If you’re sitting in a part of the country currently covered in snow, here’s a bit of color to make you smile.
Katie-girl says to be patient…spring will get to you soon.
A hint of spring to come
Rivers and mountains oh my!
Anyone want to float down the river?
Katie here. I guess I have to do all the explaining cause mama is lazy. You’d think this was my blog or something, she hardly does anything anymore. She says she’s on vacation.
Whatever.
So anyway, we’ve been over in Columbus Georgia the past few days, visiting family and taking it easy. Well. I’ve been taking it easy. Mama and family have been working hard on projects and stuff.
They did stop working for a bit to take me on a walk along the Columbus waterfront. What a pretty place!
I’d rent one of these but my fur gets curly when it’s wet.
We walked and walked for about a hundred million miles. Good thing mama had water and treats for me. We watched people going down the rapids in a big yellow rubber raft…
They are definitely going to get wet!
…and in little tiny kayaks. Seems like the water would be way too cold for that! Plus it would mess up your hair. I’m pretty sure I’m not a kayak kind of girl.
Kinda scary if you ask me!
Mama says she likes kayaks but wouldn’t want to go down those rapids! Smart mama!
We saw lots of pretty stuff. We walked in Alabama and in Georgia! I don’t think I’ve ever walked in two states on one walk before!
A lone fisher-bird.
We walked so long that I slept all night without bugging mama! Mama said that was a wonderful thing. I slept with the new toy my Aunt got me. Isn’t it cute? (I’m cute too..it’s OK, you can say it out loud.)
It’s a hedgehog…zzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Anyway, we’re back home at the lake now, and today mama took me to Smith Mountain again for a walk. (Cause I was bugging her while she was napping. I think she wanted revenge.)
You are so slow mama!
This time we walked up what is usually the exit down from the mountain top. It was very steep.
Come on! I ran up these, you can too!
Good thing mama had me to show her the way! Sometimes I had to drag her up steep passages!
Just follow me mama!
These are baby long leaf pines. Mama loves these trees. I think they are pretty too.
I secretly don’t mind posing. It means I get to rest and I get a treat!
We had to go way up here and I scampered right up. It was awesome.
Are we THERE YET mama?
But about 3/4 of the way up I figured that was enough and I started back down the path. Mama said oh no..we’re not going back down this steep path and she took me all the way to the top!!!
Good thing I didn’t have to go all the way to the top of the fire tower too!
Not going up there mama!
We walked back to the car down the road. There was lots of pretty stuff to see there too….including native azaleas in bloom.
Pretty pink deep in the woods.
I was a slowpoke on the road down, but as soon as I saw my car I started trotting ahead of mama. Enough is enough mama!
I see my car mama! Hurry!!
Time to get a little shut eye….mama says we have a big day tomorrow. I have no idea what she’s got in store for me now, but if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s to be well rested!
-Your tour guide gal Katie
Here’s the start of the trail up. (I’ll wait for you here.)
I was tricked!
Come on mama, this looks like an AWESOME park!
Katie here. Mama asked me if I wanted to go to a park, and I said “OF COURSE MAMA! Are you crazy? I want to go to a park! Let’s go right now! RIGHT NOW MAMA!”
So we did.
We drove and drove and drove and I started to get vocal. Mama told me to settle down but I didn’t really. I was just expressing my opinion, and a princess is entitled. Right?
Isn’t this a pretty lake mama?
So anyway, mama was going to take me to visit Auburn University but she couldn’t find anywhere to park the car. We drove around and around and mama saw lots of stuff but I didn’t see anything cause I was in my crate in the back.
Not fair.
But when we finally stopped and mama got me out it was at a park! A beautiful park! Mama says she’s not sure where it was because she was lost by then. And she said she wasn’t going to take her camera, we’d just walk around a little bit.
Mama liked the row of trees. I liked the shade.
And then of course she found a gazillion pretty things that warranted a camera. So we walked around this beautiful little lake and then mama and I went back to the car, got a drink and her camera and walked around it again!
Isn’t it great? There was a blue heron the first time we walked, but he had moved on by the time we came back. We did get to watch these turtles though. Mama said they were all looking at me. Well of course they were, I’m the princess!
A little warm for my taste, but these guys liked the sun.
And there were these exercise things. Mama tried a couple of them, she said they were really fun. I was not interested, given that I already have a svelte sheltie figure.
