Life is for learning!

Hi, again, It’s me, Sarah!

I was so excited when Mom said I could do the blog post this week. I’ve been having lots of fun. You probably heard that I’ve been to Camp. I love Camp! There are all kinds of dogs to play with and people who love me and help me learn new things. I’m working on retrieving. (Not birds or squirrels or anything. Just ropes and things like that.)

There’s also swimming. Swimming is my favorite thing. That’s why I look so happy in my picture! Part of why I like swimming is that I’m a Newfie. We were developed as a breed to help rescue sailors off the east coast of Canada, on an island called Newfoundland. (How cool is it to have a whole island named after you?) Mom says Newfies and swimming are just the way God planned it. She’s probably right.

Another reason I like swimming is that I have some joint things that hurt and swimming helps me get stronger without stressing out my joints so I don’t hurt so much. Way more fun than taking pills!

Mom likes my friends at Camp, too. She says they help me learn the things I’ll need to know to be a reading dog and make it fun at the same time. That sounds like a good plan to me!

While I was at Camp, Mom was in Hawaii. It’s an island, too. Well, lots of them, and it’s hot there which is not like Newfoundland. I think it’s far away.

Mom’s friends keep asking her what she did there. I know she went swimming, like me. The rest of it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I think she was learning more about being a writing dog.

Ooops! A writing mom!!!

I think that means she had a chance to practice big, scary things in a small, safe place with smart people to cheer her on. I’m not sure if she gets treats when she practices, but she sure seemed happy when she got home.

It also had something to do with a thing called energy, which means how a place feels. Camp has fun, exciting energy. Apparently Hawaii has energy that’s ancient and wise. Well, the part where she was. There’s even a special rock there for grandmothers. Mom likes grandmothers!

Yesterday, she was talking to one of her friends on the phone and, when her friend asked about Hawaii, Mom fished this poem out of a stack of mail she’d been reading and read it, right on the phone!

Earth Teach Me To Remember

Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as the melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep in the rain.

— John Yellow Lark

Mom says the puzzle pieces are coming together for the things she’s writing and she’s excited about the future. She also says she’s really glad she met the Grandmother Rock. I guess she’ll tell us more about that soon. For now, she’s mainly napping and doing laundry. I napped a lot when I got home, too!

I hope you’re learning new things along with Mom and me. And thanks for reading my post. Blogging is fun! Just think. When I first came to live here, I didn’t even know what a blog was!

Anyway, love from me, Sarah. (And Mom!)