Zoe at 6 1/2 Months old

These photos were taken by Jane Billings.

Shadow Fun

Morning Walk

        Heat drones over whips of pasture tassels to sway in a thirsty breeze. I walk, listen and watch as Willow races through the hay field. She is engulfed in pure joy.  Withers pump, thump and leap in stride with forelimbs and aft quarter as paws pound the ground in harmony as drums beat.  Willow propels herself forward to gather the earth bellow and taste the hot humid summer air flow into her lungs.  She is free and there astride her side is Theia, her Dam. They gallop together as one and in tune with all that there is in the universe.  Abreast Willow’s back, hidden in the scruff her neck, among her dense, soft, creamy yellow Labrador coat I reside in spirit.  I soar weightless, as if I had wings, with Willow and Theia.  Willow’s ears flap-flap against my face along with sprits of hay grass.  It is pure ecstasy as I ride with my Willow.   

This sensation never failed to elude my senses with each walk, run, and hunt or swim Willow pursued.  I felt right with her as if lifted out of my skin and into her hers. Together we’d pursue the pleasures of this earth.  It was this bond which enabled me to read clearly with each injury and illness the discomfort she encountered.  Together we would weigh and fight the on slot of misfortune to rise above and continue on our way. 

Nash, Pearl, WillowSunshine

Nash, Pearl, WillwSunshine

Pearl - 3 years old

Nash and Pearl

WillowSunshine 6 1/2 months old

Nash and WillowSunshine

Nash 

11 years and 11 months old

WillowSunshine

WillowSunshine

WillowSunshine and Pearl

WillowSunshine, Nash, Pearl

Pearl

Across the River

You know the old time photos where the subjects all have frowns, look so serious as if scowling from having to sit so long for the photograph to be taken... This is how my dogs must have felt after a while :)

Morning Walk, Across River VIDEO

      We rise at 5:00 AM and head to the field across the river.  On the days we do this, they tend to be the best days.  I grew a half mile from this field.  It is a place of many memories.  It is a place where I used to ride horses and took Caccha, Willow, Theia.  It is a place where my Mother would take us as children to swim in the river, that would rise and fall with the tides.  It is a place where childhood friends and I would explore and run through the grasses.  We depart for Hancock, NH tomorrow.  It has a been an enjoyable week here in Guilford, CT

Pearl is in Heat

     This thought has been tumbling around in my head:  "I could breed Nash and Pearl again."


     My original intentions were to breed Nash and Pearl once.  Pearl gave me exactly what I had dreamed - WillowSunshine. The breeding, whelp, raising and placing puppies went very well.  All the puppy owners are most pleased and I receive many compliments on the puppies easy going and friendly temperaments, their athleticism, train ability, and desire to work and retrieve. pearl has bounce back nicely from raising the litter and is in great shape. Nash is doing great and not getting any younger, so the time would be now.

This current litter is truly a very special litter with a specific purpose.  All the little souls arrived and found their person or family. 


     It is hard to say to whom these new little souls would be destined, but if this nagging thought does not go away surely the universe has a plan for them...  Stay tuned.

    

Nash at 2 years old

Nash at 2 years old

photo taken in Maine

 

Theia, Mary Gunn, Willow

In Maine 2007