christmas eve in sedona

my four legged co-pilot and I decided to head for warmer climes this Christmas.

so we packed up the car and headed south to Arizona.

making it a two day journey,

we stopped for the evening at a little hotel just north of Sedona.

apparently it suited bijou’s high level of accommodation standards:

  

well rested, we woke early and drove into Sedona for a sunrise hike:

out along the Boynton Canyon and Vista Trail,

the warm morning sun guided us through red rocks and cactus:

 

  up to the top of the trail where the ‘Vista’ stretched for miles in all directions,

with breathtaking views of the pine forest and sandstone formations:

 

though, clearly, bijou’s only thought was…

when’s breakfast?

 

here’s where she finds out the food is back in the car.

(isnt she fancy in her Christmas collar?)

after our hike, and since it was Christmas Eve,

we decided to go to church.

(going to the parking lot counts, right?)

luckily this one was easy to spot:

 

If you know anything about Sedona,

then you’ll know that it attracts a large New Age tourist industry.

this is, in part, due to several ‘spiritual vortices’ located in the area.

so… we thought we’d check out what the fuss was all about.

 

here’s bijou and I just before experiencing the Airport Mesa vortex,

with Sedona in the background.

so gorgeous!

  

while standing ‘in the vortex’ I can’t say I felt much of a difference -

save for, perhaps, an added sense of quiet and calm.

I took a self portrait with my iphone,

just to prove that nothing had changed.

looking the same as usual, no?

dogs of chiang mai, thailand.

another reason I fell in love with chiang mai, and thailand in general,

was the ubiquitous presence of dogs.

some were pets, well taken care of,

and guarding their owners shops:

and many others were just roaming the streets,

either in packs:

or, solo -

having a snooze during rush hour traffic:

these two were just the other side of the flower market.

guarding their turf.

I went the OTHER way.

so many sweet faces to capture.

look at the expression in this little girl’s eyes. 

love.

  

chien lunatique

we need one of these signs for our back gate:

my bats

a lot of people ask me… ‘why bats?’

heres your answer:

happy birthday bijou!

today is bijou’s 4th birthday! 

heres a few pics of my little lovergirl from the past four years.

puppyhood:

 

with her bestest buddy:

(who is looking none too thrilled thats shes creepin’ up on his spot.)

totally unfazed by the ‘no dogs on the couch’ rule:

birthday girl:

lazy day

sometimes when i meet atticus for a walk, he’s not really up for it.

this is one of those days:

atticus

this is atticus. he and i got to spend a lot of time together this spring.

isnt he amazing?

visit to CT

living on the east coast has its benefits… namely, proximity to family.  its a 6.5hr drive to visit my aunt, uncle and godson in madison, ct.  so, i popped up for a few days just after they had arrived back in the states from their 5 year stint in the UK.

while lazing about the house one afternoon, flynn and i decided to have a photo shoot with the doggies – maddy, hunter and bijou.  at first, they seemed less than interested:

   

but ultimately perked up to the idea:

heres flynn explaining to hunter that ‘upside down’ is probably not going to work for the photo:

so he decided to draw a flow chart of exactly what was to go on:

…and, of course, good doggies pay close attention:

and… finally…

SUCCESS!

lab rainbow:

whew. this photo assistant business is tough work. 

time for a relax…

dog show

bijou and i decided to go and check out the st patricks day (on march 5th???) dog show in alexandria this weekend.  she met some fancy new friends and asked me to share their pics with everyone:

   

heres the pope giving bijou his blessing:

most dogs are smaller than bijou, so i loved how these two great danes towered over her.  she looked up at them like… what the hell are those?? 

celebrating my buddy

i'll admit that this post is more self serving than anything; and was created, in truth, for my own healing purposes. however, i thought id share it with you.

today marks one year that buddy has been absent from our lives. i wanted to give a pictorial tribute to his amazing doggy life. i like to think that we gave him the most extraordinary one we possibly could...

after rescuing buddy's 5 month old puppy-ness from the shelter, he immediately fell ill to some unknown doggy sickness. in the ER for 4 days, with an IV drip, the vet thought it doubtful he'd make it past day 2. it was a tough few days for all of us, but with lots of love and visits - on day 4, we left the vets office ($1800 lighter) with this:

his favorite new spot was the B-E-A (short for beach... have to spell so as not to stir excitement before its time to G-O), where he spent most mornings of his life playing F-E-T (fetch), and going S-W-I (swimmies).


i'd like to think that buddy was pretty well traveled for a dog, including: san diego, la, hollywood, big sur, morro bay, pebble beach, lake tahoe, kirkwood, mammoth, mono lake, yosemite nat'l park. he went to baja, white sands national monument, saguaro nat'l park, smoky mt's nat'l park, to the outer banks, marthas vineyard, vermont, and countless places around utah as well.

*click pic to see where buddy went!

this meant for plenty of photo opp's for us...
(here, buddy... sit. stay. tee hee.)

*click pic to see us do 'CHEESE'

and then, along came bijou... his new partner in crime:

*click pic to see buddy with his little sister

buddy will remain in my heart for eternity. his loyalty and unconditional love were ceaseless.

*click pic to see mr handsypants!

a year ago today, buddy made his last earthly cruise down doggy beach. but in our hearts, we know,
that his soul remains there forever:

buddy

for those of you who didnt know buddy,
and even for those of you who did,
here are some of my very favorite pics of my 4 legged, aka:

buddy boo
the budmans
mr handsy pants
mr buddersworth

doing all the things he loved to do:

*remember - you can always click any
of the blog images to make them bigger!