Don’t have many flowers in our garden sadly, lots of greenery but not a lot else. Anyway this time last year I planted a clematis to grow over a little pergola, so this year it has it’s first blooms – well, two so far. So when the word Clematis popped up on Cee’s flower of the day and even better the sun wash shining I popped outside with my macro lens and captured this…
Just so happens that we have another Clematis which grows over our garage roof from our neighbour’s garden. It has a proliferation of bloom and I just wish it was in a position for me to look out at rather than being at the ‘wrong side’ of the house. Anyway, about a month ago it was in bloom and I rather liked this one – again a blue sky is the backdrop but don’t be fooled 😉 We are enjoying a rare settled spell of warmth and sunshine here in Northern Ireland (we call it “exam weather”), sadly we will be back to more normal NI weather tomorrow, normal service resumes! Thank you Cee, for making Clematis your flower of the day today whilst the sun is shining and I have one single flower in bloom!
I have photographed this tree at the Giant’s Ring Belfast a number of times, of course at different times of year and in differing lights, however, I have always turned it into varying B&W effects. Perhaps my first attempt was “the original and best” but I am posting a selection of them as it seems to me that this tree naturally tells me that it needs to be in B&W to do it justice and create the atmosphere. For that reason it seems to me to be the obvious choice for Cee’s B&W Challenge Open Topic this week.
needless to say the little boy and his pup make the photo for mesame tree, different angledon’t know just decided to take this with the tree and the stones as background rather – was enjoying the meadow that they have allowed to grow up in recent yearsthe originala different day, different light, like the sky
Some people think that they would not be able to cope with coming to the shelter, that it is a sad place with evidence of so much cruelty and neglect, so many dogs needing homes that it would be too much for them. However, invariably when they come with me they are surprised. What they see is volunteers who help because they love the dogs, they show this love to the dogs, they care from the bottom of their hearts and this reflects on dogs themselves and their behaviour. Yes of course there is sadness, frustration, despair at the endless cycle of abandonment and cruelty that these volunteers never get away from because they live there. They do not walk away, they do it day after day, lifting the s**t, cleaning kennels, feeding, giving medication, playing with the dogs, rescuing from the streets and some horrendous situations, running back and forward to the vet and most of all showing the dogs love, for some this will be their first ever experience of love.
This is Billy, he was so terrified that when taken out of the shelter he shut down with fear. At this point I am just sitting with him in an area away from the shelter, letting him smell something new. Within 4 days he was walking with his tail in the air enjoying every moment. I still have a real soft spot for Billy.
It is because of these volunteers that the atmosphere in this shelter is generally a very happy one, yes with dips when an abandonment, a terrible cruelty or neglect case pushes them over the emotional edge. They see this day in day out, however, they do not become hardened to it. Their resilience and love is an inspiration to me. I not only want to help the dogs but I want to help the people at the shelter. I consider them “mi familia espanol”, I have learned much from them and when I witness this neglect and abandonment first hand it is these people and what they do that restore my faith in the Spanish people (just for the record, Spain is top of the league tables in the whole of Europe for the number of abandoned pets every year and top also for the number of puppies born – i.e. the worst offenders in the whole of Europe).
I love to be there. Some days it reduces me to tears, however, more often than not it makes me happy, a deep down kind of happy, why? because I know that I can make a difference, maybe not to the overall situation in Spain but to individual dogs. To spend time cuddling a dog, taking it out for a walk, helping it to see the world as a better place, etc makes a whole world of difference to that one dog. I also help to find homes for them. To get to know a dog in the shelter, recommend it to a particular home and then see it happy and content lying on a soft bed in a wonderful home, well there is no feeling quite like it.
I visited Checko in his wonderful home after he had been very ill. I had promised to myself that if he pulled through I would fly over to see him. He remembered me from the shelter where I had loved and walked him many times.
