The Most Photographed GSD

Keeping in mind that I turn my blog posts into a memories book at the end of each year, I need to share the progress of Ajax's journey from puppy to adult.   He's an amazingly photogenic pup and I take advantage of it.    Here he is at 16 months!

Enjoying the sunsets together!  This westcoast pup loves to be high up and to look out over the ocean - just like me.

Ajax trying to do his best Wolf impersonation.

 

Posing on yet another bluff, sporting his new K9 reflective training harness.  

 Happy at sundown on a hike at dusk.

 

 Practicing the "wait" command on a rainy walk at dusk.  Always waiting for me to catch up.  He's so good waiting when we get out of the trail.  that and his off leash recall.  100%  pass.

 

Developing Hobbies!

Buying my iPone was the best thing I could do for my interest in photography.   Moving from point and shoot to digital and now to the iPhone, it just keeps getting better.  Always on the lookout for a photo-op, and usually during walks with Ajax, I push myself to take the roads less traveled just so I can see something new.  Always with an eye for a snapshot, here are a few favourites from this past month.

The Lone Tree

 The Lighthouse at the Cape

 View from Tunstall Bay over Collingwood Channel to Sunshine Coast

 

Icicles on a Fern Bluff

Highlights of the Birthday "Day"

It started with the foot bath!  Nothing nicer after a 3 mile hike.

An afternoon walk with Ajax to one of my favourite ocean bluffs... with a wee piccolo of Prosecco for a birthday toast.

 On the way home from my hike I ran into a friend who was on her way to my place to give me a bottle of wine.  Well we passed each other at Josephine Lake turnoff, so I said lets sit at the lake and toast a glass of wine.   It was damp and misty but spontaneous and I managed a great photo!

Fabulous Fungi!

Funny how we forget but yet we remember.  I forgot about how much, as a child, I used to love walking through trails in the fall looking for mushrooms. I loved the smells!   Now, with Ajax, my daily trail walks are a chance to keep watch for anything unusual to photograph. Like this shelf fungi!

One of the best things about Autumn is the little creatures that pop up all over the forest floor. 

Underneath logs or on trees, on decomposing leaves or on moss - there is an amazing array of Fungi doing their jobs of  cleaning the forest as they take care of layers of fallen deadwood and provide nutrients back to the living trees and other plants

If you think these are beauties, be careful where you step when you are going for a trail walk.  Tread lightly, and keep your eyes open - these fungi are everywhere.

Is There Life after 60?

There are times in our lives when we are dumb founded! Turning 60 is one of those. The number itself is numbing, without much wriggle room to hang onto middle age.  

You can say 60 is the new 30, but no matter how we try, our bodies have been working for 60 years.  My childhood has become “the olden days”.  I used to think 60 was old. I don’t feel old; though I think I'm looking it.  A friend snapped this photo of Chris and I.  I didn't recognize myself.  I looked like some mature old lady!    Who's that old broad, I said to Chris.

 I’m 60.  How did this happen?  I know it’s just a number, I just felt it was always a number in the distant future. 60. I know it is only a number but it has great importance. It’s as though I’ve crossed over a bridge,   - the one that leads to seniors discounts and retirements.  But these are positives aren’t they?

So yes, I turned 60 this weekend, and I think I am finally in a good space.  I’m hiking and walking and I have lost 10 pounds – all steps in the right direction.   If I can just keep this up someone might marvel at me one day and be surprised that I am in my 60’s!  Happy birthday to me!

 

Moi!

October 29th.   Warm enough to be at the beach.