Spirit to let me know with some sort of sign, that the dog I found was meant to be my dog. When I went to meet this little puppy, he was living with a family of cat, dogs, child, and parents. I met the mom who was very warm and friendly. At one point while she was chatting about the dog, she said, “I don’t know why, but this is his favorite toy.” Then she reached into the laundry basket, pulled out a sock, rolled it into a ball, and tossed it for the puppy to retrieve. Which he did, bringing it back to my feet.

Now if you are a long time follower of this blog, you may remember that socks were Buddy’s favorite toys. Surely that was my sign that this was my dog.

Since then Oliver has displayed many behaviors that remind me so much of Buddy, that I find it hard not to ponder the reincarnation possibility. Also, my cat Abbey who knew Buddy, has been very affectionate from the first time she saw him – no hissing! Here she is greeting only minutes after his arrival.

Now, I do know that dogs have strong noses, and it’s not impossible that Oliver could have found his way home again. But still – where is home to him, here, or where he’s lived for the past 4 months? And how was he able to race back without putting his nose to ground?

Just wondering!

He’s a sweetheart!

And yes, don’t worry – lesson learned! NOT going out for a walk without a harness and leash again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 33 – Nature Spirits and Bounty

A new crop.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll have figured out by now that I see Nature Spirits.  Often they are not apparent until after the photos are uploaded onto my computer. The “Santa” image in the clouds (see Day 30 – Abandoned) is an example. When I looked up at the clouds, what I saw when I took the photo were the glasses. They were in a vertical position. Only after I turned the photo 45 degrees on the computer so that the glasses were horizontal, did I see the face.

Gone to seed.

Yesterday was another Nature Spirit day. Actually, it was a Spirit day in many forms as it was Psychic Faire day at MindFull Books & Ephemera – a fabulous day, by the way. Anyway, as always on faire days, I headed outside early with the dogs. A friend of mine and I had just discussed wild mushrooms, and she had asked me about the puff ball mushrooms and whether they might have emerged again after the rain we’d just had. I told her that I believed mushrooms had their time for bursting forth, and that I didn’t think there would be more. But…I decided to check anyway, and much to my delight I found a whole new crop of mushrooms.

After harvesting what I could find (plus discovering a bunch I’d missed before that had gone to seed), I headed down to the water to check the effects of the northeaster we’d had. 

The wetlands slowly begin to look wet.

The wetland water is slowly appearing as the grasses die off for the winter. Over the years the plant life has nearly taken over the entire area except for the channel of swiftly moving water.

I took a few photos of the waters while the dogs stood patiently by, and then headed in with the mushrooms. These, if not consumed right away, will be dehydrated for future use. I have a fabulous dehydrator which is good for all kinds of things including artwork experiments. 

Patiently waiting.

Bounty.

Water Spirit.

This morning I up loaded my photos. There in the water, as clear as a bell is a water spirit. I’ve turned it face on, but you can see in the untouched photo that it is quite noticeable. It’s odd, but when I look at this, I know I’ve seen this before – in some painting or pen and ink artwork. 

Spirit at home.

I love finding Nature Spirits. We’ve all done this as a child, finding shapes in clouds – patterns in the shadows. Why do we dismiss this as child’s play?

I have a small upstairs area in my house with three tiny bedrooms. When my older grandchildren were small, we’d all sleep up there, and in the morning they would climb into the big bed where I slept and gaze at the peeling ceiling and find faces and creatures in all the bumps and cracks. Now the ceiling creatures are gone thanks to the ice storm and a new ceiling, but that remains one of my fondest memories. We all miss the funny characters that watched us from above.

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