Dog Days

 Dog days are hot happy lazy days at the end of summer, but this was kind of a winter version, what with the brilliant sunshine, lazy with the dogs in the park. Although there was frost on the ground this morning, I felt warm and snugly in my winter coat. Just googled dog days and got this song, new to me, Dog days are over by Florence + the Machine, and I'm listening as I blog this...

Anyway, Claire is on  a five day course of antibiotics, bronchodilators and expectorants, so she's not supposed to walk as much as usual. That's why we took the groundsheet and spread it out in the park after a short run, and she was happy to sit down and rest after the exercise. She was really happy to find pigeons as we entered the park, and after stalking them for a while she got fed up and sped off in search of more. All the while shogun Nobunaga was on the long lead too, either scattering the pigeons with a hell for leather charge,upsetting Claire's ninja approach, or pottering around after Claire in the autumn leaves, loping along with an easy stride thanks to his newly gained strenth.

When we spread out the groundsheet, he promptly cuddled up, quite the opposite of cool beauty Claire. The two dogs had a great time eating their first strawberries ever (maybe), and Nobunaga is learning to sit on command before he gets the sweet juicy mouthful. Sharing a punnet of strawberries between the four of us, they soon disappeared. Yummy!

We kept the walk short, and got home in the early afternoon, so I had some time to knit a wee scarf for Nobunaga while the two dogs lazed on the sofa and the Costco doggie bed respectively. I am so pleased it is finally getting used: getting ready to welcome Mallow/ Nobunaga, I was so happy to find a pattern to match our sitting room atmosphere and got quite a shock when neither he nor Claire showed any interest... The scarf is made from leftover yarn for a sweater I knitted for Tosh some years back. I kept the back of the neck slightly broader, starting with a central crochet motif, knitting to the left and then the right, decreasing under the chin where you tie the scarf, so that it doesn't get too bulky.  Now both he and Claire have hand made scarves, for a real family look.