Square Dog Friday... Herbal Body Wrap

It is the best day of the week for 

Two Little Square Black Dogs !

So lets woof it.

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 yesh i thehamish gots to get a bath and dryin'

gud old Dr. Watson gots to one too

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 squirrel

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 we gets our herbal bodywraps

we look gud and smellin' gud 

we gud dugs

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 the wind is blowing our fluffy hair

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 see it is blowing old gud dug Watson beard

it is fluffy fluffy fluffy

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 Watson is a a gud lookin' guddug

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 finally we gots to memememememememeememe me

me

gud dug thehamish me 

so much Watson we needin' more thehamsih

woe oh woe is me

we need seeing more thehamish

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Here is your pretty for the start of the weekend.

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I have a very small patch of grass for The Square Ones.

Grass and the water to grow it is a luxury here in the desert.

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 Before the gardeners came

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 So thick tall and green

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After the gardeners.

ummm a few tall blades escaped !

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Water drops !

green. . . parsnip

music. . . Gimme Some Lovin',  Spencer Davis Group

Wednesday in Japan, Cooking with Dog お弁当 作り方レシピ

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Last Wednesday I showed some of my Bento Box supplies.

Here is a very short video on how to make a simple Bento.

I adore Francis and I just love this show.

On some recipes Francis is more animated, especially with Fish !

Best show ever !

But makes me a little home sick.

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ebi. . . parsnip

music. . . A Town With A View,  Joe Hisaishi

Kiki's delivery Service

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In Japan there is a new live action  Kiki movie comeing out soon.

Posters are up. 

Not so sure what to think of this. I loved the original Hayao Miyazaki
movie so much.

parley view parsnip... and so it starts

Today is the day the fireplace in my studio gets ripped out

and much needed bookcase installed.
Oh yea me !

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But first,  the wonderful Elizabeth of My Life By Buster and About New York  

(check sidebar)  sent me a gift.

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 The hat in front shades of purple and magenta was knitted by Elizabeth.

What wonderful colors to wear on a cold snowy, rainy, icy day.

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 The hat in the back was knitted by daughter for my Christmas present.

Mauve shades dusky purples to light lavender.

Such beautiful hats to wear ... to bad Tucson had no winter this year.

All the cold weather stopped at mid states and kept the winter storms
from coming from the Pacific to Arizona and Tucson.

We have jumped from fall right into spring and into summer fire season.

Yea me !

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 This is how the studio looks this morning

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 Slowly putting items away before demolition starts.

Yea me !

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Here is your pretty to start the week.

Tint cactus and tiny tiny hyacinths growing in very tiny pots.

slegehammer. . . parsnip

music. . . Shattered,  OAR

Square Dog Friday. . . bath time

For lots of reason this is a most welcome 

Square Dog Friday.

It is just a silly fun post and sometimes one just needs a giggle.

As for the Gud Dugs everyday is Square Dog Friday !

We all know the drill, lets woof it.

yert !

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One of my blogging friend posted a photo of his Scotty George 

looking very embarrassed having his photo taken at bath time.

George reminds me so much of my Dr. Watson.

So I thought I would post a few bath time photos

of my bath time Watson and thehamish.

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 yesh it is i thehamish gettin bath

not likein'  can you tell

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 oh woe is me thehamish

woe

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 Here is my sweet Gud Dug 

Dr. Watson

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 I love this photo of Watson. 

If you look you can just see the little pink dot in the middle of his bottom lip.

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 yesh i thehamish needin' more dryin'

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 i the hamish is watchin' Watson after his bath

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 I just love this little pin-up sweet photo of thehamish

He look just like a little puppy.

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And just because I can here is your pretty to start the weekend.

Three more  of the hundred of the photos 

I have taken of moon rise over Thimble Peak,

from my studio window.

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I already posted Ghost Moon over Thimble Peak 

so here is a triple moon rise over Thimble Peak.
Tatooine has nothing on Tucson.

bath. . . parsnip

music. . . Under The Milky Way,  The Church

Wednesday In Japan. . . memories

I have been in an introspective mood lately.

Many reasons but maybe age is playing a huge part.

So this is a repeat from 2010

Hope you enjoy the updated post.

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On a trip to visit Japanese son, 

who at the time was living and teaching in Sanda, Japan.

I came to realize how much I loved Japanese Vending Machines.

Sanda is about 35 kilometers beyond the Rokko Mountain range from Osaka.

This is a big agricultural area known for Strawberries and the famous Kobe Beef.

It is about a hour train ride into Osaka through some of the most beautiful mountains, 

tree covered tunnels (each tunnel has a name) to bridges over rocky crystal clear rivers.
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It is a visual heaven to this desert dweller.
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Sanda is a commuter family town that has a vibrant city area and train station.

I lived out in the countryside so I had a charming but very tiny train station.

Next to the train station, there were fields of rice and vegetables along both sides of the road that I walked to get to my apartment.

You rarely see a plot of land that is empty in Japan. 

