Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: weather


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Park season

Let’s get going mama!

Katie here.

Hey! I bet you figured out that when mama and daddy went to Washington DC I didn’t get to go. Nope. I got left at ‘camp’ and I think I got gypped. Mama and daddy got to eat out at fancy restaurants and got to see the monuments and got to go to the zoo and I got to….well…I got to eat my dinner on time every night. I didn’t even have to bug anyone to get it! Not like here at home where I have to remind mama loudly and persistently every single day that it’s almost supper time!

Anyway…

Mama said it was too hot in DC for me, she told me I wouldn’t like it, but I think she was just telling stories to get me to feel better. On the other hand, it’s been really hot here too, way too hot for me to have any adventures at all.

But yesterday it rained real hard and I had to bark at the ceiling for a long time. After I made the rain go away it was a lot nicer outside. Mama and I even slept in our tent in the back yard! I love to sleep outside and I didn’t get mama up until 5:00 a.m. She was pleased cause usually I’m getting her up somewhere between 3:30 and 4:00. Every day.

And this morning mama was cold! That hasn’t happened in a couple of weeks. She said it was a good morning for a walk at my park! Did I want to go?

Come on mama!! It’s a great morning at my park!

Did I! Of course I did.

I cried at the front door until she hurried up and got herself together and off we went. We even got to go in daddy’s truck! I used to be afraid of his truck because it makes a different kind of noise, but I’m a big girl now and I love to ride up front with mama. She doesn’t let me do that very often cause she says I’m not safe up there, but once in awhile I get lucky and there isn’t any gas in my chariot.

We got to my park while the grass was still damp, early in the morning, and so we were surprised to see a Little League tournament going on. Tiny little kids in cute little uniforms filled all four softball fields. So we went to the other end of the park and walked the other way around.

Sigh. I had to stand on this bench. Again. She makes me do this almost every time we come here.

Mama was sort of worried about me because I was walking really slow. But she let me have as much water as I wanted, and let me walk without being on a leash and I just wandered at my speed. At one point she asked me if I wanted to go back, maybe I didn’t want to go all the way around the park.

I told her she was crazy, I wasn’t going to turn around now that I was finally out there! I just needed to go slow as befit my advanced age. I’ll be twelve in December you know, so that makes me eleven and a half. Almost as old as her.

Nothing interesting back here mama!

Besides, going slow I got to sniff everything. Some of it twice. Mama said that was OK, it had been a long time since I’d been there, and who knew when it would be cool enough to come back. She said she didn’t have anywhere to be, so she let me take as long as I wanted.

Of course, in return I had to pose for the typical photos. But she gave me a treat for each pose, so I was good with it.

The pond is looking good today mama.

It took us over an hour to go a little less than a mile. Mama says we’re not going to win any races and I had to remind her she’s not training for any races anyway. Sometimes mama forgets she’s not a young pup herself.

Besides, the delay wasn’t all my fault. Mama sneezed at one point and I had to take several minutes to bark at her. After all it’s my responsibility to make sure she’s OK after she sneezes like that.

Bad mama! No sneezing allowed!

When we finally got back to the front of the park I sat on a hill and watched the little kids play ball. I have always loved to do that, even back when I was little too. I like to see the kids run around the bases and sometimes there’s a treat or two or ten lost in the grass that I can snitch.

You think they’ve got any treats over there?

I wanted to get closer to the action but mama said no. I thought she was being mean, but then I realized I was getting sort of tired and needed to take a nap, so we headed back to the car.

Come on mama, time to go home!

Mama says we’re going on a big adventure pretty soon. I don’t know what she’s talking about but it better not include being left at ‘camp’ again. I’m staying vigilant, but if any of you guys know what’s up please let me know.

A girl’s got to have an escape plan ready.

Katie here, signing off for now….zzzzzzzz….

Shhhhhhh…don’t wake the sheltie.


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Benefits

Katie here!

If you’re Facebook friends with mama you know she’s working on a new challenge. She calls it her #365project. Seems like mama always has some project going on but most of the time I ignore it because it’s not about me, and, as I’m a princess, I believe it should always be about me.

Come on! We’re going for a walk!

But this project is brilliant! It makes mama go on a walk every day and post a picture on Facebook of something she saw. Think about it. A walk every day!

Even before the leaves come in there’s plenty of pretty in the woods.

And guess what? Sometimes mama takes me along with her! I’ve been to more parks in the past 13 days (today is day 14 of her project) than I’ve been in months! Why this week alone we’ve been to three parks!

It’s a perfect day for a walk!

I tell you, mama should get involved in stuff like this more often! I can’t believe my luck, though yesterday we didn’t get going until late in the day and it was too hot for me.

It’s hot mama, can we go back?

We only got a few hundred yards into the woods when I turned around to go back to the car and air conditioning. Mama said that was OK, we still got a walk in. She’s a good egg, my mama.

Earlier in the week we were at one of my parks and mama was busy taking pictures of pretty things that were not me! Most of the pictures in this blog post are from that walk. It was rainy and cool, perfect for a Sheltie Princess.

We had time to enjoy the reflections on the quiet lake.

Also perfect because no one else was out there and I got to walk off leash. When mama was busy taking pictures of not me I got to wander around. Mama didn’t worry, because she knows I won’t go very far away from her.

I’ll wait over here mama.

We saw lots of pretty stuff, even on a gloomy rainy day. It was one of my best walks ever!

The willow trees announce spring.

Mama said she was a little worried about taking on this 365 day walking project, but she’s been enjoying herself, and I love the fact we get to go go go! You might want to try it too. Don’t let the big number overwhelm you. Take it one walk at a time.

And if you’ve got a Princess (or Prince) at home, bring them along too. It’s good to spend time together outside exploring.

This path looks interesting.

You’ll both enjoy it!

Less talking, more walking mama!


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Goodnight moon

Katie and I experienced a magical moon one morning not so long ago. It wasn’t quite full, not anymore, but like a flower that’s just past it’s prime it was still beautiful.

The sun, emerging from sleep on the opposite horizon, made the clouds surrounding the waning moon glow in pinks and purples.

And then the clouds began to overtake the moon.

I watched as it silently slipped behind the curtain.

And just like that the day began and the moon slid into an early slumber.

Goodnight moon.


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Neither here nor there

Katie here, continuing my travelog. Mama and I are headed home to daddy, and today is our second day of driving. All day. Yesterday I wasn’t very good about being in the car for so long, but I can explain!

Which looks better? Me or the mountains?

No one told me that we were driving home! I thought we were just going to the beach or the park and I didn’t understand that I’d be cooped up in the car all day! So I kept asking mama if we were there yet and by the end of seven hours she was about over the whole travel with Katie-girl thing.

So she says.

What a pretty day to travel!

Today I was a lot better, though by the last hour I did throw a bit of a fit. After all, my supper was more than 2 hours late! I had to remind mama that it was unacceptable to hold up a princess’s supper.

Anyway, we drove a little bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way north. Not a lot of it, mind you, cause mama is on a mission to get home, but we got to see a little bit of it. She loves the layers of blue.

Perfect!

Me too, I could sit and look out over the view for a long time. Or until someone gives me a biscuit.

Enjoying the view.

Speaking of which, I’ve been snacking on treats Reilly’s mom packed for us. My guy even gave me heart biscuits! He’s a special guy, my Reilly.

Thank you Reilly sweetie!

Mama is really enjoying watching spring unfold all over again. It was spring weeks ago in Alabama and now that we’re in Kentucky we get to see the redbud and dogwood trees blooming all over again.

Isn’t this pretty?

And the deciduous trees are just budding out, with red and peach and orange and lime green making the mountains just glow in the sun. Mama couldn’t get a good picture of it cause she was driving. But the image below she took when we were at the Kentucky welcome center. The trees were on the other side of the freeway, and the light wasn’t as perfect as she’d seen when she was driving, but you can kinda see how beautiful it is here this time of year.

Can you see all the colors ?

Tonight mama is worried and is watching the weather channel. It looks like tomorrow we’ll be driving right into a bad storm. She can’t decide if we should get up early and try to beat the storm home, or if we should stay here for another night. But she says it would probably be two more nights because Saturday afternoon all the way into Sunday looks bad.

I don’t know what we’re going to do. Mama says we should get some sleep and see what tomorrow looks like. I personally think we should go back to our lake house, but mama says she has stuff to do in Michigan.

Glad we had a good day, cause tomorrow is going to be different.


Stuff to do? I thought she was retired!

Signing off….your travel guide Katie-girl.

Just another photo of me. Mama just won’t quit.


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How I spent my Gotcha Day

This looks like a magical place!


Katie here! Did you know that March 31 is my Gotcha Day? That’s the anniversary of the day I came home to live with my mama and daddy. Well, this year I am down in the South with my mama and you know what? She forgot my anniversary! She didn’t remember until we got home a whole day late!

But I forgive her because on the actual day we were so busy that even I forgot to ask for an anniversary treat! (Plus I got lots of treats because we were out adventuring all day long!)

Lots of big faces everywhere.

Saturday morning, my Gotcha Day, my Uncle and my Aunt and mama and I went to a very interesting art compound about an hour south of Columbus Georgia. It’s called Pasaquan, and it was built by a hippie kinda guy back in the 70s. (Mama says don’t say back in the 70s cause according to her that was just a couple years ago. Whatever mama.) You can hear him talk about it if you go to the link above. You can also google it and find out more. It’s been restored and is supported by Columbus State University and the Kohler Foundation.

The hippie dude, whose name was Eddie Owens Martin, called himself St. Om, and spelled it St. EOM.