These look fun mama! For you anyway.
Once we got around the lake the second time mama loaded me in the car and drove some more and when she parked again I couldn’t figure it out. It was a busy parking lot? What are we doing here mama? I dutifully followed along and suddenly we were inside a groomer’s place!!
Mama tricked me!
The lady put my on a table and there were all these little dogs, bichons and chihuahuas and other little fru fru dogs running around on the floor, and then a great dane walked into the room and stretched! Why he could reach as high as the table I was on! And the lady was clipping my toenails! And trimming my toe fur! I turned my head and looked at my mama and pleaded with her to get me out of there!
Mama says she wishes she had the camera, because the whole thing was ridiculously funny, dogs running all over and me looking pitiful up on the table. But she left her phone in the car, so no pictures.
I’m personally glad. It was humiliating.
When we left I was in such a hurry to get out of there that I ran up the 8 stairs outside. Up the stairs. Wait…I forgot I don’t do stairs. Mama called me a little stinker. I think that’s a compliment…right?
I’m ticked at my mama. Taking me to a wonderful park does not negate the secret groomer appointment. But I have to say my feet do look a whole lot better.
Don’t tell her I said that.
Pretty feet.
WordPress Photo Challenge: The Road Taken
Walking a forest fire access road around the mountain we were surprised to find a bit of the lake hiding in back.
Let’s go explore that shoreline mama!
We were glad we took this road a bit further than we ever had before.
Wonder what surprises other people have found on the roads they’ve taken? Check out the link above. Or here are a couple I especially liked.
Katie says she hopes everyone gets out today on a walk filled with wonderful surprises.
And that you all get to take a nap after.
Come along with me!
Perfect weather
Sometimes when you wake up in early morning darkness you go back to sleep. And other days, for some reason, you get up, pull the curtains back and check the sky.
Last week I got lucky.
The sun was coming up over the hills behind me, just touching the house across the way as it sat under a big rolling cloud racing across the sky. The light was only like this for a moment. So brief I might have imagined it.
This morning I woke and caught a sliver of light through a crack in the blinds. It looked a bit gold, so I leaped out of bed and threw back the curtains.
Not gold, but just as rich.
“Those are Snaphappy Gal clouds!” I cried. (Go to her photography site, you’ll see she loves clouds!) Katie looked at me with held tilted as I raced outside with my camera.
And then the sky turned into a van Gogh right before my eyes.
Which way does the wind blow?
Pictures for my mom
My mom was an artist, she painted and crafted, and back when we were kids she ran a ceramics store and tried to instill in her students bravery to try new things.
I’ve often thought of her during this trip. I’ll shoot something and automatically think ‘mom will like that one.’ Most of these images don’t make it into a blog, because they’re not part of a story. These are just individual shots, not related to each other, that I liked.
Turns out there’s quite a few.
You’ll notice there’s not a single shot of Katie-girl, and that’s intentional. She gets plenty of blog time, and though she’s certainly beautiful this time it’s all about other pretty things.
I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them. Though that would be hard to do, because I really really enjoyed being in the moment and capturing these beautiful places and things.
And after all, since mom was right there with me, I guess she’s already seen them. That makes me smile.
WordPress Photo Challenge: A Good Match
Mahogany sable sheltie in the Alabama red clay woods.
Come on mama! Let’s go see what’s over here!
Want to see some other good matches? Check out the link above. Or if you’re short on time, a couple of my favorites so far are here and here. Go ahead and take a look. I think you’ll be surprised and then you’ll smile.
Katie says everyone needs at least one smile each day.
Smile everybody!
Reflections
Sitting here in the house that dad built I can’t help but keep one eye, sometimes both eyes, on the water.
Sure the lake level is low, as it is every winter, making it difficult to enjoy this huge lake, but just our little part right here is beautiful.
And it’s always changing. The light moves and twinkles and shifts and the water ruffles and calms.
I have lots of time to sit and reflect as the sun goes down and the shadows lengthen across the slew.
I wish my parents were here. But the house is still filled with their presence. Not the same of course, as having them physically here.
But not as sad as it was in the beginning.
Lots of good memories flit through my mind as I watch the water shift in the changing light.
We’re lucky they left us this place. I think they’re glad we come to visit.
But I bet they miss us all too.
