Jack’s Walk

One of my neighbours has this small pink glass flamingo in their front garden that I am absolutely smitten with. I call her Blondie because she has a Heart of Glass and she lives on one of our evening walking routes so we see her often. Usually, Blondie’s taken in over the winter, but this year the poor wee thing has been left out all alone to fend with our Canadian winter. She seems to be holding together well enough in the cold, but I don’t think she’s happy. Flamingos need sunshine (we haven’t had any for weeks) and warmth (we’ve had none of that either) and poor Blondie is probably dreaming about warm, shallow waters on tropical beaches and wading with friends. We have that in common. Anyway, Jack likes to gives her a good nosing and I always say hello with the hope that we send a bit of warmth into that cold heart of glass.

Jack’s Walk

I occasionally put a triangle scarf on Jack to accentuate his rugged good looks. Sometimes I even put him in a coat if the weather is seriously cold or heavily raining. What I don’t do, however, is dress him up in outfits or costumes. Jack thinks such things are unnecessary and undignified. His sister, Lucy, used to love being dressed up. She’d pout when it was time to take off her coat or her scarf after an outing and on Hallowe’en she’d prance around in her costume and pose for pictures. Lucy was a comedian and she loved anything that made people oooh, aaah or laugh. Not my Jack, though. Jack is a straight man and he does not like to look silly so when I recently attempted to take a few photos of him in a Santa hat he made his displeasure known. I gave it my best try, but Jack was having none of it. Click-through if you’d like to see a few shots of Jack’s increasing frustration. (Sorry, Bubba. I won’t do it again.)

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Jack’s Walk

I think this sad little group of mushrooms looks like Can Can dancers who’ve fallen and can’t get up. Or maybe ballerinas in tutus twirling on their heads. Or even quite possibly like the petticoats of fairies bent over to touch their toes. Whatever the case, Jack and I stopped to say a cheerful “hello” before continuing on our way.

Betty Boob

I’m quite used to seeing beautiful flowers in our inbox from DavidinOz so this not-floral submission by him caught me by surprise and made me smile out loud. Thanks, David.

In addition to roses, David Ruston also collected cars. Here are a couple of oddities.

The pink tractor, Betty Boobs, is used at functions / events raising money for breast cancer research and support.

The Yella Fella is a Lightburn Zeta, designed and build in Adelaide by a company best known for washing machines and cement mixers. Fewer than 400 were sold as it hist the market at the same time the Morris Mini arrived in Australia and mini mania took hold.

Cheers, David

Jack’s Walk

Jack and I came across a small spaceship this morning. Jack barked at it a few times, but there was no response. We decided that the aliens must be out reconnoitering and tip-toed up to the craft. It was smaller than it first appeared and there were multiple antennae on top that were connected to a central axis giving the ship a look similar to a satellite dish. The body of the craft was of a soft, malleable metal unlike anything I’d seen before. We examined the exterior and could find no doors, ports or knobs that would allow us entry. Knowing that the aliens were out here somewhere, Jack and I decided to leave, but we kept a close watch for the rest of our walk and found nothing else of note. (Alright, it’s really an umbrella, but Jack and I like to pretend we’re on grand adventures)

Jack’s Walk

It’s a beautiful sunny day here at last and what better thing to do with Jack than take the boy swimming. He won’t be able to swim for a few weeks because he’s having a big fatty lump removed from his right armpit tomorrow. The water level at the lake is quite low now. This is a lake created when a dam was built in the 60’s and the water level varies depending on the season. In late spring and summer the lake is full, but come autumn they let a lot of water out which creates this sandy beach. It’s lovely to walk on, but Jack doesn’t care about the beach. He just wants to swim. I’ve included a few photos of Happyjack© loving life (sometimes the bad photos are the best ones) and just for good measure I’ve added some pretty leaves in the sun. After all, it’s Tuesday and that’s the day we celebrate trees around here.