Signed and dated.

It was a warm day but Mama and my Aunt and Uncle made sure I had water and got to sit in the shade a bunch. Still, being the model that I am, I had to pose in front of some stuff.

Lots of pretty color here!

I tell you, the colors here were so bright that sometimes I had to squint my eyes! Oh wait. That was the sun. Well anyway. We walked around all over but my favorite spot was this circle of sand. Whenever we were near there, while mama was busy taking pictures of stuff not me, I would run over there and stand in the sand. I wonder if she got my message that I wanted to go to the beach?

It’s cooler at the beach mama!

Mama would look around when she got done with her silly camera and say, “where’s Katie?” HA! Sometimes I was standing right behind her. And sometimes I was at my beach! After awhile she just never let go of the leash. Darn.

Just one of many crazy and beautiful walls.

There was a cool house there, with these funny steps up to it. I ran right up the steps because they were nice and wide…

Come on up!

…even though I knew that I’d have to pose on them for mama. I’ve got this gig figured out. Pose for a picture, get a treat. Sometimes mama would say “OK sweetie, this is the last one.” But I knew she was lying. It’s never the last picture!

We stayed a long time. They even packed a picnic lunch and ate it under some trees. Mama couldn’t stop taking pictures, and a lot of them weren’t all about me!

I think that guy was watching me.

There were plenty of places where I could rest in the shade while my peeps explored. We had the whole thing to ourselves except for a little bit where one other guy was there taking pictures. Mama says she’ll have to bring daddy here some day.

This guys’s watching me too mama!

I think the man that created this had a different sort of mind than me. For example, just about the only animals in any of this work were snakes. No dogs. I don’t know what he was thinking. Though he did have two big shepherds that kept him company out here in the country.

Layers of walls filled the space.

There was so many colors and shapes it was almost overwhelming. It’s definitely a place you should visit if you’re ever in that part of Georgia.

All sorts of color everywhere.

Full disclosure though, there are some art pieces depicting naked men and women. So maybe don’t bring your kids or your mother. Shelties are OK though.

Call ahead for the hours. We hear they change by the season.

Mama says there is so much more to show you but maybe she’ll put together a slide show later. She says I have to get off the computer now and go outside to play. She says too much screen time isn’t good for me.

Geeze. I didn’t even get to tell you where we went next on my Gotcha Day! I guess I’ll have to wait till she falls asleep and do another post. Shouldn’t be long, she’s old and falls asleep all the time.

Over and out, your art critic gal Katie.

She told me this was the ‘last’ picture. I doubted it. I was right.


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Stormy weather

Yesterday the evening weather guy mentioned a large storm front through the middle of the state. I glanced up to see his weather map featuring a bright red and yellow streak bisecting Alabama. And moving rapidly toward me.

I got up to look outside.

Oh my. Grabbing the camera I ran downstairs and out to the dock.

Spellbinding

What an amazing cloud, with even darker skies to the north. I felt the wind coming down the lake, the waves changed direction and the chop crashed into the side of boats and rocked against the shore. Not so far out there I could smell the rain. I managed to get a few shots as the cloud moved rapidly from north to south, and then I ran as fast as I could back up the hill and into the house.

The rain slashed across the windows as I climbed the stairs to a freaked out Katie-girl. We watched the storm together for a bit and then just as fast as it arrived it was over. Whoa, I said to the dog pressed tight to my side. What the heck was that?! Don’t know, mama, she said, but let’s not do that again any time soon.

OK sweetie. That’s a deal.


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WordPress photo challenge: Sunset

When I saw this week’s prompt I knew immediately the sunset I wanted to show you.

Fire to the south of me.

I was in northern Michigan in December of 2015 when one evening the sky just exploded. To the south it was burning in orange and reds, and to the north the sky was sighing in shades of pink and purple.

Cotton candy to the north of me.

The air was pinkish gold. I couldn’t shoot fast enough, and I never felt the cold.

The waves were tipped in light.

Though I usually limit myself to one photo for a photo challenge, this time I just couldn’t decide. So since the sunset itself was divided between fire and sweet I decided to go with full disclosure.

The islands out at the horizon were crowned by gold and purple.

Picture me turning from south to north and back again, trying not to miss any detail.

It just kept getting better.

It was amazing and I’m so glad to be able to relive it through these shots.

What a place to sit and enjoy the show!

And, as always, I’m glad to share them with you.

A firestorm in the sky.


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Took time to notice

Ann, over at her blog The Year(s) of Living Non-Judmentally, posted recently about noticing the things around us. I used to do that, notice little things, when I was a runner. I don’t run anymore, but on a good day I can still notice pretty or interesting things.

Yesterday was a good day, and I thought I’d show you a few of the things I noticed. They made me smile, I hope you smile too.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hey!

What about me, mama? Aren’t I pretty?

Why yes baby, yes you are.

I thought so. Geeze…