The best part of Thanksgiving has got to be cold turkey sandwiches the next day, with cranberry sauce and stuffing (yes, that's bread within the bread, an explosion of carbohydrates that never fails to make me happy). Or maybe it's lying around, dog-like, after eating a big meal, with no expectations beyond passive digestion. A close second, however, is the chance to stop, get off the merry-g0-round of life, and spend some time being grateful for what we have. Every year around this time I like to write down what I am thankful for (actually, I do it several times a week but it always feels extra special during the Thanksgiving holidays.) I've posted two blogs with similar themes in the past (2009 and 2011), and it's interesting to go back and read what I've written. If you are not in Read More
Archives for November 2013
Great Books for Gifting
Books, books, books: Surely one of the greatest inventions of humankind. I love to give books as gifts, and last night I found myself pondering what books to give to which person for the holidays. That, of course, led to thoughts about great books to send the dog lovers that I know, and that led me to you, good reader, who is so often an excellent source of wonderful things to read. I'd love to hear your ideas about great books to pass along to dear friends. While pondering "great books about dogs," I thought it might be instructive to look at what others had to say; not just about new books but about dog books written over the ages. Here are some of the lists I found: First off, a dear friend sent me this link, from Mother Nature Network: Six Books Every Dog Owner Should Read. Of Read More
Travelogue III – Wales & Germany
So many photos I want to show you! Here are a few from our last days in Wales: We went back to Worm's Head on Tuesday, after a stunning 4 mile hike around the Three Cliffs area. We hiked down this hill to the beach and watched a beautiful sunset. We watched the sheep on the hillsides and enjoyed all the gorgeous views. You can't see the sheep in the first photo, but they were like Mountain goats... grazing on slopes that seemed impossibly steep. (Lots of limping I noticed; I am guessing that foot rot must be a big problem here given how damp it is.) As the light faded, a crow landed on this drift wood and I yanked my camera out of my pocket and got the shot an instant before she flew off. I'd put the camera away because we had a steep Read More
Time to vote!
Meanwhile, back at the office: It was an incredibly hard job to narrow all of the wonderful Wegman-esque photos down to just eight, but we did it. You can see a few below, but check out Trisha's Facebook page to see all eight and participate in the fun. Voting is open through Thursday, November 14. Just "like" the photo(s) of your choice! (WARNING: It will be very hard to pick just one!) You do have to have a Facebook account to vote, but it's definitely worth your while to look even if you don't have Facebook. Thank you to everyone who participated! Read More
Travelogue II – England and Wales
Ah, our first quiet day after arriving across the pond. We roared around the country last week, and had a somewhat hectic but wonderful time in Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Chipping Camden (a quick night off, just lovely!) and Bristol. Thanks to everyone who came out for the talks, it was delightful meeting you, especially the blog readers who came up to say hello. Special thanks to Pauline Appleby and the Association of Pet Behavior Counsellors who sponsored my talks and to Sandra McCune, the head of the Human Animal Interaction program at Waltham who gave us a day's tour of the facility. More on that later, suffice it to say it was a fascinating and greatly appreciated. Right now we're cozy in a Bed and Breakfast on the Gower Penninsula in Wales. Fittingly, there's a light drizzle Read More