This small Red Hibiscus has held on and survived being dug up by Maggie, replanted and finally re-located to a Maggie safe area. Now, 2 years later these beautiful coloured flowers appear individually, bloom for a couple of days, then shrivel up. We have to remember to water the plant regularly. A much larger, multi blooming Yellow Hibiscus thrives a few metres away.
tropical beauty
exposing bashful foliage
fiery red survivor
Maggie loves to go crazy in off lead dog parks and play with any dogs that are up to the risks involved. She is the Afghan pictured in every photo. The other dogs are various participants at different times of the year. From the top the season is Winter, Spring, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Autumn. No one has ever been injured by Maggie and she in return remains accident free. Can you spot the head of the third dog in the second last image? I apologise that not all are well framed however the action is so fast one just snaps away.
graceful dance
calls for summer change
slip that coat
Warmer days and dog play times meant something new for Maggie’s wardrobe. During our Melbourne Covid lockdown grooming services for dogs were closed along with almost everything else. As Maggie makes home grooming inpossible for Jill and I, ( we did try but could do very little) her coat became thicker and matted. This in turn meant she heated up when let loose in dog parks. Her groomers, (who always claim she is a little angel) had prepared for Maggie’s coat and indicated she would need clipping before they even saw her.
Having slipped out of her 2 kilo coat Maggie can again dance gracefully with her canine mates in the park.
creative resting
hibernation is over
action time awaits
on our bedon her bedon the couchon a re-adjusted couchat the vet
Maggie spends most of the day sleeping or resting. When she comes to life it is usually when we invite her to because of food, a promise to go for a drive to one of her favourite locations or go walking.
However Maggie also initiates action. At least once a day Maggie insists on a game of chase around the yard or a game of fight and throw selected toys in our living room. Then there are the times she intercepts the arrival of parcels at the front gate, (as shown in an earlier post) or she steals something and makes a run for outside where she attempts to eat or destroy it. Yesterday it was wool from Jill’s spinning wheel, the day before a slipper or it may be a toilet roll or a sock. She recently spent a night on a drip in an emergency animal hospital and a follow up day on a drip at our vet all because she managed to eat something unmentionable that caused a blockage and required a flush out of her bowel. Life is never boring with Maggie. Soon she will be 4 and as other posts have shown she lives a full life when she is not resting and is not yet slowing down.
A recent peaceful sunset at Ricketts Point. Maggie loves this beach as have all our other Afghan Hounds over the last 40 plus years. Maggie seems to look, reflect and even lose herself in imaginations when she is down here. There is also the prospect of finding a dead fish, or a piece of sponge. We always have to watch where her mouth is on the beach.
An art work guarding the bike/walking path near the Brighton Baths in Bayside Melbourne. A photography class I was in was practicing various techniques to use the full functionality of their DSLR’s. It is amazing what can jump out for a Haibun. from my photo library. This is my contribution to Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #284 Wicked&Mundane
There could be some creative takes this week. Have a look by hitting the link.
Two recent photos that sum up Maggie’s life at the moment. Sleeping a lot, or in this case also listening to the soundtrack of “Three Colours Red”. She wandered out from her bedroom to listen. The other image is from our last visit to our only secure off lead park. Here she free form plays if any suitable partners can be found.
Maggies inside toys waiting to be put away for the evening.. When she is particularly playful many of these will be scattered across our lounge and dining room, in the hallway, kitchen and on the couch. She has particular favourites for the mood she is in. Bigger ones are for throw and fetch, smaller ones are for close up push and pull and this gets dangerous as the teeth can be involved. Sometimes we can call a particular name and she may choose it, for instance there is Ted, Elk, Ratty, Parrot, Turtle Tom and Mick the Monkey. Most of this collection has been collected of the street, in car parks and parks by Charlie and now Maggie.
Since I took this photo she found and brought home a 1 metre stuffed snake toy. An observant reader will notice none of these toys have been damaged. Charlie and now Maggie respect their toys. What kids and parents leave abandoned in public is amazing.
The outside collection is another story. Destruction and damage are the norm. Again there is a collection of balls, as in many tennis balls, a Soccer ball, a football, a large rubber ball, a plastic ball and one frisbee. There was another frisbee that was her absolute favourite however this was finally totally demolished last week. Tug of war, chase and fetch with balls and frisbee and swing the old runner by the laces are favourite games. All outside games come with an element of danger to humans as jumping, hitting, grabbing prodding and twirling are involved. Again most of the balls have been found and brought home. The soccer ball was rolled up the street by Maggie using her nose. The football was found in a street in Toorak, our poshest suburb and proudly carried a long distance back to the car by Maggie in her teeth by the lace to the disdain/amusement/ confusion of many onlookers. She happily adits outside ripping apart or shredding her balls. Charlie found a cricket ball and Maggie is yet to break this one up. When all else gets boring Maggie finds a twig or breaks off a branch or pulls a pot plant apart or digs a new hole. Afghan Hounds are creative players.
art show favourite locked shed wake and wail poor horatio
Maggie visited our local municipal Art gallery twice recently. She enjoyed the first visit so much we had to plan a return. This had nothing to do of course with the free dog biscuits specially prepared in small packages handed out to all arty dogs . As you can see Maggie was actively engaged with the displayed works and did show a keen interest in the fate of Horatio the cat. This prompted a late entry for Ronovan’s haiku challenge Wake and Wail. Other contributions can be viewed at https://ronovanwrites.com/2019/10/14/ronovan-writes-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-275-wailwake/