Photodump #5 (And an adorable puppy!) ;)

Random summer fun -- well, fall fun! ;) Hahah, Tempe is growing like a weed... she also has her official name now - Samhain Silver Lining at Stonelight.

Also, I am totally thrilled to announce that we've got half of a new addition to the family. ;)

I am so delighted -- I absolutely adore these wonderful dogs and I absolutely adore their owner.

Meet - Galena's Golden Rule -- "Ginger" who I am totally head over heels with -- and will co-own with her fantastic breeder (and awesome friend) Nancy, of Galena Cardigans. She's a Nugget daughter (and he's one of my favorite guys ever, handsome and sweet) out of her girl Kate (who I also adore!) Ginger's going to live at Nancy's house -- which is just a short hop from mine, haha.

I get to socialize her and help show her ...  bonus points is that she gets to tire out Tempe (if anything CAN tire out Tempe) and then go home. ;) Awesome. More bonus points that I can photograph her. ;) I'm working on my Tri-color skills. ;)

To me... it's amazing, I had all these years in Shepherds, and I'm only in my third year of Cardigans. And I can say that I have learned more, laughed more, delighted more, and made some of the best friends I ever, ever have had, showing dogs or not.

I sure can't thank Nancy enough for this opportunity. Also for having that darn song stuck in my head again. ;) Darn you, Burl Ives.

True facts:  I totally watched the heck out of Rudolph as a kid!  (I also  wore a set of cardboard antlers and taped a red paper nose on my nose for nearly all of December until I had a raw nose, hahah. There is photo evidence of this, but you'll just have to take my word for it, because it's sure not going up here, hee!  ;) )

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.

Patience and Sticks...

A friend of mine is babysitting a puppy for the next week. In an effort to tire out the puppy, she asked us to come up and play with him. The puppy wasn't sure it wanted to play at first, he was a little overwhelmed...




Then he scooted for other cover. The cover is ah, old and ancient and tottered away to go lie in a quiet part of the yard away from whippersnappers using him as a shelter.



But then he realized that Simon did want to play and wasn't going to eat him, so he attached himself to Simon.


Literally attached. Simon has way too much patience, haha. Poor Simon.

Still chewing!

But it was okay, since we'd gone out earlier and played on the backtrail in mud puddles and filth. Best part of being Cardis, is that they're fairly wash and wear!

Mmmm, water! Caleb was like, wow, this is like the pool only flowing into my face! Awesome!

Of course, then Simon found a stick... But then Caleb's avarice rose, and he too wanted that stick. Not to fetch though... to chew apart. Simon knows that's all Caleb does with sticks and he wasn't about to surrender his game of fetch to chompy Mc Destruction!
Needless to say, the stick is uh, no longer with us. ;) Simon found another stick though, so it turned out all right in the end.

Weekend photography...

I've decided I really enjoy taking photos of other people's dogs. It's more of a challenge than my own; I know how to shoot mine for their best sides, so to speak. I know how to adjust colors and backgrounds to make my dogs pop out and stand out. However, since the entire crew of Dune Cardigans and Aurigan was at my house for the Bremerton show, I'd been itching for a chance to practice my photography on someone else's dogs. You can see some of the pictures I took for Dune over on her blog. :) I love her dogs; they were so well behaved. Hunter was really a pleasure to work with - I think with a bit of practice he'd pick up modeling as one more career in his resume!

Of course, the highlight of my photographer's day was how much fun it is to photograph puppies. They don't sit still much. They don't have to look at you. But they do all these freaking adorable things and you hope you're fast enough to catch it on camera. I'll let Dayl over at Aurigan share most of them... this litter is gorgeous... but I have to share a few of my favorite shots of these beautiful pups. The photographer in me is thrilled with them.

One of the pups from Aurigan Cardigans... apparently Matt has good taste for girls. ;) Hey, I knew that. I also know he'd dump me for that pretty face in a heartbeat, sigh.

... Albany next weekend. If you see some crazy person ringside with a camera and a red-brindle dog, hahah, that's probably me and Caleb!