happy (birthday) dog

249/365: rocco in motion

Wednesday was Rocco’s 1st birthday! so we squeezed in a quick trip to the off-leash dog park to celebrate. We are blessed with a cadillac of a park nearby – huge and forested with hiking, swimming, and plenty of running for our pony of a pup.

While he has been a challenge at home, he is universally good-natured at the dog park: he loves everybody. Rocco’s favorite thing is finding another dog to chase him. My favorite part is the way the terrain brings out the mountain dog in him. He’s genetically predisposed to navigate the steep, rocky hills with ease.

It is a happy place for him. And it’s contagious.

dispatch from up north

Since I have a lot of catching up to do, I decided to break with form and put all my daily photos from our week at the lake into a single post (mainly to spare my email subscribers a total barrage of Terra).

We had a great time, as always. Memories were made, wildlife witnessed, great food consumed. Cold beer, boat rides, fishing, a grand parade. It was pretty much everything you could want from a week at the cabin (except, maybe, another week).

180/365: rocco, nearly 10 months (happy dog)

181/365: goofballs (sawyer & zola on the boat)

182/365: bubbles, side lake 4th of july parade

183/365: wild daisies @ the sand pit

184/365: luna, international wolf center, ely, mn

185/365: bobber, pickerel lake

186/365: birch bark

family photo

It’s about time I introduce the newest member of our family! Meet Rocco.

20/365: rocco

He’s a 4 1/2 month old mix of Great Pyrenees, Spanish Mastiff, Polish Tatra and Maremma. He is working on getting very big.

07.23.13 crabby

I was looking for something a little different to photograph the other day but I didn’t have time to leave our yard. So, I decided to take Sawyer’s hermit crab – Hermie – out for a little portrait shoot on the sidewalk. Aside from trying to pinch my fingers off, and occasionally disappearing altogether, he was a pretty cooperative subject. Don’t you just love those beady little eyes?

204/365: hermie the hermit crab