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Jack’s Walk

It’s an overcast and dreary day and cold enough that I wore my winter coat this morning. I’ve been struggling a bit in the colder weather so today I took Jack to the forest. It isn’t any warmer there, but the leaf swooshing makes me happy and so does watching Jack romp off-leash. He loves to chase the chipmunks and squirrels and because he’s slow I never worry about him actually catching something. Wait, he did catch something once. A rabbit, but Jack was laying down on his own front lawn just looking in wonder at the baby bunny when the poor thing bolted and ran straight into Jack’s mouth. Jack spat it out and the two of them sat there for a moment looking at each other before I shooed the bunny away. I swear that’s a true story.

Slavic Saturday

I was actually thinking whether this would be better suited here or in the “Behind the Iron Curtain” series and I decided for putting it here.

Former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic has had a great tradition of stop-motion capture movies and one of its pinnacles was a series of short stories for children that was so succesful that it runs until today. The series started the same year I was born, and one of my favourite episodes “Tapety” (Wallpapers) is just three years younger. The series was originally named “A je to!” (It’s done!) and was aired in the evenings as a bed-time story for children.

You can enjoy this series no matter your native language since there are exactly zero words spoken. If you spend bing watching multiple episodes, feel free to blame me.

Reefer Madness

I’ll just leave this here while I head to the store for munchies.

Jack’s Walk

October roses are always a welcome sight, but this bright pink beauty is the last one left in my garden. There are no new buds left and the plant is getting ready to go to sleep for the winter. Sometimes I think it would be nice if I could sleep through winter. I have enough of a fat pad to survive hibernation for a few months and it might be nice to avoid the days upon days of darkness and cold. On the other hand, I would also miss Jack pouncing like a cat into snowbanks and making happy faces full of frost. Winter is Jack’s favourite season. He loves the cold and would stay outside for hours if only someone stayed with him. He has been known to crawl into the creek when it’s full of floating ice and drift downstream with a look close to ecstasy on his face. Jack’s fur is very seal-like. Only the outside hairs get wet and even when he’s been in the water for an hour the downy hairs below stay dry. He also has a bit of a fat pad and a big buoyant chest and, like all labs, his feet are webbed. The boy is built for swimming in the cold and he loves it.

Ah…that’s better. See what I did there? I just gave myself a reason to look forward to winter. I promise I’ll share pictures so you can have a reason to look forward to winter too.

Tree Tuesday

A while back I recall a conversation in comments where rq mentioned that the trees dance when no-one is looking. Well, for this Tree Tuesday Lofty has found a tree that’s dancing when everyone is looking. Lofty says,

Another Eucalypt from my favourite bicycle riding area, it’s “doing the twist”!

That it is, Lofty. What a marvelous tree. Thanks for sharing.

Panda on Pause

David in New Zealand has recently been to the Adelaide Zoo and he’s sent us some very adorable Giant Panda pictures. David says:

This is Funi, one of the two Giant Pandas we have. They’re on loan from China as part of the breeding programme, but so far, no cubs. Wang Wang (yes, he’s the boy!) was hiding, but Funi seemed quite comfortable sleeping here. I have had days like that, but I didn’t always choose to sleep on the rocks.

Well, that does look like a heavy head to hold up. Thanks David.

Itsy Bitsy Spider (for real)

Wonderful photos and a tongue in cheek title from Nightjar, who says,

Prompted by Charly’s post “Itsy Bitsy Spider (Not)”, here is a really itsy bitsy spider I found on one of my zinnia flowers. Not bigger than a typical ant, I only spotted it because it is totally not camouflaged.

Nope. Definitely not camouflaged, but certainly very, very small. Good eye, Nightjar. Thanks for sharing.(click for full size)

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Jack’s Walk

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Betty Boob

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Jack’s Walk

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Slavic Saturday

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Reefer Madness

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Jack’s Walk

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Tree Tuesday

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Panda on Pause

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Itsy Bitsy Spider (for real)

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