Category Archives: pet photography

Our year in pictures

January: Annie, Winn’s first Rally title, fun times in the snow, training and Winn’s Canine Good Citizen title.

February: Snow!! Hearst Castle and indoor swimming.

March: St. Patrick’s Day, a VERY tiring grooming seminar and chasing chickens.

April: Kansas City with Maisie.

May: Newfoundland National Specialty, meeting new friends and attending a water training workshop with our Canadian buddies.

June: celebrating Maisie turning 5 and Winn turning 1 on our newly designated Annual Dog Birthday in honor of Annie, more ribbons for Winn and Therapy Dog training with Maisie.

July: 4th of July and water training with our friends.

August: Lots and lots of training fun and our very first Newfoundland Water Test (we didn’t do very well, but it was a great experience).

September: Studying hard for our final water test, which was our most successful and a great way to end the summer.

October: October baseball and Halloween, Maisie and I began our quest to find all of the murals in town.

November: Thanksgiving, playing in the leaves and frolicking in the first snowfall of the season.

December: The most wonderful time of the year!

weekly photo challenge: tour guide

We live in Evanston, IL which we think is a perfect location!  The border to the south is the city of Chicago and the border to the east is Lake Michigan.  The majority of the lakefront is open to the public with a walking trail, parks and beaches. We spend a lot of time there, all year round. The beginning of our walk always starts on the south end and we walk past two beaches, kayak and sailing racks and a playground.

The mid-point of our walk up the path brings us to a beautiful duck pond, the motorized boat launch and our favorite place on earth, the Dog Beach!

IMG_6379

If we don’t stop at the dog beach (a decision we never agree with), we find ourselves on the beautiful Northwestern University campus.  It has its own beach and sailing center as well as many spots to stop and enjoy the Chicago skyline.

If you ever find yourself in Evanston, we would love to show you all of our favorite places!

via Photo Challenge: Tour Guide

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transformation

IMG_0178IMG_4659IMG_0187

One year ago my best friend passed away.  The last time I walked through these woods, I was with Maisie and Annie and she and I had just finished a phone call.  I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know that I would never see or talk to her again.  I haven’t been back to these woods since then because they remind me of her.

Today I went back.  It was time to see this beautiful place again.  This time with Maisie, Annie and Winn.  My daughter also came with me and as we walked I was able to breathe the air, smell the leaves and think of my friend and enjoy this place once again.

I’m so thankful for this transformation in my heart.  The passage of time helps, but being with my three dogs and my lovely daughter made it easier to venture in and embrace the  natural beauty that surrounded us.

Enjoy other pictures of transformation here.

Our photo shoot

A year ago I started this blog primarily as a way to tell Annie’s story.  I didn’t know what more I would add, if I would have much more to say or even what other direction it might take.  I figured I would give it a try and then re-evaluate in a year, if I was even still posting.

Much to my surprise, I still find things to write about since as probably any pet owner will tell you, there are always funny moments and observations when you share your life with animals.   I’m enjoying this process of discovering my “voice” on the blog and decided I’d like to have a better picture on the main page that would represent who we are.  I also wanted to capture this special time of Winn being added to our family.  Newfoundland Dogs grow so quickly I knew it would seem like I blinked and her puppyness would be gone forever.

I loaded everyone into the car for the first time (they all fit, hooray) and we headed into the city to meet Liz Wallace a pet photographer.  I had met her last summer at a Newfoundland get together and I loved the pictures she had taken of Annie and Maisie.

IMG_1486

It was a beautiful day, there weren’t too many people at the park and Liz was so patient and gave each of them her undivided attention. Maisie has always been easy to photograph, Annie and Winn were more of a challenge because Annie stays close to my side when we are away from home and I had only just begun to train Winn on the basic commands.  NewfGirlsWeb-1NewfGirlsWeb-14NewfGirlsWeb-56

We did some walking:

NewfGirlsWeb-22

We found a shady spot to rest where Winn gave everybody kisses (she also did clean up duty bringing me a straw, a paper cup and a dead bird):

We had a few breaks for slobber maintenance:

We watched Winn play in the grass:

NewfGirlsWeb-33

Then we finished up close to the water:

NewfGirlsWeb-88

I didn’t know what to expect and gave Liz very little direction.  I really didn’t want to be in the pictures and wanted a group shot of the three of them.  She took some more pictures as we were walking back to the car, and I knew when I saw it that this was the one. I’m so glad I trusted her to just keep shooting!NewfGirlsWeb-124