Blogger extraordinaire.. NOT

Well blogger extraordinaire, I am not! Been 16 months since I blogged. Perhaps that tells you something of the pace of my life! A lot has happened in that time. Since I last wrote about dogs, my circle of furry friends has grown and is about to grow again!

In February 2010, I went to Helsinki to fetch my first imported dog. A beautiful Skye Terrier called Eeva. And in November this year I go back to Helsinki to fetch a male puppy of the same breed.

Some people may wonder what is it with these doggie people who eventually go to such extreme lengths to add to their furry family? What is wrong with getting a regular old R250 adoptee from the animal shelter. Well for me it is passion.

I discovered the Skye Terrier for all South Africans and I want to make this wonderful breed more accessible to more people. In just the same way that I wanted to share the joy we get from our English Springer Spaniels.

Passion is essential in something like this because you must have the best interests of the breed at heart and aim to produce dogs of a standard and type that improve the breed. You must also be passionate about your own dogs and ensure that they are top health. Sadly so many pet puppy breeders, breed lesser quality animals giving rise to all kinds of issues in breeds. Notably, temperament is always stated as one thing for pet puppy buyers to look out for. There are not enough good dog breeders out there. Professional dog breeders are sadly outnumbered by backyard, puppy mill type breeders who give no real thought to the dogs they are breeding.

So I have gone to extraordinary lengths firstly to find myself Eeva, a top quality bitch from exceptional bloodlines and then to find her a mate with right kind of credentials and although not mainstream bloodlines has sufficient in his lines to excite me about the possibilities of producing top quality Skye Terriers in South Africa. Dogs that will bring joy and love to the families that choose this exceptional breed of dog to share their life with!

How dogs teach us about love...

I have not been on here for a while! I realise that the last post was July 2009.... so much has happened since then and it amazes me how small changes in your life can have such a huge impact and take up so much of your time.

During August life, took on a pace of its own....Abbey one of my English Springer Spaniels was mated and at the end of October she delivered a litter of seven puppies. Of course they were ready to go at New Year, which is not the most convenient time for families to take delivery of a new puppy! So many of the puppies stayed a lot longer this time! You can imagine what life was like with four adult dogs and seven puppies. Once they were out of the whelping box, it was like having a band of bouncy happy marauders wreaking havoc from the moment they opened their eyes in the morning until they collapsed in a puppy pile at night!

Nevertheless it is wonderful experience, not for the faint-hearted, particularly if you do the math. 11 pooping bums, pooping two to three times a day! That is a lot of pooper scooping - honestly I think I could have started a fertilizer factory! But for me it is amazing to see the little personalities develop, match them to their new families and then when they leave, we expand our family further afield.

Each family that gets a puppy from us tends to stay in contact to some degree. Some more so than others. I miss the puppies every day after they leave and the departures can be terribly traumatic! But I console my aching heart with the fact that some little kids have acquired a new little friend and will be making memories that they will carry fondly into their adulthood in a very special place in their heart. These days will be remembered as some of the best days of their lives. Especially when it is their first puppy ever.

My first puppy ever continues to hold a special place in my heart. He was a black and tan Dobermann called Bruce. He started life as a the runt in a litter of 11. But he grew to be a large, strong and powerful dog, albeit with a runty size heart. Essentially he was a big baby!

What is this to do with reasons, seasons and lifetimes.... ? Well our pets are with us for such a short time in the bigger scheme of life, and they are definitely there for a reason, and definitely the memories you make with that dog stay with you for a lifetime. I remember school holidays in PE, riding bikes in the veldt, the sun seemed brighter, the air seemed cleaner, everything was free and there and waiting to be explored....and Bruce went everywhere with the neighbourhood kids. Never a leash in sight, he used to run joyfully alongside the bikes, tongue lolling out and when we reached our desintation and lay the bikes on the ground, he would patiently lie and way for the next big adventure.

The impact of our dogs on our lives is profound. Each subsequent dog finds its own space in your heart and with the passage of time, eventually your heart is bursting at the seams with all the furry friends in your life. With each loss, particularly the most traumatic ones, you tell yourself that I will never get another, I cannot bear the pain of loss and yet in the months to come...life seems so empty without the wagging tail and the wet kisses. I am focusing on dogs, as this is my pet of choice, but for some, it could be a bearded dragon?! So in that case, it could be hissed greetings, smelly breath and the kiss of a forked tongue...I digress.

I believe that dogs increase our capacity for love. The more you have over the years of your life, the greater your capacity for love and compassion. God made it so. Essentially man can be a selfish and destructive species, but for those of us who learn the capacity to love from dog, learn the art of forgiveness from a dog, cry when we witness man's cruelty and abuse to dogs, ultimately become human's filled with God's love, forgiveness and compassion.

I often think that there must be a reason that Dog and God have the same three letters. Look at the dog in your life today and think how much better the world could be if we could bestow on others the love, compassion and forgiveness our dogs so generously bestow on us. And always remember that the day the light goes out in your best friend's eyes... it is not the end, it is the beginning of a different season....your friend and your memories stay with you until the lights go out of your eyes.

Every bright side has a brighter side...

I have a friend whose daughter just got engaged, her initial reaction was "wonderful news"! However, when reality set in, she realised that she was "giving her little girl away to someone else". This naturally creates a sense of loss. It perhaps also plays on childhood fears of abandonment and rejection. Negative feelings can begin to surface even in response to something that is supposed to "wonderful" and a really exciting time in your life, as the children leave and make their own way in life.

My response to my friend was that "yes you are giving your daughter away, but she and your new son-in-law will eventually give you grandchildren...". "And what beautiful grandchildren they would be," she responded.

It is so easy in life to focus on the negative aspects of every development in your life, but if you look hard enough, you will find a positive to the situation, no matter how dire it may seem on the surface. I said to her then, "You see, every bright side has a brighter side!"

Every cloud has a silver lining and every silver lining has a brighter side. Every joyful thing in your life is not to be feared, rather rejoice in it and see how many more wonderful opportunities it unlocks.

Focus on the bright side and you will see that things in your life become brighter and brighter.

with love and laughter

Lorraine

Eliminate prejudice from your life...

This article reminds us all that harbouring prejudice in your heart feeds all that is evil in our world. Giving time to the negative thoughts and beliefs of others, does not nuture Godly attributes in our own hearts or in the hearts of others. Leading a life which provides us with happiness and sustenance requires us first to eliminate prejudice from our own hearts.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=72812

Why a day at the spa is worth every penny spent...

Many people can't see a good reason to spend what is often equivalent to a whole day's earnings at a spa, but having just spent my first whole day in a spa in the last year, I was again reminded about the many good reasons why including a spa day in your personal happiness routines is a physical, spiritual and mental boost never to be undervalued.

I have spent the last year working long hours, starting early each day at the platinum mines, living out of a suitcase in a travelling home only on weekends. While the work was not particularly stressful, it was demanding on my personal happiness routines in that I was so pressured for time that my connections to my friends suffered and my home surroundings felt strange and neglected. What time I had available on weekends, I focused deliberately on my partner, children and our dogs. What also fell by the wayside, was time for personal rejuvenation.

Having returned from this year long contract, I began by giving my home space my attention, bringing it back to being a cocoon of love and nurturing where I could again feel at home, I made contact with the many friends with whom I had little time to spend during the last year, I rejoined the gym and I devoted a whole day at the spa just for me. One could say the spa visit was a reward for the sacrifices made during the last year, but it was also more definitely an opportunity to take time out, reflect on the year and meditate on where to next.

The spa visit was duly arranged with a good friend of mine from the platinum mines. We would spend the day together participating in a number of treatments. For her, it was a way to take time out from the stress of her work and for me it was an opportunity to reconnect.. to begin to reestablish my personal happiness routines.

Our day began early, on a cold wintery Saturday, with me driving out to meet Julie at the spa in Muldersdrift on the banks of the Crocodile River. On arriving at 8:30am, I was pleased to see that Julie had already arrived from Mooi Nooi. She was curled up on a leather club chair in a patch of wintery sun, facing through the large expanse of windows with their view of the river with its myrid of waterfalls surrounded by a brown wintery landscape. Having not seen each other in a week, there was much news to catch up on and this we did over the welcome drink of ginger and honey.

