My Hollie.

My Hollie & me.

I sit here today quite maudlin. Down in the dumps. Saddened by the fact that Hollie & I worked our last shift together yesterday. We had her farewell dinner last night & it was a terrific night, full of laughter, tears, joys, sadness & many funny stories of all our work days together.

What will I miss about her?

I will miss her laughter, her telling us all off when we are politically incorrect, her sense of joy in all things, her optimism, her intelligence, her sense of style, her belief in the good in all people, even when they do not deserve that belief, her love for her family & friends, her dog, her boyfriend Ben, her vulnerabilities, her love for me & my family, & her hugs.

Australian Briard Forum 2010 Calendar Preview

Here's a sneak peek of the winning photos.

Aren't they so cool? These photos have since been edited to PERFECTION and I'm taking them to the printers today. Hopefully the calendar will be up for sale in about 2 weeks. I desperately want them available for the Melbourne Royal (September 22) where a lot of our briards in Victoria will be shown, and will save the buyers on postage. I like to be able to hand them out personally to see how people react seeing their puppy in print. The winning entries are so yummy - great calendar again this year. The profit from the calendar sale is the main source of income for Briard Rescue, which is so important to have to help a briard in need unite with a new home as quickly as possible. Luckily it doesn't happen too often, but when it does it is so hard for all involved. It can be very stressful as you would imagine.

A bit of brightness for today

I love spring bulbs coming to life after a dark winter - not that this winter is in any way over with hideous weather forecast for our region over the next few days (high winds, rain, potential for houses to blow away). It is however a day of very blue skies and a mild breeze currently.

The colours of spring are just bright and joyous, and the smell of the jonquil is so delectable. What a happy morning. I'm downloading music, with my current favourite being Lisa Mitchell. The album "Wonder" is terrific - highly recommended. I'm also taking the Australian Briard Calendar 2010 into the printers at 12 30pm. It will be another great calendar as the photos are really top notch. We hope to sell them all to raise money for Briard Rescue - you may all buy one if you wish and they will be on Ebay - handy hint.

My friend Rachel.

It's funny how people just explode into your life in a kind of a maniacal thunderstorm whirlwind way, and just make you fall in love with them. You just can't help yourself, but you just find yourself feeling lucky to be part of their lives & grateful to be able to call them your darling friend, secure in the knowledge that you can tell that person absolutely anything & you won't be judged, just loved back in return.

This is my Rachel & me.

A new start.

I can feel spring tip toeing nearer, the days seem brighter & a bit more cheery. The grass is green, the bulbs are coming out. It all gives me hope of a brillaint new future, all sparkly & bright. So, to celebrate, I started a little herb garden yesterday, borrowed heavily from my gorgeous and inspirational friend Libby. She is always upbeat, funny, quirky and she lives her life to the full. I've learned a lot from her.

So to plagiarise her life a bit, I have replicated her herb pot. In the middle is a bay leaf tree, and surrounding that is coriander, parsley, mint & basil. It all looks so pretty and fresh, and I'm not sure that I won't kill it all off, but at this point I feel almost positive that I won't

Beautiful Camellias.

We have beautiful camellias don't we? These babies are enormous bushes (or trees), technically about 2 storeys tall, and they are part of a large planting of 8 camellia trees, all different colours, from deep red to really bright pink. They surround a small bit of decking, which I want to expand to go all around the house. However, if I do actually do that I will have to rip out the camellia trees, which totally sucks. What to do? I want both the decking and the camellias. How do I get to have it all?