On the Trail

 Hazel and I are finally venturing out a bit beyond our neighborhood.  She is still learning to walk on a leash, but she is much better about it when we are off the sidewalks and on a trail. Since trail-walking is my preference too, I'm alright with that for now. We have started doing my old walk with Clover, through a field and small woods not far from the house. As you walk through the edge of the wooded section, through some large fir trees, the lighting causes the leaves to glow like stained glass on the tree photographed here.  I photographed it once before with Clover, but didn't know what kind of tree it was. Since then we discovered hazelnuts growing on it. So this year I can report that these are Hazelnut leaves. Seems fitting. I can already see that sometimes Hazel is going to get that nickname, and I think it's a good one.

Fetch

Sorry to not have any fall photos to be posting, but this little pup is keeping me pretty busy these days! A milestone day today, she is three months old and weighing in at 12 lbs.  And she learned fetch, which was a lot of fun and wore her out quite well! I got to practice with continuous auto focus to try keeping her in focus while she was running...not a camera feature I normally bother with. I love her earnest expression, which is typical for her. Hoping to get out for a walk in the woods soon, so maybe I will have something else to post this week. 

Here She Is!

I've had several comments asking for a photo of Hazel.

She's grown a little bit since this was taken,

up from 4 lbs a few weeks ago to almost 8 lbs today.

I don't feel I've quite captured her personality yet...

she's a good bit more spunky than this photo suggests.

But I decided I had better post this one anyway because she will probably 

outgrow her puppy cuteness before I get that perfect portrait! 

Lazy Fall Day

I'm not hiking very far these days...

Sitting along the edge of the creek,

Watching the leaves fall,

While a tired little puppy naps at my feet. 

Hazel

Our puppy search is over! Our new family member, Hazel, is a German Australian Shepard mix. She's 10 weeks old and weighs 6 lbs right now. Yesterday she got her first taste of the beach with a short little walk along Cannon Beach. 

Vine Maple Canopy

A beautiful fall day for a walk in the woods!