Melodious Monday: I'm Ba-ack!

~Bedraggled Arwen~

So Saturday the 5 of September was supposed to be a great day. I had booked an appointment to get my hair done and then afterward Brennan had booked a cottage for us to spend 9 idyllic days for our first vacation in 8 years....well....our first vacation ever! We hadn't had a vacation since before starting to work in high school, so this was a big deal. We woke up early on the Saturday to finish packing some things, as Brennan would drop me off at the hairdresser's and continue on to the cottage (only 15 minutes from our house - gorgeous and convenient!) to unload the first bunch of items. He would then pick me up afterward, grab the dog and head on to our merry little Vay-cay. We were very lucky as we were renting the cottage from our neighbor, and while he wasn't initially thrilled with having us bring the dog (being worried, I am sure, about messes), he had relented after we had sworn to be careful and not let her mess anything at the cottage.

~One of the Ginormous Bullfrogs, About the Size of a Salad Plate~

......Yeah, well, it didn't work out that well initially. I let Arwen out first thing to go and do her usual morning business, during which I started breakfast and huffing and puffing our luggage to the entrance for Brennan to load into the car. I suddenly heard a rather triumphant bark at the back door. Tramping my way back I suddenly had one of the worst sights greet me - Arwen with....well....poop smeared all over her face. Yes, she had found some wild animal's poop and rubbed her face quite ferociously in it. My strangled growl of rage and impatience must have scared all of the wild critters for miles, but not my dog, oh no, she was so proud of her new decoration.

~A Beautiful, Wood Panelled Boat Making it's Way Down the River~

In she was dragged, straight to the shower for the fastest, and I am sure, the most thorough bath any dog has ever received, with me horrified all the while that she would smell up the cottage or mess it and make my neighbor hate us.
Once clean, I returned to the kitchen, feeling rather nauseous as I had taken my "take with food" vitamins, only to make the vitamins wait for half and hour while I scrubbed wild animal excrement from my dog's cheeks. Yeah, ew.
While eating breakfast and emptying the fridge of the perishable items to take to the cottage, I was inundated with...that smell. You know....poop. I look down and (squeamish people might want to advance to the next photo) was welcomed with a cheerful sight of dog vomit. Apparently rolling in the poop wasn't good enough. You get the idea, I am sure.
Another strangled cry escaped me, but she looked so pathetic, all bedraggled and wet that I couldn't be mad with her. I found myself comforting her, while trying not to breathe. I cleaned up the mess, hastily packed myself a lunch (my date with the hairdresser's is usually a few hours as I have massive amounts of thick hair) and ran out the door, making it to my appointment with seconds to spare.

~The View from Our Neighbor's Dock - the River is Covered with Lilypads and Waterlily Flowers~

A few hours later, my hair was done, the dog was packed (now smelling quite good) safely in the car with her seat belt, and we got to the cottage to have a dinner and sit out on the large dock to enjoy the large boats going by on a river seemingly made of glass. We had arrived! We were welcomed by some of the largest, no, make that THE largest bullfrogs I have ever seen - some as large as dinner plates - and some wonderfully friendly cottage neighbors.

~Happy to Be at the Cottage~

Coming up the small hill to the cottage, the sun setting in front of us, we were welcomed by this sight, above, of Arwen - she was very happy to be on vacation as well!

More vay-cay shots coming soon, thanks for your patience while we were away without internet access - I can't tell you how much I missed all of my blog friends!
and Arwen