Then, Now, and Always

Our three Shelties give us delightful challenges, because they are thinking dogs, and it is all too easy to be outsmarted by our dogs. We love them to bits, and they love us right back.
But it is our Sheltie/Eskie mix who has put us on the sharpest learning curve. She was the classic "free to a good home" puppy, and when we saw her in the cold, damp, cluttered woodshed, we couldn't leave without her. Right from the beginning, she was hell on paws, and she has stayed that way for most of her nine years. It is only recently that we have finally been able to bring out the wondeful dog we knew was hiding under that tempestuous, beautiful blond fur. When an animal comes to live at Sheltie Hollow, they are here for life, and one of the main reasons for this is the love and trust these animals have for us and place in us. Lily loves me, and absolutely adores my husband. The look she gives him says more clearly than words, "Dear master, I love you, Then, Now, and Always."

Where Are The Ducks?

When July gets hot and unbearably humid, I think back to the times I spent beside the ocean in Nova Scotia. I stayed with friends and each morning over a bowl of fresh picked raspberries, I would look out over the Atlantic, just a few hundred yards beyond the edge of the sloping lawn. The light was cool and pearly and the air was fresh and full of the tang of the ocean. Sometimes fog would roll in and blanket the area along the shore with mystery. I absolutely loved it.

Let me introduce you to the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, a native Nova Scotian who approaches duck hunting in a unique and creative manner, luring them to shore with his prancing and playing. In my new watercolor painting, this Toller is standing on the shore of a foggy inlet, wondering "Where Are the Ducks?"