Sunday, February 10, 2013

Bonza blogger River from Drifting Through Life has carried on the Sunday Selections tradition of sorting through photos yet to be seen on your blog, posting 'em up and explaining why.

Being very new to the world of smartphones, I've had a ball taking snaps of anything and everything that takes my fancy. No worrying about lugging around the heavy SLR in a big black bag that screams, "I'm a tourist! Come pick my pockets" or the smaller digital version that Love Chunks insists is his and his alone. "Where is MY camera, the one that *I* bought?"

To be fair, though, these have mostly all been placed on Facebook and it's very easy to click the link, add a line (a slight challenge with my man-sized fingers that end up pressing 'ASD' instead of 's') and posting it up.

















A 'selfie' taken slurping coffee on our balcony during a blizzard. My cup was topped with snow by the time I took a picture that was acceptable to share with anyone, so try and imagine those that were rejected.
















Milly in front of at least twenty discarded Christmas trees, left by the big bins near our apartment.  Silly season was well and truly over.





















On the Number 22 bus to the UN stop. I tend to select the double seats near the 'accordian' divider of the bus so that Milly has space to sit but she is terrified of the moving circular floor, undulating folded curtains and how it bends......
















......and usually, therefore, ends up cowering under the seat.  This maneouvre provides an additional bonus in that fellow travellers feel sorry for her and she ends up receiving loads of pats, coo-ed endearments (in French) and ear ruffles.

















Milly's nemesis: a fellow apartment-dweller, the Tabby Cat.  She enjoys sitting on the heaters in the lobby on cold days and the vantage point gives her plenty of notice to escape when Milly eventually spots her.  The cat watches as my darling dog's paws skitter on the marble floor before she ends up slamming into the glass.  She eventually recovers her poise only to see puss out in the garden looking disdainfully triumphant.


She can only be photographed (and petted) up close by me when Milly's not around.  On warmer days she perches in the enormous flower beds, waits for Milly to see her and automatically jump up in response only to have her nose swiped at by the cat before she shoots off.  It is only when Milly smells squirrels in the trees that she ignores the cat.

Milly with her sleepover buddy, Alfie the chocolate lab. Milly is NOT nice to other dogs; making it very clear that she'd prefer a world where she is the only canine and all homosapiens adore just her, but she's slowly getting used to seeing Alfie. He is the perfect host and when she visits him at his abode, he trots over with a toy in his mouth to offer her.

She snaps at him - "Don't YOU be taking liberties with ME!" and he wanders off with a "Whatever, lady," response to the other side of the living room.  Eventually Milly climbs down from her high horse, gives his butt a careful sniff and they're friends again.  Alfie is a patient and true gentleman.

















Two friends found in the park that Milly can tolerate. 















Sometimes, our dog does have cruelty inflicted upon her.  Forced to wear a bra whilst enduring Sapphire's and my ridiculous laughter is not fun.

















Then again, being my 'secretary' during freelance writing gigs isn't too bad.























G-strings, doggie winter coat version.






















Rebel dog. When we first moved here, I saw the red circles with dogs in them and thought, "Wah hey, they welcome dogs here - a garden just for them!"  Fratman the concierge soon set me straight. Red circles don't have to have a line through them to mean 'no.'  It is with great thankfulness that Milly has a section of the garden filled with trees, bushes and lively squirrels where she is allowed to whizz and play.





















Sapphire likes taking 'anti-selfies', partly to make fun of various FB 'friends' that take photos of themselves at their very, very best and caption them with 'I'm so ugly,' the universally-recognised plea for compliments or the 'Look at the snow outside' pose when the majority of the screen is filled with their figure artfully on show to display everything at its best.  

"But surely, Sapph, sometimes you could put a photo up that shows you looking, if not show-offy, at least a bit normal?"

She then gave me a lesson in how the Show Offy Gals do it: tilt the phone so that the eyes become enormous:




Ah. Imagine her halfway in between.

Sometimes, a purchase just has to be made, despite much eye-rolling from Love Chunks.



