Outdoor Girl

As if to prove my prior point about Annie...

Murphy's Day.

Annie Lives Well

Annie really knows how to live well.  She finds a way to make every day important and special.  While she still is adjusting to having someone younger rough-house with her, she really seems to enjoy the company and mischief they continue to get into!

I can learn a lot from Annie.  She always seems to be in a good mood, knowing when to cling to me, when she can wander off in her own independent way.  She is suspiciously like Murphy... coming in for love and yet still trying to have her independence.  I would say that is a dog who knows how to train her mother!

Murphy's Day.

Playing Tourist

Our friend Carol came out from New York, so we played tourist in eastern Washington.  Since Carol is a golf fanatic, one afternoon was spent bird watching, oh, I mean, trying to hit the golf ball.  Another afternoon was a trip to a fantastic winery, which gets tons of points in many of it's vintages, from Wine Spectator, Bourdreaux.  The owner is a forester/rock climber/d.j. for a small FM station/fun man from Louisiana and his wines are fantastic.

The winery is all off-grid, and the actual building is made from hand, stone hauled from my river, Icicle Creek.

It was a lovely day after a hard week...we also learned another friend lost Lucy, a sweet Yellow lab we would see many weekends while we ran in eastern Washington.  A long week last week.

Murphy's Day.

Memorial Weekend

Flowers at Grandparent's grave.

Thoughts about others who have died.

We're off for the weekend with a friend from New York.  Cherish the moments.  Life...well, it flows like a river.

Murphy's Day.

Free Range Annie

Over the past weekend we were able to get out of town.  And the girls played, romped, and enjoyed the lack of "cityness."

Most of all, Annie enjoyed being out.  Free range.

It's not just a lab thing, it's a dog thing.

Murphy's Day.

"New Life"

Willa really is here, with Sage and Annie, because of Kol.  I mean, she was born several months before I met Kol, but she is "here here" because of Kol.

Willa is not at all like Kol.  She is a puppy.  Full of herself.  Not at all well behaved.   But she loves people and firmly believes she is part of whatever her pack is doing.

And so we hurt.  There is a black lab here who wakes up, as we said, every morning thinking life is all new.  She also knows there are tears.

Murphy's Day.

Kol

My very good friends, Les and Ann, have a Black lab.  Kol.  I met Kol last September.  In fact, even though Les and Ann are great friends and I have known them for a long time, I also just "met" them in person last September.  Kol was the greeting committee as I pulled into their driveway along a gorgeous creek in the Oregon coastal range.  How we became friends is a testament to building community, friendship, trust in an era when those things have long been forgotten...

But back to Kol.  I spent some time with this wonderful dog.  Our time together was a celebration of friendship: Les, Ann, Richard, and myself.  Kol was part of that whole time, wagging his tail as we sat down for a marvelous dinner, going for a run in the morning with Les and me, more "tail wagging" as we ate an amazing breakfast.  He watched, listened, and indeed was part of this group of friends getting to know each other in person.  Kol, indeed, was part of the group.  Labs are like that.

Several weeks ago Les told his friends that Kol had lung cancer.  We all waited, hoping the news would get better....

And yesterday, Kol left us.  Part of his spirit, I think, is in Willa.  One of the reasons I got her was the time I spent with Kol, watching this absolutely gorgeous dog, I decided Willa needed to be part of this family.  Our hearts ache for our friends.  All of us, all of us, know this loss.  Yet, because we know, it makes it even harder, I think.  These dogs who give us their all, who trust us, who rely on us...and when they are gone, when they have given us everything they had, we rumble around in the silence wondering how we can wake up to the next day.

The one thing I learned from Murphy is her love of life.  She woke up every day, every day, expecting life to be as good as yesterday.  I don't know if it is a lab thing, or a dog thing, but Sage, Annie Oakley, and Willa are the same way.  Every morning they are in the saddle ready to enjoy every moment.  And, that is what they expect of us.  Even if they are not here, they leave us the legacy of life.

Our hearts ache.  We have lost another great one.  Kol.  His light shines on.

Murphy's Day.