So, of course it is not all happy at the shelter, I have had many new experiences not all of them positive, however, there is still a certain privilege in being involved even in a small way with helping a dog to find safety. Last Friday was such a day. I have personally rescued a number of dogs or been first on the scene to discover a newly abandoned dog. Last Friday was one of those days and for my friend Diane it was her first experience of finding an abandoned dog. This was our first sight of the little princess. As we drove down the lane to the shelter I caught sight from the corner of my eye of this frail, cowering, hopeless little bundle…
Diane stayed with her whilst I drove on down to the shelter to tell them about the new arrival waiting to be rescued. We found her, scooped her up and brought her down to the shelter. We were so lucky that the vet just happened to be there vaccinating dogs. As I watched and photographed the volunteers and the vet what struck me most of all (apart from the dreadful condition of this poor little princess) was the love, care and attention shown to her, something they do day in and day out in these situations. Immediately a dog like this arrives their life improves as the first thing they experience is love.
The little princess JoJa is still in the care of the vet. She is less than a year old and has obviously experienced nothing but suffering in her life, yet when we approached her she managed to wag her tail at the sound of a kind voice. We could learn a lot from dogs.
I filmed what I could of this experience, here is the link to the youtube video – it is not sad, but you will see in motion what I have described here rescue
Of course this was an emotional experience which generates frustration and anger in me but at the same time admiration and respect for the good people of the shelter who continue to do this in response to an endless demand. It wears them down but they keep going regardless – because they are needed and they make a difference. I have to say that not all shelters in Spain are like this one and I suspect that I could not go there every day Im in Spain to help if it was not such a positive place where the love of the volunteers rubs off on the wonderful dogs. They make a difference and I believe that the reason I love going to the shelter so much is that I feel I can make a difference also.
To be honest there are not too many photos of me without a big grin from ear to ear, my overriding feeling is that I get back much more than I can ever put in…
I hope you have enjoyed my dog blog and perhaps even inspired someone to visit their local shelter, who knows you might even fall in love and adopt 😉
I’m not the most exuberant person (and anyone who knows me will have no argument with that!) and indeed I lack self confidence in many ways that inhibits me from outwardly expressing myself fully and hiding behind my camera has become a godsend in some of these situations. Other than ‘losing the rag’ at a bad umpiring decision whilst at the side of the hockey pitch or having tears running down my face when I witness first hand the suffering of some of the dogs arriving in at the shelter, I tend to feel more than I show. That being said, I do not feel nearly so much as I used to…
Since a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis about 10 years ago, I take various medications one of which helps to keep my stress levels down and depression (which I experienced in the first two years of my illness) at bay. The down side – although at times it is incredibly useful – is that I have become a rather unemotional person. Nevertheless, that is how I am now and because of the benefits, I have no desire to change. On an intellectual level I know that there are times when it would be helpful to others if I were more emotional and felt more, however, thanks to the meds – I don’t let it bother me too much! It seems to me that I have become a more selfish person, perhaps that is what is needed when living with a chronic illness and I think of it as a price worth paying. However, no matter how my behaviour is interpreted I also know that in many ways I am also a selfless person and I now, I live with the benefit of being able to chose whether to be selfish or selfless.
So, whilst it seems that I have digressed from the subject of this post is “Jubilant” what I am actually saying is that being jubilant or showing jubilation is not something that I often show outwardly. Nevertheless, as I said in my previous post, it really doesn’t take much to please me. They tend to be simple things such as finding a forever home for a dog, watching my boys have a good game (they play field hockey) or taking that photo that captures exactly what I want – whether it be a beautiful view or the character of a dog.
For this photo challenge, however, I have selected this photo which not only pleased me but which also expresses jubilation.