If it is flat there is always something growing on it from rice, vegetables or flowers.
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Very late one evening  after we left the lights of the train station, parking lot and taxi stand and a few late night riders, it was just daughter and I walking down a very dark and quiet road. There were a few homes and street light by where we lived to the right

but it was very dark and quiet walk.

So quiet that I swear I could here the rice growing in the field next to me.
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Then right before me glowing in the dark standing all by itself next to an electrical pole and the rice field was a soft drink vending machine. 

Softly glowing in the dark all by itself,  just standing there lighting our way.

I came to really love seeing that vending machine on those late night walks home.

I miss that walk. 

I miss that vending machine and I can't believe I never took a photo of it.

But I remember it all, like I was just there.

Walking down that road over the stone bridge and stream again late last night.

So strong is the feeling that I swear can hear the rice growing once again.

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I never took a photo of the vending machine at night
or the hilly area right where I was living.
But the photo above does look like the hills at night near where I walked.

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memories. . . parsnip

Music. . . A Place We Must Return To,  OST Final Fantasy
........

As I read this memory I feel that I should have known there were
 Totoros and a Catbus guiding my way home,
right there in the rice fields and wind above me.
Magical is all I can say

Tuesday in Tucson. . . extra extra extra !

The weather in Tucson is as strange as the weather in most of the world.

While most of the U.S. and the U.K.  is either flooding or covered in snow and ice.

Tucson is having beautiful sunny, blue skies weather.
Sounds terrific right ?

The only problem,  this is April weather and this is February.
We are in our winter rain season with no rain.

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 Already we have a fire weather watch.

This is what my computer looked like Monday sfternoon.

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 This is what my computer looked like this morning when I turned it on.
Arizona is the clear spot down south.
So the weather in The U.S. is rain ice, snow, wind and fire !
oh yeaaa me !

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 On 27 February 2013 

We had a freak snow storm..

parley view parsnip. . . gem show

The first weekend in February is the start of the Tucson Gem and Mineral  Show. 

Dealers from all over the world converge in Tucson for the show.

Huge white tents pop up all over Tucson along with filling every hotel convention rooms.

 It runs for about two and a half weeks.

I am lucky to have several friends who are in the Jewerly business 

who provide me passes for the best wholesale rooms.

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Here are a few very murky looking photos 

of some of the beautiful gems and minerals I bought

 When I first started going 15 years ago I bought 

 diamonds, garnets, pearls, jade, amber and minerals.

But now I buy more of the rough cut gem and minerals.

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 Could not resist buying these small glass bug beads.

I will make a braclet to wear this summer. 

Kinda perfect , no ?

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 They are so cute !

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 Murky photos of amethyst crystals and agate.

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 Agate and crystal.

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 Rough cut stones with peridot and amethyst.

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 These looks like diamonds caught in air

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 Rough and polished agate.
The one on the right reminds me of a California Poppy.

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 The backs look so nice.
Forgot to turn the one on the right.

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 The blue stone is a Blue Sponge agate.

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 I can't remember this one, it was with all the ocean agate.

It is very smooth not shinny but just buffed.

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 Trying to get a closer photo of the the depth of elements.

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 This one has facets insde so it looks like diamonds sparkling.

Like stars caught in water.

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 Looks like seaweed in the ocean.

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 Grass in the river.

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 I had so much fun looking at everything 

but it is exhausting.

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And just because I can here is your pretty to start the week.

The storms keep zooming past Tucson or dipping down to the north and south east.
Dumping huge amounts of snow ice, rain and more snow.

Sunday evening we had some cloud cover but no rain.
Pale wispy high clouds.

  Early evening from my studio window.

Had some of my trees trimmed so I can now see 

the neighbors roof (yuck) till they grow back.

.

gems. . . parsnip

music. . . Heavy Clouds No Rain,  Sting

Square Dog Friday. . . Goodness

Well it is that day again.

Best day of the week if your a Little Black Dog.

So lets woof it !

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 some day is hard bein' me thehamish

first  i had to wait by the dish to get water in it

not likin the other water have to drink the water from the big thinging

that gives ice and water its' gud

 then  i was out in the grass sniffing and doing doggie stuff and the water from the ground jumped up and igots all wet

and it was time for breakfast i was all wet so weyt wetwetwetwet 

nice tall person who feeds us squrenched me in blankie and i gots to eat 

and take not gud medicine stuff 

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 buts i still wet and feeling very booboo

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 so i ate the head off  bad toy

and not caring bad bad bad head thingie

woe woewoeweo woe 

woe is me

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 then i find gud dug Watson sleepin' 

not carin' thehamish still all wetwet wet

woe is me 

woe

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And after all that woe, thehamish is a drama queen such a drama queen !

Here is your pretty to start the weekend.

Sunny beautiful weather in Tucson but we should be having rain.

Rain rain and snow in the mountains. 

We haven't had any rain since November, it will be a bad summer.

woe

woe. . . parsnip

music. . . Mad World,  Tears for Fears