Happy Valentine’s Day

Celebrating seven years of whippet love and friendship

a blue and white whippet and a black and white whippet snuggled together on the sofa

Wishing you all a happy Valentine’s Day and a peaceful new week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Word of the Day Challenge: Cherish

Wordless Wednesday: Part of Our World

a blue whippet in a winter jacket sniffing the grass and a black whippet in a winter jacket enjoying the view
a black whippet in a black winter jacket walking through tall golden grass on top of a hill
view above the pine trees over Glen Oykel in the mist and rain

Whatever the weather it’s always a real treat to spend time in nature and immerse ourselves in the landscape.

This is one of the viewpoints along the trail from yesterday’s long post A Walk in Rosehall Forest. You can see a different section from the trail under drier, and colder, weather conditions in New Horizons.

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/200 s – ISO 100, f/2.8 – 1/160 s – ISO 100 and f/4 – 1/160 s – ISO 160.

Wordless Wednesday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Immerse

2018: Reflections through the Seasons

As we near the end of 2018 we are reflecting on a very special year, both in terms of gratitude for the people we have known and lost, and in gratitude for the love of those who are still with us.

The first months of the year were colder than normal and even the beaches saw ice and snow. Eivor and Pearl enjoyed running in the snow and were happy to snuggle up in front of the fire when we returned home.

On a relatively mild day near the end of January I wrote ‘When Nature Gives us Poems‘, a poem that became the most popular post created on this blog during 2018. An edited version of the poem appears in our book, Sharing Our Horizon, alongside the photograph of the cormorant and seals you can see in the collage above.

Our Spring was warm, in so many ways. It was lovely to walk in the hills and mountains again, breathe in the scent of pine. The beaches were still empty, with plenty of time to run and play or pause to meditate, enjoy the silence.

Happy Place‘ became our most popular post in the Spring. Little did I know when I created the post, what a happy place it turned out to be. The cold Winter had just left us and the long-lasting heatwave of Summer was still a month or so away.

Our Summer was the hottest we have ever experienced since moving to the Highlands. The heatwave saw wide open beaches with a sea that was retreating further and further away. The rivers were running low, some of the lochs ran dry. There were many forest fires. We found our shade in the forests of the North, a few rivers still sparkling with water. We saw salmon leap. We saw Eivor leap. ‘Toys‘ became one of the most popular posts in the Summer.

We were blessed with the most beautiful Autumn colours along the shores, in the forests and in the mountains. Early October also saw the publication of Sharing Our Horizon, our first collection of poems and photographs especially created to help raise funds for animal rehoming shelters. Our post ‘Our Book is Here‘ was the most popular post we created during the Autumn months and the second most popular post created on our blog during 2018. A very big thank you to everyone who helped to share the news, bought the book and posted a review.

Autumn also saw a very powerful Hunter’s Moon, sparkling in a clear night sky. When we walked towards the beach the following morning it looked like a ‘Moonscape‘.

Our new Winter has just begun. We enjoyed a mild Christmas with family and friends and look forward to what the new year has in store.

A big thank you to all our followers and blogging friends for your love and support during the year.

May your New Year be filled with peace and blessings.

For our first annual review on our sister blog Tranature please click here.

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #25: Reflections

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #26: Photographic Review of 2018

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Cold and Warm

Wordless Wednesday: Scents of Winter

 

two whippets in winter jackets bending down to sniff the ground between bent grass

 

two whippets in winter jackets bending down to sniff the ground between bent grass

 

two whippets in winter jackets walking towards the beach across shingle between bent grass

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

 

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8, 1/1000 s, ISO 100 and f/3.5, 1/2000 s, ISO 100.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Paula’s Thursday’s Specials: Pick a Word in December Y3: Golden, Maroon, Aquamarine

 

Wordless Wednesday: Winter Warmers

 

a black whippet in a grey sweater on a green sofa, catching the sun

 

a blue whippet in a grey sweater on a green sofa, smiling towards the camera

 

close up shot of a black whippet in a grey sweater on a green sofa

With love from Eivor,  Pearl and Xenia xxx

 

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8, 1/60 s, ISO 250 and f/2.8, 1/25 s, ISO 400.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: Lit from Within

 

Wordless Wednesday: The Light Within

 

a black whippet in a black winter jacket leaping across a rockpool

 

a black whippet in a black winter jacket landing on the sand after leaping across a rockpool

 

a black whippet in a black winter jacket landing on the sand after leaping across a rockpool

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

 

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8, 1/500 s, ISO 100.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Brilliance

 

Wordless Wednesday: Wings of Love

 

a black whippet in a black winter jacket running across tidal pools

 

a black whippet in a black winter jacket leaping across tidal pools

 

a black whippet in a black winter jacket leaping across tidal pools

Wishing you a all a wonderful Wednesday!

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

 

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8, 1/1250 s, ISO 160 and f/2.8, 1/1600 s, ISO 160

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Haibun: Comfort

black whippet in a winter jacket walking towards the camera on a forest trail covered in autumn leaves

It is almost two years ago that Mark Woods had to make a difficult decision. Walnut the whippet was eighteen years old and had been increasingly unwell. He wanted to take his faithful friend for one last walk on his favourite beach. In a simple Facebook post he invited other dog walkers to come along if they wanted to say goodbye to Walnut. The post was shared and shared. When we saw it on Twitter we shared it too.

Hundreds of people turned up. Children walked up to Walnut to stroke him and say goodbye. He was hugged, time and time again, while Mark held him in his arms. Walnut’s eyes were full of love. Every now and then he looked up at Mark and licked his face, as if to reassure him.

autumn gathers
her blanket of comfort
around our hearts

© Xenia Tran

two whippets in winter jackets walking towards each other on a forest trail with autumn leaves

The video below shows a recent interview with Mark.

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.2, 1/125 s, ISO 250 and f/3.2, 1/100 s, ISO 100.

Carpe Diem’s Autumn Retreat 2018: Love Eternally

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Comfort

Sharing our horizon by Xenia Tran

Thank you so much for the lovely review of our book dear Anna xxx

So where's the snow?

Eivor and Pearl

I don’t usually do book reviews, but this book just blew me away!  Like me, many of you followers are dog lovers, Haiku writers and a great many are photographers. This book has it all!

Xenia shares her Highland journey through the seasons with two adopted whippets, a poet and a camera! Beautifully presented in ebook and real book, 60% of the net profits each year will be shared with re-homing charities, what more could you want. Christmas is coming!!!

Of course, she’s a wordpress blogger too!

https://whippetwisdom.com/

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Wordless Wednesday: Skipping the Sands

 

smiling blue whippet galloping towards the camera, one hind paw on the ground

 

smiling blue whippet galloping towards the camera, one front paw on the ground

 

close up of smiling blue whippet galloping towards the camera, one hind paw on the ground

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

 

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.2, 1/2000 s, ISO 100.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Lustre