Whilst most people would look at me and assume that there is nothing wrong with me, as anyone with a chronic illness knows, things are rarely as they seem. I used to really enjoy skiing, however, a couple of years after my diagnosis I hung up the ski boots for the last time and swapped them for a camera. Having 3 boys who were all keen skiers, I either joined them where I could on the slopes with my camera or stayed at home. This year, my middle boy Mark, has been studying at the University of Calgary so we joined him at half term break up in Whistler for a ski holiday. Have to say, compared to some of the European ski destinations access to many parts of the slopes are not easily accessible to non-skiers. In order to get to where I could take an action photo was a bit of a struggle. Trudging through snow especially up hill was a personal Everest for me to be honest and I had to think very carefully before going down hill as each step down equated to maybe ten steps up – and especially at high altitude this hurt. So, I had to compromise in my position. Yes I wanted to be below the action to have a clear sky background and increase the height perspective but thanks at least to having a decent lens I shuffled down into a safe place and sat in the cold snow, contented myself and did the best I could. I managed to photograph a number of boarders and skiers attempting and succeeding with various tricks and jumps which gave me that “yes!” feeling when I looked at them later. However, this boy who was simply wanting to “get air” celebrated mid air and was clearly happy with his efforts.
My own “yes” feeling from the few times I sat patiently trying to capture that moment came with these photos…
Ok so I would have preferred a blue sky background but for them but for me it was capturing them right at the top of their jump through thick heavy snow (for two of the shots at least) at a distance of maybe 50 yards, camera covered with a towel and me shaking with cold that pleased me. Usually I was putting my time in waiting to have lunch with the others between their ski runs. As I struggled back up to the meeting point zigzagging to reduce the incline and one step at a time I saw my husband looking over the balcony – he captured this of me, yes I’m smiling but oh boy my legs were complaining terribly!
So, that is my entry for ‘jubilant’. Yet again after intending to enter only one photo, I have included a few more besides and extended into a bit more of my bio so you all know me that little bit better 😉
Thank you for reading. As ever, I really appreciate feedback and comments jx
Saw this and thought of you….r photo challenge Cee!
Went venturing out one day in the hope of finding vultures on the ground to photograph and had stopped in area where we had spotted them on passing. Unfortunately just as we stopped to turn the car around a motorbike revved passed and they all took to the air thus my opportunity had passed. Nevertheless we got out of the car and had a wee walk around hoping they might reappear. They did not. However, I did find this loo perched neatly under a bush, completely undisturbed by the motorbike and passing photographers (me). My husband never understood why I photographed this but for some reason I did, and now I know why… it has it’s place in Cee’s oddball photo challengeAnd whilst on the subject of facilities in odd places… I photographed this bathroom sink in the narrow streets of Castellar de la Frontera, Andalusia Spain
The first is “Rhianna’s Tree”… This tree (now sadly deceased) made the headlines here in Northern Ireland when the farmer, having previously rented his field to Rhianna for her to film her latest music video, discovered that she was ” was in more of a state of undress than a bikini top” in his field. When she appeared to be topless (she may indeed have just been wearing a bikini top unlike any one he had ever witnessed) he drew a close to proceedings and sent them packing, after telling Rhianna that she and her film crew should become acquainted with God. The filming later appeared in Rihanna’a We Found Love video which went on to win the best video of the year award at the MTV VMAs.
Rihanna’s tree: This tree makes for a peaceful scene itself, however, when I stopped by the roadside to photograph it one day (with a long lens at it is quite some distance from the road) I was delighted to be able to pick up the little old tractor sneaking up into view, for me making the picture and wondering if it was “the farmer” who didn’t quite realise that his actions were about to give him his 15 minutes of fame. I love the simplicity of this photograph, there is no foreground distraction, nothing in the sky, just three simple attractions.
The second is a view of downtown Calgary, Alberta Canada taken from the Olympic Park Calgary, a distance of approx 15km.
Even though, like the photo of Rhianna’s tree, there is no distraction in the foreground, the greenery somehow does create that sense of perspective. Yes you would never guess that the City Centre is 15km away but it is.
