Cameron's Adventures

A photo of Teika when we first got her popped into my peripheral view as I was working on my computer. It made me stop and laugh. Ah, I remember this photo and how I had fun with it. Teika looks so silly here and I couldn’t resist to put the cute little phrase that is so overused today.

This morning Rory and I went out for breakfast. However, we had to make sure that Teika was not going to try and chew through her bandages as she did on Friday. Thus, she needed to wear the lap-shade.

Of course, when we came home she was no where to be found. Both Rory and I panicked. To our surprise we found her downstairs in the basement. Ops… we both forgot to close the door going down to the basement. But why would she ever try to go down there? It’s difficult to go on the stairs so neither one of us thought she would even attempt let alone succeed in going. Yet she proved us wrong.

So lesson learned: Leave Teika in the basement when we are not home with the lap shade on so that she does not chew on her bandages… Just 1.5 weeks left.

Yesterday Rory and I took Teika to the vet for her bandages to be changed. After 45 minutes of waiting she came out with a different colored bandage. It was now green and instead of dots it now had hearts. The technicians changing her bandage said she was their “best patient ever”. Yes, she’s quite a heart grabber!

Here she is looking all proper and regal in her new bandage:

It was a good day yesterday. I was home with her all day and she got to sit outside in her favorite spot, relax and enjoy the sun that came out once in a while.

I was worried about Teika being left alone the first day after surgery, so I left work a little early to avoid traffic and check up on her. Good thing I did. She has had been trying to rip the bandage off by slowly chewing on it. Luckily she started at the neck down and not by her toes! Well, now we know and the next time we leave her home alone, she’s going to have the funny dog cone around her neck!

Since it was a sunny day on Friday, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon with her outside while we waited for Rory.

Yesterday Rory and I decided to go together and pick up Teika from surgery. It was a good thing we went together as it was great to have Rory there. And as it turned out, I’m not sure I could have picked her up and put her in the car. She weighs 70 pounds and though I pick her up and put her in the car all the time, it’s not an easy task. Add the additional challenge of only being able to pick her up from certain sides due to the surgery, I think that would have been an impossible task. But with Rory there, it was wonderful!

It was hard to see Teika all drugged up and walking funny. She looked somewhere between a bear (with her head blow while her eyes looked up and droopy) and an old grandma, that has lived a long time but her age is finally showing.

And so, our adventure home began in the heart of Seattle traffic. We left north Kirkland only to embrace the beautiful traffic of 520 (yes I am being sarcastic here). Luckily, the entire family was in the car and the sun was shining beautifully. As I believe with everything in life “with all bad, there is always good”.

My Teika pup was somewhat comfortable in the back of the car as we were driving home:

However, once we got home and she was able to drink some water (she was very, very thirsty) and spread out on her bed, she was much more comfortable and slept for 11 hours straight.

Today is another day and soon she’ll be all healed up and ready to run around and play with the dogs at the dog park.

Today I dropped Teika off to the vet for surgery. It is a very difficult day for me. I understand she’s a dog, but to me she’s special and very loved. You see, I have never had a dog before and when Teika came into my life I wasn’t sure what to do.

At first I was afraid of her (I always had a bit of a fear of dogs) but then when she looked at me with her big, gorgeous brown eyes, I started to melt. And soon, I became hers. Rory now jokes that it she was never his dog. That she was my dog from the very beginning…

Yes, Teika and I have a very special relationship. I did not realize that I could love someone so much and so unconditionally. Sure I love my parents, my brother, my husband and his family but they can all talk. And so it is easy to communicate with them. But with a dog, well, they can’t talk with you and so there is a helplessness that is born because of that and makes the love that I feel so very different.

I have told you all that Teika is my muse and I’ve taken hundreds of photos of her. It’s hard not to as she’s so gorgeous and calm when I’ve got the camera in her face. So for 9 years, I’ve photographed my dog, while running at the dog park, sitting in the grass and enjoying the sun and a good stick, in the car, in the water, in the snow, just about anywhere.

And I’m not done taking picture of her. That is why today’s surgery will be a piece of cake. She’ll be back at home tomorrow and recover quickly. I need her to get better because she is my puppy, my cute, cute puppy and I miss her!

Come home soon Teika pooch!

This past Sunday was a great day. The weather was decent not too hot and not too cold. Rory and I decided to start gardening. So we went to the store and bought some vegetable starters as well as a few seeds.

While I was planting, Rory decided to mow the lawn. It was in desperate need to do so. However, before the grass was completely cut, Teika decided to lay in the tall green grass filled with dandelions. A picture perfect moment.

My muse is my dog. She is the most beautiful dog and loves to pose. When she sleeps in her bed, she has a tendency to lie half off her bed. In the picture below, I used a wide angle lens and got really close to her in order to exaggerate her nose. I then decreased the colors of the photos and brightened it up so that I achieved a very bright and washed out photo. I just love this shot.

One amazing natural beauty happens after the plant has stopped blooming. Though I do not know what this plant is called, I find it’s beauty amazing. It is a very fragile element that I believe is shed from the plant. One has to handle it quite gingerly not to break it. Thus a few photographs to preserve it’s beauty were in order:

Easter Day in 2009 was not one might call the perfect day. That is in regards to the weather. I woke up to see that the sky was cloudy and it was raining.

Yet somehow I felt peaceful inside. I call my mother, father and brother on the phone and wished them “Christos a inviat” at which they replied “Adevarat ca a inviat”. I have also found out from my mother, that the Orthodox Easter is not until next weekend…

After walking Teika to Gasworks and getting wet on the way, Rory and I arrived at his parents for an early dinner with his family.

I was excited to see Carol’s flowers (as always) in the yard and decided to use this rainy, not-so-perfect-day for some macro shots of flowers.

And inside, the family was keeping warm with stories, great food, drinks, laughter, golf and good times.

And even the pets were having and relaxing on this slow paced day.

Of course at times, the pets were quite an entertainment especially as Rory tried to make Sunny look like an Easter bunny:

And Ron became quite the artist. Here are three of his drawings with remarkable resemblance of Sunny and Chester.

Ah yes, Easter Sunday, was a nice and relaxing day that even hummingbirds came by the window:

Happy Easter to everyone!