Beauty Around Me

It seems as though beauty is everywhere one chooses to look. This image is a welcome relief from images around us in the news. A wedding is time for celebrating love and beauty.

Dog Lake

This painting by Julie Bowland typifies the swampy cyprus ponds of the north florida pineywoods. It graces my living room.

Will We Find Curly?

I received a call from a nice lady at North Florida Community College today and she said she thought she had seen Curly. I shot over there and several other ladies on campus described him and another dog. I found the one that wasn't Curly and I was so sad. However, the Highway Patrol called me tonight and they had seen Curly last night in the same general vicinity and had shooed him out of the road. I think Ken's Barbecue had fed him but they also recognized the other dog and thought they had fed that one. I believe he is over there and that maybe someone will catch him and read his tags. The FHP said he had a collar on and looked like a lab. I can't wait to go back tomorrow. It will be my fourth trip!

curlydog, won't you please come home?

This is one of my favorite pictures of curlydog. It has been difficult to consider life without him so I have tried to keep memories at bay. Now I am thinking about how much I liked him in such a short time and how much fun he was. He would come inside from the yard and rocket onto the bed almost from the door. We all liked to hang out in my bedroom.

If I sat on the floor to watch Sam Elliott movies he would bite my hair ties and nibble my earrings and devil me with his licks and nips. He loved to get toilet paper from the bathroom and shred it up! He loved his black kitty that I got him after he tangled with Sammy, my friend's black and white kitty that he sniffed inquiringly one day. With "his" kitty, he could be boss! I put his toys in a bin next to his mat in the kitchen and he quickly learned to get one out when he wanted to play. He barked at dogs and horses on the TV and would watch until they left the screen. He loved to walk on the Greenway and I feel sad when I think about rushing home to walk him before the sun sets and realize he is not here to walk with me.

When we discovered he had gotten out of the back of the camper, I went back twice to Madison slowly searching Highway 90 both ways. On my second trip to Madison I took one of his favorite squeaky toys and his pictures and asked everyone I could find if they had seen him while I squeaked his toy. I had the local radio station put out a lost dog PSA. I put and add in the Madison paper. I called the DOT and all the shelters between here and Madison. I went to the Leon Shelter with his pictures.

Then I got too sad to search. Searching is so sad. I believe he is alright and that someone who wanted a nice well-trained pup has decided to keep him. He is still around, I can feel it.

Tonight I read a book called "Angel Dogs: Divine Messangers of Love" by Allen and Linda Anderson. The stories were so sweet! And I feel so sad that I was entrusted with curlydog's life and I didn't hold on to him tightly enough. Someday I'll learn to hang on tightly to love, again.

But hey curlydog, you forgot some fleas! So come back! Please please please...

Nathan and Curly on The Suwannee

Curly sunbathes in the early Autumn sun.



Curly asked to be taken to our favorite swimming spot on the Suwannee. He jumped in the kayak so we took this picture. After this outing Curly decided to take another vacation. We hope he sends a postcard and we miss him terribly. We love you, curlydog!