Huge, I hope you like my first venture into your world of blogging. I’m just in the early stages of blogging and trying to learn and build.
I always intended that my experiences with shelter dogs, especially in Spain, will appear often in story form on my blog. Particularly when I spend time in Spain, I tend to be at the shelter every morning and later in the day I would post on Facebook what has touched me that day, along with some photos. These stories I would like now to collect in a more accessible place, hence they will become part of my blog. Occasionally my updates are sad, sometimes uplifting and some just funny experiences but whichever they are my wish is to raise awareness of animal welfare issues, especially in Spain (which for the record has the worst record of all European Countries for number of stray pets – official figures in the region of 8/900,000 abandoned every year – and this is likely to be an underestimate).
To find out how I, who until about 12 years ago was repelled by the concept of having a dog in the house, who never understood anyone giving to animal charities when there are so many people charities in need and who simply regarded dogs as ‘dirty nuisances’ have transformed into someone who now helps out in a Spanish dog shelter, can hardly pass a dog in the street without reaching out for a greeting, delights in being surrounded by dogs and is never more angry and upset when I see first hand the consequences of animal cruelty and neglect – then a couple of my previous blogs will go some way to explaining. Put simply, life changes that I had never envisaged and were never part of any plan for my own life happened and the person I am now and the things I like to do are the consequences of those changes. ( window and family are two earlier blogs which put some of changes into context )
My own two dogs Pepper and Polo – the source of much of my learning and my inspiration
‘Big Boots’ – I was just about to return to the car after walking the dogs along the tow path of the River Lagan, Belfast when something caught my eye which didn’t quite make sense. Compelled to check it out, this is what I saw – it was so unexpected that it took me a moment to catch on that they of course were not floating as the appeared to be but were sitting on a jetty at the rivers edge and the water had lapped up around them.What made it so cool was that the water was completely still providing almost perfect reflection, that is until the kayaker who had left them there returned – only at that point did the whole scene make sense for me. Thankfully I had my camera with me and managed to snap a few.
‘Something in between’ – A quick foot inspection whilst the baby sleeps in her arms, love this picture.
‘Little Feet’ – these are the feet of baby Tequila, one of the day old pups we rescued with their mum from the roadside in Spain. The hand is that of the very caring vet giving her the once over and treating them for fleas. This was a fantastic, emotional, stressful and rewarding event in which to be involved. The five pups and their mum were given the best of care and I’m delighted to say that each of them has the most wonderful home in the UK. A huge team pulled together to ensure their safety and care but to be part of the rescue, care and homing of this family from start to finish is something of which I’m very proud.
A photo the like of which I have many. These feet are those of a larger puppy and represent many hundreds who have passed through the wonderful dog shelter where I help in Spain. These are the lucky ones…
The word ‘single’ in this challenge has helped me to focus, I have chosen single flowers but also varieties of a single type of flower – the Poppy. Being a less wordy blog, I have simply put a caption with each image.
(Photos copyright of Jenniferwillisphotography)
The ‘original’ red poppy growing wild in a Flanders’ Field. Photographed in the evening sunlight hence it is closing up for the nightTrue blue flowers are rare in the natural world, but the Himalayan Blue Poppy is an exception. Precise growing conditions must be present to produce the blue color of the Himalayan blue poppy. Obviously the gardeners at Mount Stewart Co. Down have achieved those conditions as the Blue Poppies are delicate, beautiful and very blue!Orange Poppy. Growing wild Andalusia, Spain Incredibly delicate Purple Poppy – or is it Pink? Growing wild, Andalusia, SpainMorning dew drop on a White Poppy. Growing wild, Andalusia, Spain
So, this is my first adventure into Lori’s weekly letter challenge and I see that I am joining rather late – perhaps I can fill in the letter ‘a’ to ‘g’ in due course, although with the letter ‘d for dog’ I just might get stuck in there for a while 😉 Nevertheless here I am. As usual I have difficulty focusing on and staying completely on one track on my blog and I, therefore, tend to diversify but I do offer variety I HOPE some decent photos for everyone to enjoy. I am consistent, however, in that I usually include something of my home land, Northern Ireland, trying to show it off in it’s better light, and also my love of animals, in particular dogs. I’m a keen photographer with a huge archive of photos and I admit to enjoying having the opportunity to share a few of them in these challenges.
