dog

Some needed time beside the water

/ Greg / 1 Comment

A bit of a warning… You’re going to see a lot of beach photos coming up below.

By the summer 2022 portion of the pandemic, my Atlantic Canadian soul needed to spend some significant time sitting beside a fairly substantial body of water. With that in mind, we planned out our Vancouver Island explorations with a few days at a cottage overlooking the Strait of Georgia. Immediately on driving up to the place I could feel my pulse slowing down. My wife and I glanced at each other and with no words passing between us we both knew we had made a perfect decision on location.

As the sun set on our first night in Qualicum Bay we walked the beach with the tide starting to go out. This was a walk we would do a number of times.

Qualicum Bay, BC
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Over beers in the Czech Republic

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Many times the best decisions you make in life sneak up on you.

It was a beautiful late August evening, our last night in Prague. Looking back on this from almost eight years on, it remains one of my favourite travel memories because of what this night ended up meaning to my wife and me. We hadn’t set out with any grand plans… just a way to enjoy the last few hours of what had been a remarkable two weeks in the Czech Republic. We headed up to the Letna Beer Garden with an idea to enjoy the view over the city and for me to spend the rest of our Czech currency on glasses of ice cold pilsner.

Letna Beer Garden
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Playing the host

/ Greg / Leave a comment

I am now a little over two years into being a resident of Saskatoon, and if I’m being completely honest, it feels like I’ve been living here forever (in a good way). When I got a text from my sister asking if I’d be around to play host to her on a side trip to Saskatoon from a conference she was attending in Edmonton, I immediately went into planning mode, determined to show off this great, under the radar city to my sister. I wanted her to like it here as much as do I.

With a list of ideas for restaurants, bars and interesting sites completed, I was partially foiled by the usually spectacular weather here. My sister arrived under grey skies and spent most of her visit exploring an uncommonly rainy and dreary Saskatoon. Luckily for me, I had an ace up my sleeve. A welcoming ambassador greeted her when we arrived home after a short drive from the airport. My sister, a dog lover like me and the rest of my family, got introduced to Chloe. And suddenly the rain didn’t matter. Dog selfie time!

Chloe and Nik

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Across Canada, Chewy’s last trip

/ Greg / 1 Comment

After moving myself to Saskatoon to take a new job in early April, I returned to the Maritimes to pick up my wife and our dog for a 4,000km, seven day car trek from her family’s home outside of Fredericton, NB to Saskatchewan. I had missed my wife and dog something fierce for the six weeks. When I left them in Halifax at the end of March, before leaving our home to catch an early morning flight, I made sure to say a special goodbye to Chewy. He was suffering with some health issues, and I wasn’t sure I would ever see him again. Fast forward six weeks and a number of vet trips later, Chewy was there for me in New Brunswick.

The night I surprised him with my return, he jumped on the sofa beside me and laid down on top of me.  Our dog likes to be close, but not too close, so I could tell he really missed me. And the next morning, he wouldn’t let me out of his sight, even camping outside a bathroom up a steep flight of stairs to make sure he could be close. On this early morning, he had no idea the adventure he was in for…

Chewy in Nackawic, NB

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The best dog that ever lived

/ Greg / 8 Comments

When you adopt an almost ten year old dog, you are faced with the inevitability that the end isn’t ever that far away. My wife and I knew that going into this. “Old dogs need love too” became a bit of an early theme. “We’ll enjoy what time we have” was another rallying cry. When things took a recent turn for the worse, we went back to those to help give us comfort. Truth is, no matter how difficult these past days have been, neither of us would trade anything for the time we had together with our Chewy.

Chewy, aka Chewbacca, aka Chewbert, aka El Cheberto, aka Uniboob McFluffypants (due to his pronounced basset hound chest and the fact that I believe all dogs should have the last name McFluffypants) was our dog for thirty one spectacular months. His past is an unknown for us. We think he’s part shih tzu (face, hair) and part basset hound (body, bark, temperament). His face looks like that of a muppet with impossibly large eyes and teeth that don’t point in any consistent direction.  He’s a mutt in all of the best connotations of that term.  He was, without any doubt, the best dog to have ever lived.

Chewy at the lake

You already know how this story ends, but all good stories have a beginning, a middle, a plot twist and then an end, and should be told in that order. So here goes.  This is the story of Chewy, at least the part he lived with us. A life lived with unrestrained and boundless happiness and love.

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