A couple nice sunrise shots on a cold winter morning

First I thought all the dogs looked nice with the sun coming up behind them:

A little while later Ivory and Roux were on the trail, shrouded in fog from their breath:

Happy New Year 2010!

Just back from our first hike of 2010 - it was superb! Max gave us a special New Year's treat - he did the entire walk off-leash for the first time in any of our lives! And hopped back in the car at the finish! Many and sincere thanks to Ivory, Mackey and Roux for helping him stay "on the path" - literally and figuratively.

The picture may not be regarded as lovely, unless you cherish the sight of the James River in its infinite number of looks, as we do. What a wonderful way to begin 2010.

I'll also for the first time (I think) post a tiny video from this morning. My videos will improve, but as you can see they have lots of improving to do.

All best, and have a superb 2010,

Jay and my four legged family.

PS Read on below this video:

(Hear the Pileated Woodpecker off in the distance?

Roux lopes past, Ivory saunters along, Mackey stands

sentinel ahead, I think looking at Max in the woods)

Here's the PS: I have many times read a book called ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach, 1977. In it he posits that if you need to read something, you'll read it somewhere, and you don't have to look for it - it will come to you. Perhaps that's true, perhaps not. There are also coincidences.

Anyway, I'm currently reading another book called The Miracle of Mindfulness by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh, 1975, more or less. You can read the full text on the web at:

The Miracle of Mindfulness

So I'm taking a break from working on this blog entry and on my break I'm waiting for that particular video to upload. And I was reading that book. And the chapter I'm up to - seriously - is

"TWO: The Miracle Is to Walk on Earth"

And these are the words I read:

"People usually consider walking on water or on thin air a miracle. but I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or on thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle."

So, hey, what can I say? Happy New Year!

More snow dogs at PP:

My car yesterday a couple minutes before I dug it out and drove it away:

Sun coming up at the river:

Dogs walking toward the rising sun, including (l-r) Roux, Max, Tyler:

Fantastic snow hike

Thanks for taking the great pictures Alex!

With Ivory and Max by the river

Max, Ivory and Mackey with me in the woods

Hiking at PP on a pretty December morning

With my little "family" at PP this AM

Finally getting cold enough for enjoyable hikes; 30º when we got out of the car this AM. The dogs just have tons of energy, even Ivory. The river's around 9', so pretty high. But a gorgeous morning. I also met a nice person to take our picture. You never know when you ask someone what you're going to get. But this girl ended up taking seventeen shots! They were all beautiful; it was difficult to narrow it down to this one but I liked it a lot. Max is learning to wear his coat for cold weather camping. Great start to a great day. Lots of kingfishers down there too, but they don't sit still as long as we do.

Brief November recap

November had a lot of high points but one of the two best was Thanksgiving with part of my family at my brother's house in Ashland - my two sisters were unfortunately unable to make it. Nor were the older two of my five nieces but oh well. Hopefully at Christmas. I got to see the younger ones. And have dinner with them! Plus both my brothers, my Mom and Dad, Kevin's wife and her family, and a lot of great dogs and cats.

Another high point was completing my seventh Ironman (in seven years) in Wilmington, NC on November 7. And my Mom and Dad were both there! Which made things much more enjoyable.

A friend made a nice comment about these pictures on my fb page. He said I'm smiling just as much after the race as I am before the race. Which is certainly a good goal to shoot for. But if you look closely you can definitely see I don't have quite the "spark" in the second picture. The race took me fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes so I was definitely worn down some. But there's no feeling in the world like crossing the finish line after that much time, and you certainly get a boost from that. I'll be signing up for the 2010 race at 8:00 sharp tomorrow morning (December 1, 2009) when registration opens up. The race in 2010 will begin on Saturday, November 13 at 7:00 AM in Wilmington, NC. There's no real need to sign up this early; this race won't fill up fast. But registering early helps keep me in the "triathlete mentality," gets me in a good state of mind and helps keep me there all year long.

Have a great December,

Jay

With Dad, half an hour before the start - 37º!

Off the bike after 112 beautiful miles

Gorgeous day for a 26.2 mile run

I'm smiling because:
1. My Mom is at the finish line and
2. I don't have to train any more!

Shocking - no August, September or October posts

I've been fooling around with fb too often and not paying enough attention to blogging, which I enjoy a great deal more.

First, from August, the adorable Gandhi, teacher of satyagraha, since moved on to a lovely new home:
Next, from September, a lucky shot of a Great Blue Heron we startled while walking along the river one lovely morning:

Finally an October post, this one of Roux taking an early morning dip while Mackey lifeguards:

Life at Pony Pasture - not all birds and flowers and turtles

The dogs and I came upon this scene as we finished our walk today. Not as lovely as we're accustomed to:

Turtles

Turtles have begun to appear while biking and hiking. The dogs and I saw a big one at Pony Pasture. This is Max and Roux investigating the first large one we saw, Thursday morning at Pony Pasture. That's about as close as they got; they're not fond of turtles:


This is a smaller (obviously) one we came across on Sunday, June 28:

Post-river hike with Aileen

Aileen (oldest of 5 nieces, oldest of 2 god-daughters) came to town for a quick visit today; we took Ivory, Mackey, Max and Roux to Pony Pasture and had a great hike. We got a few good pictures post-hike:

Aileen, Max, Ivory, Roux, Mackey

Jay, Aileen
Mackey, Max, Roux, Ivory

Name this person and these dogs: