Summer visits

Visiting with friends is one of the best ways  to spend parts of the summer, I think anyway. On Tuesday I went to visit with these two beautiful lab girls, Chloe on the left and Sarah on the right. And their humans.

The girls are half sisters, about three years apart in age and totally devoted to one another and their humans, to food, like any good Labrador retriever is, and to running around and playing with each other.

When I arrived, they danced around, and then checked my overnight bag to see if Bliss and Spirit were somehow hiding in there. They hid their disappointment well, and began carrying my sandals off - the ones Spirit seems to feel he needs in his bed.

We had great fun sitting outside in the back yard where the girls would go from one to the other of us in search of a pat, a crumb to nibble, or an ear rub. Finally they settled and lay at our feet. They are wonderfully trained, except when they get so excited when someone comes to visit, then they dash around inviting the visitor to share their joy and excitement. They will wait forever for their meals until they are told okay or fingers are snapped. They know which dish is whose and each one carefully goes to the proper dish.

When I bade them goodbye they were disappointed not to come to visit with the boys, but there will be a next time. The last time they were here they jumped into the little fish pond to cool off after a run... much to everyone's dismay including mine, hoping that doggy nails wouldn't cut holes into the plastic liner (they didn't.) Next time, we'll go to the beach right away and the four of them can swim their hearts out... that is if Bliss doesn't decide to head across the lake chasing some wary goose or gull.

My visiting with their humans was enhanced by time spent with the two furry girls. Almost all my friends have animals of some kind and it's always part of the visit process for me - to spend time with them as well as my two-legged friends - makes summertime special for me.

Hope your summer is wonderful, that you're having fun and that as fall approaches, you've had many opportunities to visit people, places and things that you truly enjoy. That's what it's about isn't it? Smiling your way through a day?