A Swiss marmot, ready to hike in the snow, on a bottle of wine.  Three euros.  And yes, I will drink it.

And, drum roll please for the phinal phone photo:























WHO made the yellow snow?
Milly did!

20 comments:

Sabine said...

What a clever smart girl you have!

And these pics make me miss the dogs (golden retrievers) we had in the past.

But the snow, oh dear, I pity you. Ours isn't quite as thick. But probably just as cold and icky.

Anonymous said...

Much could be said. Instead, our Brother Friends had their Thai friends visit and they wanted to see snow. We told their Thai friends to avoid the yellow snow. The single word explanations and gesticulations did not work. Avoiding the yellow snow joke fell flat on its face. The harder we tried to explain, the worse it became. It is always bad when you have to explain a joke.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Bonjour Kath,

Poor Milly (he says thinking of ways of humiliating the cats for blogging fun).

:0)

Cheers

PM

MedicatedMoo said...

Sapphire *is* very smart but as her (proud) mother I do wish she'd put up some 'normal' pictures of herself sometimes.

Ah, yellow snow, Andrew. The edges of the gutters and footpaths gradually become yellower and yellower as the days go by which can look rather unappetising.

PlasMan, that's what pets are for!

Pandora Behr said...

Dear Millie - she's like the eternal three year old cousin - though at least you only dress her up in her outdoor coat and not in dolls clothes like we did with out dogs and cats when we were kids.

I'm doing a photo a day from the iPhone at the moment for my blog - with some surprising results.

Jackie K said...

Excellent photos! The Sapphire ones are very funny (and the second one is gorgeous). So THAT'S how the selfies are supposed to be done. No wonder I'm never happy with mine. *goes off to try tilting phone*

MedicatedMoo said...

I'm loving your daily photo blog, Pandora. Milly isn't all that willing to be the model for our clothing capers, but realises that it's just part of the price she has to pay for being a loved pet in the Lockett household.

JackieK, I tried the tilt-phone technique but all it did was emphasise that my eyes rival Clive James' for wrinkles and deep set-edness these days!

Fen said...

ooh, must tilt my phone too!!!

Awesome pics, love seeing glimpses of your life.

MedicatedMoo said...

Thanks Fernstar. I hope your phone tilt skills are better than mine. :)

River said...

I'm so pleased you joined in, I love seeing photos of Milly and Sapphire, who has a wonderfully expressive face.
I can understand Milly's trepidation with the circular moving floor section of the bus, I don't like them much myself and won't sit in that section.
Discarded Christmas trees are such a sad sight. Mine is plastic and packed away every January.

MedicatedMoo said...

Thanks, River. I'm on your side of the fence re trees. Wouldn't a man-made one you use year after year be better for the environment than a fresh one that gets chopped down and discarded...?

Anji said...

A nice collection of pics. Millie isn't the only one who hates the bendy bit of the bus. Only I'm too big to hide under the seat.

MedicatedMoo said...

Anji, I *like* the bendy bit of the bus and do a little 'surf' on it....

JahTeh said...

I love the look on Millie's face sitting beside the doggie friend. That's a real "I'm in misery" mind ray she's sending to you.

MedicatedMoo said...

She's a very jealous mutt, JahTeh, and the only way I was allowed to pat Alfie was if I patted her at the same time with my other hand. Luckily Alf adores Sapphire so they both received their goodly share of attention.

diane b said...

I love all the expressions on Millie's face as well as Sapphire's. Good fun with your phone pics.

MedicatedMoo said...

Thanks dianeb - both girls are long-suffering!

wilbo43 said...

In my next life I want to come back as a cute dog to the Lockett family,

Cheers,

Bill

MedicatedMoo said...

G'day Wilbo43, I guess that Milly enjoys the life she so truly deserves - she's given us so much love and fun for the past (nearly) nine years.

Red Nomad OZ said...

Hahahaha - not quite sure how Sapphire's 'glamour' shot technique will work for someone several times older than her ... and with glasses!!! But if you see a startling new blog-profile shot you'll know it worked!!!