The spa resides on the high banks of the Crocodile River which slices its way through the Gauteng landscape on its way to Hartbeespoort Dam. Its minimalist design - of mud coloured walls and large expanses of glass, which make the most of the spectacular views - blends into the surrounding landscape and its interlinked wooden decks rest lightly on the ground. A large photograph of Deepak Chopra with the proprietors is printed on canvas and presides over the reception area, signalling that our treatments will be more about spiritual self-awareness than just beauty.

The receptionist ushers us to the lockerroom, where we secure our belongings and we follow her out across the deck to the yoga studio. Here as the morning sun makes its slow climb into the heavens, we are to begin our day's journey with a guided visualisation and meditation.

The class is small, six women of varying ages and vocations,and, except for Julie and I, all are regulars and intensely aware and in touch with their personal life experience. As each shares the cares of the week, I am struck by the level of joy expressed by one over the experience of watching her pet goat give birth to triplets. Her face glows with the wonder of nature, its goodness and miracle and she shares how each day this week she has risen with excitement to see how the triplets are doing.

The visualisation takes us on our personal paths, through an African drumbeat night, resting alongside the warmth of a fire, a long climb through a jungle and then down and out to the expanse of the beach before joining with the spirit of an eagle to soar from the sky into the heavens. For Julie, who has never done any guided visualisations, the experience is somewhat surreal. The resonance of the bells and gongs used by the facilitator enhance awareness to the point that one can follow her silent footsteps and presence as she moves around us, the inert, inward looking figures.

After this calming sensory experience, we continue with an hour long yoga class moving through plank, downward and upward dog into warrior and tree poses. This concludes with lotus position chanting and the finale of corpse pose meditation.

From here, Julie and I make our way back to the central lodge where we order our breakfast and head off to change into our gowns and slippers and head into the welcome warmth of the steam room,which is followed by a salt scrub and jet shower. We emerge to find our breakfast set out in the Cafe del Soul restaurant. By this time, we are fully aware of the gnarling hunger and so we tuck into the delicious food. For me, scrambled egg with salmon and for Julie a plate of fresh seasonal fruit.

After breakfast we head off separately for a detox wrap, where we are each covered in detox mud and essential oils, wrapped in cellophane and covered in moutains of warm towels. Unable to move, and warmly cocooned this is the time to devote to personal relection. After 20 minutes, this is followed by a shower. Julie and I meet up in the lodge area where we sit and chat on the wooden deck overlooking the river. Our therapists come to call us when they are ready for us for the hot stone back and neck massage. We happily follow them to our next treatment room, where we take up our positions on the adjacent massage beds. Julie laughs at me during this treatment, as I squeal over the pain of the knots being worked out of my back, all the while insisting the therapist should continue as it is sore but good.

We return to Cafe del Soul at the main lodge and order a fabulous lunch and champagne, this time, we sit outside on the deck in the wintery afternoon sun. Although it is just after 2pm, the season makes it seem later than it is. We both comment that we can't believe how quickly the day is going by. We are again ravenous, despite having only eaten breakfast a few hours ago and the food seems to taste better than anything we have eaten before.

Our late afternoon sessions, see us again ensconced in a double room, where we remain for the balance of the treatments. Here we are pampered with a facial, manicure and pedicure, and my therapist for these treatments is my good friend Alison. These treatments are much more social as we trade news and jokes and stories. Because we are special guests of Alison, we are treated to "room service", as our champagne is topped up over manicures and pedicures. The day draws to a close as we return to the locker room to change back into our street clothes and head to the deck to catch up with the owner of Cafe del Soul - culinary maestro, Chiara - who is also a good friend of mine. We all sit on the deck wrapped in fleecy blankets to fend off the chill as the sun retreats for the day. We review the day with Alison and Chiara and catch up on some of Chiara's news. Just after 5pm we are ready to tear ourselves away.

We part with promises that we will not wait too long to repeat this wonderful experience. Julie and I make a pact to return in five months, when she is scheduled to begin her fertility treatments. I promise Alison, I will see her in two weeks time for a facial. I set the appointment for a Saturday, leaving time for me to repeat the yoga before my treatment. There are hugs all round and as I get into my car to drive home, I realise that I am so thankful for great friends, and the opportunity to spend a day of such unbridled quality time.

I am reminded again, that incorporating holistic health and a day at the spa into your personal happiness routines fortifies mind, body and spirit in a way that is not transitory.

For more information on this spa visit www.healingatwoodlands.co.za