Joy and Optimism

I took Oliver to mom's house this weekend to play in their backyard. They are out in the country a bit more and since he is being so timid about the big snow, we decided to let him run off leash. John had several paths plowed and shoveled, so there were good places for him to run. He did briefly venture into the deeper stuff, but it was pretty tough going, so he turned around and headed back to us. We kept the loop leash on him just in case he decided to run off, but we didn't need it. He was a very good boy. I think he really enjoyed having three people outside just to play with him. We let him explore a bit, then we threw squeaky toys for him to fetch. He had a blast.

Joy:

When he finally plunked down in the snow, we called it a day. I took Oliver to the basement where the woodstove was pumping out the heat. Mmm, I really miss that. We cleaned the ice balls from between Oli's pads and I tried to pull off as many ice clumps from his hair as I could. He was slightly less than cooperative, trying to chew at them himself. Luckily he melted fairly quickly in the 80-something temperature.

One day last week it dawned on me that while I had taken all the other Christmas ornaments down and packed them away, I had missed the red, green and sliver jingle bell wreath. It pretty much screams Christmas, there is no way I could get away with it much longer.

So I dug around in the basement for something a bit more seasonally appropriate. I came up with wreath parts. None of the flowers I had could be successfully attached to the wreath I had, so I popped into the craft store one night, plunked down $6 and came home with a chain of flower garland. So much for seasonally appropriate. I think it is still a bit early for the dogwood blossoms, but that was the earliest spring flower they had. I was really drawn to the daisies, but that would be a bit much for February.

Optimism:

I still think it needs something, though. Maybe a bow? I know they sell that green velvet ribbon I used to make the loop in wider sizes. I'll have to check next time I am out. I also saw some cute little birds and while I'm not normally into that sort of thing, they were pretty sweet, all feathery. Yup. I think I want a little feather bird, like these sweet little chickadees.