OK so, the letter H… I came across a photo that inspired me to choose a few others on the same theme – Hanging!
Yes, it’s a Hangman’s noose! Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast. The Crumlin Road Gaol dates back to 1845 and closed it’s doors as a working prison in 1996. It is now a very popular tourist attraction and believe it or not well worth a visit. The Gaol played a significant part in the recent history of Northern Ireland. The last Hanging at the Gaol took place on 20th December 1961.
Having at last found a use for this photo I then found a few others along the same theme albeit much more fun than this kind of Hanging 😉
The first was taken through the railings of a skate park in New York, this little lad pictured Hanging from the the edge of the bowl, maybe 5 or 6 years old was there with his dad. Clearly neither of them had any sense of fear. The second is one of my boys at this point Hanging during pull ups whilst training at the gym.
Below, just some scarfs and safety gear hanging…
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And back to promoting ‘our wee country’… the beautiful Headlands on the North Antrim Coast – photographed from the west and then the east
Headland from the west looking over Benbane Head, Dunluce Castle, Runkerry Point and Giant’s Causeway Headland beyond.View from the east of Whitepark Bay, Portbradden and the reverse side of the Giant’s Causeway Headland beyond
So now some animate ‘H’s from home and beyond…
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Some of the connections to ‘H’ are obvious but for the sake of indulging my fastidious nature let me say in the above collection I have a pet Hamster I photographed many moons ago, a rider on Horseback, Banff Canada, a Hare, Calgary Alberta, swans in Hillsborough Lake Co. Down NI, Heron Strangford Lough Co Down NI, a Hairy chimp, a very Happy wren on my Hedge at my House, a Hawaiian Goose a lady Hunting in a bin for food Calgary Alberta and two beautiful Horses San Roque, Spain. Fairly random selection.
So now a few inanimate ‘H’s…
The cranes you could not miss if you ever visited Belfast. They are Harland and Wolf gantry cranes, previously used in shipbuilding, now more for heavy lifting during the building of of wind turbines and refurbishment of oil rigs. Then there is a very sad Headstone for a baby, St Andrew’s Scotland, a collection of cowboy Hats on sale Downtown Calgary a Hand-knitted Hat on a Head in St George’s market, Belfast – (another place worth visiting) and finally Stormont Building known colloquially as “The House on the Hill” (where all our politicians work). I have blogged previously about Stormont if you would like to read more. Again, worth visiting.
And finally for my indulgence, no selection of ‘H’ photos would be complete without a of one of my boys playing Hockey, in this case for a team called Harlequins!
I hope you have enjoyed my first entry into Lori’s Letter Challenge. I would love to receive feedback,
What made it so cool was that the water was completely still providing almost perfect reflection, that is until the kayaker who had left them there returned – only at that point did the whole scene make sense for me. Thankfully I had my camera with me and managed to snap a few.
‘Little Feet’ – these are the feet of baby Tequila, one of the day old pups we rescued with their mum from the roadside in Spain. The hand is that of the very caring vet giving her the once over and treating them for fleas. This was a fantastic, emotional, stressful and rewarding event in which to be involved. The five pups and their mum were given the best of care and I’m delighted to say that each of them has the most wonderful home in the UK. A huge team pulled together to ensure their safety and care but to be part of the rescue, care and homing of this family from start to finish is something of which I’m very proud.
A photo the like of which I have many. These feet are those of a larger puppy and represent many hundreds who have passed through the wonderful dog shelter where I help in Spain. These are the lucky ones…
fotojen10 