Sunny days...

Simply... Wow. We are coming off three amazing days of weather. It is pouring rain right now, and the temperature is dropping to a more seasonal 15°C tonight, but the last few days here have been hot and sunny. Excellent. We have been outside all day, every day, since last Thursday. Needless to say, Jake has been sleeping straight through the night without interruption since Thursday! He hasn't done that since his teeth started coming in early December.

Little Man Jake is 10 months old now, and doing fine. He's a real mover. Now that he's crawling, he's hard to keep track of. In and out of rooms like a game of cat and mouse. This delightful weather has afforded him many opportunities to explore outside. Not crazy about the grass touching his bare legs (yes, it's been warm enough for shorts!), so he crawls around on his tippy-toes and finger-tips! I introduced him to the sandbox today and, as expected, he attempted to taste the sand, just as he did while we were in Florida. Not so quick to learn those life lessons... yuck.

The burst of sunshine really did a lot to lift my spirits. I have been terribly down since we lost Jasmin. I'm finding her absence very difficult to accept. Every day I am reminded of her a million times. Most memories now bring a smile to my face, but occassionally the smile is quickly followed by tears, just as forceful as the night we said goodbye. Incredible how deeply we love our animal friends.

But alas, Spring brings new life. Lots of new puppies on the street - a Jack Russell Terrier names Taffy, a Pug named Mr. Wiggles - and new babies too. Hello and welcome to our friend Tasleem's new nephew Aidan, and our friend Christopher's first daughter Hazel. Congratulations to all. It is a wonderful life, and we are so fortunate to have others to love, no matter what the species.

Enjoy your season, whatever it may be.

Captions (in order): Quinn and I last week, hamming it up for the camera | Jake exploring the yard yesterday | Jake, pleasantly plump after today's lunch.