2022 – October – Travel Mode, Patio Bear, Lakeshore Views, Nemesis, Sunset, Treat Times, October Swims, In the Upside Down
Travel Mode
This is a picture of gorgeous me in travel mode. The crate Mum got would safely contain a velociraptor so goodness knows what she was thinking when she got this for little ol’ me.
Apparently the crate would survive a car crash so I would be kept (reasonably) secure too. I feel that may say more about Mum’s driving skills than anything else and to be perfectly frank, it’s more than a slight concern for me.
I quite like it in here and there are often treats to be had.
Although recently these have been a little on the random and ‘too few and far between’ scale if you ask me.
Today we are heading out on our normal walk but sometimes we go further afield. I usually don’t get much advance warning of the longer trips but I am a pretty adaptable doggo when it comes to travelling and I cope well, if I say so myself.
Patio bear
This is me relaxing in the October sunshine.
I am not entirely comfortable and I will move in a minute but Mum is sitting on the chair next to me with a cup of coffee and I feel somewhat obliged to keep her company.
She can be quite demanding sometimes.
Lakeshore View
These are pictures of the lake at the bottom of the road.
Mum went for a walk round the lake with our next-door neighbour Karen. She didn’t take me which is just rude. Mum’s excuse is that there are usually too many other people / dogs out and it would just stress me too much.
Well, since I wasn’t invited I don’t know, do I? (Also, and this is just a teensy-weensy little thought, I feel it wouldn’t be me getting stressed out, would it?)
I will leave that up to you to decide.
Nemesis
Yep, there it is.
This is a picture of my arch enemy. Cheeky thing.
In fact there are 2 of them.
I always chase them but I haven’t been able to catch them yet.
But I will.
I can be pretty persistent when I put my mind to it.
You mark my words.
Sunset
This is a picture of me on a late afternoon walk.
The nights are now drawing in, as they say. It is also pretty chilly. Mum is all rugged up but I don’t get the option of a coat. Typical. Life isn’t fair is it? You can tell from the look on my face that I am largely unimpressed.
Also Mum has made me stand still for far longer than I actually want to, in order to take this picture.
The good thing is that I am in it.
So that counts for something I guess.
Treat time
This is a picture of me in optimistic mode.
I am expecting a treat.
I deserve one.
I know I do.
October swims
These are pictures of the river on a slightly breezy afternoon.
Mum and her utterly mad swimming friends went in. Seriously, why would you? It was quite cold and there was a bit of a current so it was hard work swimming upstream – plus against the wind.
Mum says it is great to be out in nature like this. Well, she (and her bonkers friends) are welcome to it. You wouldn’t catch me in there.
The bit where they get in is awkward and a bit tree rooty and not much chance to get aclimatised to the water – pretty much straight in at waist level. Apparently the language can get a bit rich. Getting out is worse as they have to haul themselves out using the tree roots and usually they get covered in mud. You should see Mum’s shins – they are black and blue from the bruising caused by scrambling out.
I have four leg drive so I reckon I would be ok.
Not that I am planning on trying you undestand.
Not a chance.
In the Upside Down
Obvs I am not actually in the Upside Down (Stranger Things) but I am pretending.
I have a pretty good imagination.
I reckon I am doing a fairly grand job of it.
Mum is studiously ignoring me.
I will keep this up until she pays me some attention.
As I may have mentioned before, I can be pretty persistent when I put my mind to it.
Mum eventually noticed and congratulated me on being upside down.
She is very hard work sometimes you know.
Saffron’s recommendations this month:
Music:
OK, so let’s sample a touch of John Mayer shall we? Adult (?) pop /rock – 7 Grammys and over 20 top 100 billboard hits over a 20-year span. And still going strong. In his own words, “I don’t make music for the club. I make music for the omelette on the Sunday after the club” — a time when we’re all the most honest with ourselves. Some great songs and some great lyrics.
Go for:
- Waiting on the World to Change
- Something’s Missing
- Gravity
- Daughters
- Last Train Home (brilliant)
- Who you Love ft Katy Perry
- Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
- Love on the Weekend
Reading:
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, published by Bloomsbury 2021 and shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (is there a Men’s prize for Fiction? Just curious).
From the back cover; it is about what happens when real life collides with the increasing absurdity of life accessed through a screen. It’s about living in a world that contains both an abundance of proof that there is goodness, empathy and justice in the Universe and a deluge of evidence to the contrary. It’s a meditation on love, language and human connection from one of the most original voices of our time. An utterly distinctive mixture of depth, dazzling linguistic richness, anarchic wit and raw emotional candour.
Film
Amsterdam – a 2022 period (comedy?) thriller based on an intriguing 1933 conspiracy based in the US. The film bombed commercially with estimated losses of $97m for the studio but Mum loved it. Let’s face it she’s weird. Starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington as 3 friends, a doctor, a nurse, and a lawyer—who reunite and seek to uncover the facts following the mysterious murder of a retired US general.
Go on, give it a try. It’s a cool and thought provoking film.
.