Wanna Play?

I've been told that when a dog has this kind of stance, it really wants to play. Our dog Maggi often "bows" like this after she greets us. In this guest photo by Jeremy, Maggi has just been approached by another dog at the dog park.

Dog Park: Where are the dogs?

This is a photo of the dog park along the banks of the Mississippi River where we take our dog, Maggi, for a run. There aren't any dogs in the photo because it's difficult to capture them; all they want to do is sniff and run. On Monday when I took these pictures it was snowing with tiny flakes drifting and dancing as they floated to earth. It almost makes me appreciate winter, but despite this lovely (but cold and icy) winter wonderland I'll be happy to be going to Mazatlan, Mexico in just 19 days. Maggie remains behind with our son who is our favorite caretaker.

100 Strangers Project-My #1

My interest was recently piqued by Virginia's (Birmingham, Al) informal 100 Strangers Project, which she has modified from the original that is sponsored by Flickr. With her help and my own scouting around, I found some guidelines publicized at the formal 100 Strangers site. For some representative portraits and the guidelines, click here. Now I'm looking forward to meeting and photographing Stranger #2.

My first "portrait" is of Alex (Alexandra) with whom I spoke at the Minneapolis Minnehaha Dog Park that DH and I visited for the first time on Friday. Alex has been going there for about 4 years, or longer, and gave me some tips about the location of wildlife in the enormous park: chickadees and other birds,including an owl who is a regular visitor. The large woods is a perfect spot for walking, playing with dogs, and photographing the scenery: nature, people, and pooches. The dogs our Maggi met were of all sizes and breeds; Maggi ran with many of her kind for about 50 minutes...almost non-stop! What a treat and good exercise for us as we walked this spot that borders the Mississippi River. Hope to visit often to make new canine friends and to meet more strangers!

"On this shrunken globe, men can no longer live as strangers."
- Adlai E. Stevenson