Stop and Smell the Flowers

2013 has been a very busy and fabulous year for us.  So far, well at least after the spring semester ended, it hasn't been a stressful year, just busy.  Every small and big thing happening seems to come with a long list of detail to take care of.

I was reminded on our morning walk that sometimes in the middle of the busy times of life it's a good thing to just Stop and Smell the Flowers.

Beau and I take a walk every day and now that the Texas heat has arrived I've moved our walks to the morning so that his little piggy pads don't burn on the hot sidewalk.  One neighbor has a beautiful patch of flowers right next to the sidewalk and Beau always tends to stop and sniff the flowers.  In this picture though he finished flower sniffing and just sat down, almost as if to take in their glory.  By the time I got my phone out and camera app on he was ready to continue the walk, but this photo is close enough.

After we had walked a bit the revelation hit me that we can learn a lot from our dogs (really we learn a lot from them daily!) about life.  Stop, relax and enjoy this wonderful morning.  It truly is a gift.

Deep Thoughts:  "You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way."  Walter Hagen

Wordy Wednesday–Dogs Love to Swim!

Once again this post and picture is in honor of our upper 90’s weather.  Tomorrow they say we’ll be flirting with 100 degrees again.  *insert long-suffering sigh here*

 

This photo was taken earlier this summer while playing at the beach at the lake.  My grand dog is pictured – Xena – wearing her life jacket and I want you to notice the yellow ball at the top.  Xena, like most labs, just loves the water, running, swimming and BALLS! She had a BLAST running after that ball and was just exhausted after a while. 

Unfortunately dogs just don’t have the sense to stop running and chasing when they get worn out, so we had to intervene a bit.  No matter what we did with that silly ball she would find it, so finally Loni stuck it in the handle of the life jacket and it WORKED!  Xena went back to more leisurely swimming and her breathing returned to normal.

And of course you’ll see Miss B sitting on the back of the boat.  Rarely do I remember her sitting much while on the boat, so this must have been one of those moments of getting her second wind as well.

Oh how that water looks inviting right now!