Calico and Merle

     Simon loves his Sophie. Sophie loves her Simon. I just love how their patterns mingle when they sleep together... aww.                                 

Simon in the beach grass...

 And of course, I can't leave Caleb and Tempe out... ;) 

Introducing - Temperance!

Well, the Cardi's out of the bag! And I cannot thank Kim and Mark of Samhain Cardigans enough for entrusting us with this wonderful, amazing girl. I know I didn't say anything, but I... well, I'm one of those people who jumps over cracks and uh, grins at black cats. Wait... or something.

Meet Temperance (Tempi!) (Samhain Stonelight's Silver Lining)

This is Simon and Caleb's new little sister... and my new show/obedience puppy...

I am head over heels, she is SMART (like her fantastic daddy Casper, who I LOVE. I love a working dog, it's the GSD in me still after all these years) and of course, she is gorgeous. And she's sweet and gentle like her mom Polly - the two of them are just such pleasant, well adjusted dogs to be around.

I cannot believe that this is our wonderful, wonderful puppy. She's confident and playful, smart a a whip. She walked in, had a few seconds of "wow... there's a lotta weird cats here" and then she just rolled with the flow. Our house is busy and animal crazy, and she's just been romping right along with the rest of them like she's lived here her whole life. The boys love her -- she plays tug like Simon and chase like Caleb.

I am SO excited about getting her into the ring... Four more months, four more months...

Thank you, thank you again, Kim and Mark. I cannot thank you enough... I keep looking at her trot and pose and eat the cat toys, (ahem) and going, she's in MY house?

Sophie is unamused. ;)

Sophie's day...

Mighty hunter, who makes me yelp when she leaps out of the bedsheets, claws bared, teeth gnashing.



Fabric mouse terrorist -- poor little creature never stood a chance.



Of course after you finish your killer instinct moments of the day, Sophie must wash between her dainty toes...



But... sometimes even the calico terrorist gets caught on camera doing something sweet. ;)

Lazy Daisy Sunday

Just a hint of sunshine...

But hey, it's starting to sort of almost act like spring, and it's nearly summer. What's up with that, Pacific Northwest.

Putting it into perspective...

Putting it into perspective: I wanted to shoot dock photos.

Simon wanted to go to the beach and roll in things.

I have a lot of photos of him looking bored, and this one, which I instantly loved because I said, "Okay, I give up, wanna go to---"

Zoom!!!! Yes, yes I do, see you at the bottom of the pier!

I love this dog. He's just so smart, he makes me laugh every time.

The Stages of Fetch

Simon's a pretty awesome fetcher. Of course, we had to run and fetch the ball twice before it got swept out to sea, whoops! ;)

Thanks so much to a friend of mine who worked with me on this - I've never done anything like this before, and I think it came out pretty cool!!! :D They're an amazing artist who is working on a gorgeous graphic novel. I know a bunch of us are kinda fantasy geeks here -- Cardigans and geek just seem to go together, haha, so... I'm going to link the page! The Winterkings. Enjoy!

I had no idea how to put it together, and I learned a lot about Photoshop! Heh. I can do photos, but man, forget that layers and moving thing, yipes. ;)

Sometimes it's the photodographer...

Who gets caught totally enjoying the day with awesome friends, adorable puppies, and gorgeous sunshine. (I also can make the joke I'm the token brindle out in the sea of blue.)I actually love this shot of me for some funny reason - you know I'm in the grass and probably have puppy poop somewhere embarrasing, but hey, I'm good with that!


Photo courtesy of Mark Thorson --

I had a great time - but I always do, talking dog with Nancy and Kim and Mark. It's funny... I had all these years in Shepherds where I wasn't part of the cool kids, but Cardigan people ARE the cool kids, and I... I just enjoy a community where we worry about each other. Where we know each other. Where we know our dogs by their call names and love other people's dogs and admire them as much as our own. Where the dogs are delighted to see you and know you and crawl into your lap.

I think I should be paying all these people out there with puppies to photograph their puppies; it teaches me so much about lighting and framing... :) I LOVE photographing puppies, it's such a neat thing to watch them, you have to work fast and you have to work quick, and you try to get those shots that are downright adorable. You can see the shots that I took on their blog Samhain Cardigans

Also, hahah, I love the little face staring at me from over her brother. "Hey, crazy lady down on our level, get my best side!!!"

Without these little short dogs, I wouldn't have gotten into photography so much, and I LOVE it. It's a hobby that I can relax at, and I love taking the dogs out for photo sessions... it lets me spend so much time with my crew that's fun for all of us.

Man, Simon's just a muscle-bound critter. Not the best pics, but holy moly does he gets some serious air.