Deja Vu

For a photo group I am part of, today's direction was to take a photograph that was somehow related to "deja vu". I knew right away what photo would fit.

There's a stump atop Hug Hill that K always loved to prop her front paws on. Shyla never chooses to stand in that position, and I'm glad. Shyla is her own dog and I don't want her to be like K in every way. Shyla's choice is to jump up on top of the stump.

And then she'll charge toward me when I release her.

So, today, I asked her to prop her paws on that stump, like K used to do. It did give me a sense of "deja vu", with a very strong tinge of sadness that K has been gone for almost two years. It especially reminded me of the last few months of K's life when we'd relax atop Hug Hill on each day that she felt up to hiking there. On almost every one of those hikes, K would stand like Shyla is doing in the next photo.

Shyla's confident demeanor and her deep soulful eyes told me that she has a little bit of K's spirit in her, although Shyla is indeed her own dog.

Shyla is such a sensitive girl. She trusts very few people outside our family. But, when she decides that she likes someone, she never forgets it and greets them like a long lost friend every time she sees them.

Today, we saw a person on the trails who Shyla has met only once before but Shyla liked her right away when she met her a month ago. Today, when we saw her, it was one of the rare occasions that I had to remind Shyla not to jump on someone. People who don't know Shyla well have no idea what a huge compliment it is that she wants to jump on them! For me, it's a delicate dance because I want to encourage Shyla to like new people but I don't want her to jump...

With the glorious weather and Shyla's confidence when she met her new friend - it was another great day on the trails!

And guess who was at home, waiting for us after our ride? R, of course. He'd already gone for a run with the Runner and was happily snoozing when I awakened him for a photo. It's been too long since I've shared our handsome R with you!