Snow and a sweet Christmas party...

When I went out with the dogs before dawn the ground was ground colored. An hour and a half later when I went out again the sky was thick with huge, fluffy flakes, falling slow as feathers and the ground was whiter than my poodle.
It snowed on and off all day.

This makes the dogs very bouncy.

We put in a very busy day at work, then had our Christmas party. It is always great fun, we all bring food and I must say, we can all cook. Tonight's menu had a mass of fabulous appetizers, followed by baked macaroni and cheese and some killer meatballs, as well as a huge assortment of fresh veggies. Dessert? The best cheesecake I have ever had.

Then there were gifts; the plan each year is that we draw names and just buy for the person on our list. But none of us can stand to leave a coworker out and we all get a little something for everyone on the crew. The gifts are wildly creative... this years collection went from wax lips and fun penny candy to vintage items, hand crafted items, fabulous jewelry and a wide variety of thoughtful things in between. People really put some thought and care into the gifts. I never fail to be moved by the obvious caring in that room.

When it was time to drive home the roads were wet with a greasy mixture of sleet and snow. I never went much over 30 mph, but Rachel and I sang Christmas favorites and watched the snow come down. Snow and treats and thoughtful sharing. Sweet.

Porch shots...

My version of stained glass windows... antique bottles in the sun.

Hydrangea's in mama's antique hand blown vase.

Dazzle adorns the old quilt I got at a yard sale for a song... just the thing to hide the shabby sofa, and it smells like sunshine and fresh air.

Again with the glass on glass. Sometimes I fill all the bottles with wild flowers; simple riches.

Artful grooming...

I groom dogs for a living. And I hear people with poodles or poodle mixes say the following more often than I care to: "Don't make her look like a poodle!" What people mostly mean when they say this is, "Don't do that weird groom with the bubbles on the butt and the funky shaved spaces."

I do understand the feeling. The first time I saw a poodle in a show trim, I felt the same way. But as I learned to groom and strove to achieve the true artistry in my work, I began to appreciate the talent it took to put a poodle into a Continental or English Saddle clip. These are the two accepted styles for adult poodles to be shown in at American Kennel Club breed shows.

Once in a while I attempt to put my own poodle, Dazzle, into what is known as a "Historically Correct Continental." This is a shorter trim than the show dog style, and the coat on the top of the head is trimmed into a top knot rather than left very long and tied up. It is still a lot of work! The biggest challenge, to me, is those "bubbles on the butt." They are called "rosettes," and far trickier than you might imagine to trim and shape.

Standard poodles used to be hunting dogs. They were trained to retrieve ducks and geese in water. Their heavy coats protected them from cold, but also weighed them down when wet. So, their handlers began to cut hair short in spots to reduce weight, leaving hair to cover the joints (poms on the ankles) the heart and chest cavity, (all that hair on the neck/chest/sides) and even little puffs to cover the hip bones. From utilitarian beginnings the modern oh-so-fancy and a-little-bit- outlandish styles were created. (This ends your canine history lesson for the day.)

Usually by the time I get the hair grown in well enough that Dazzle's haircut looks somewhat correct, I am sick of maintaining all that hair and I give her a very short trim. What I mean by that is that I shave her down like a sheep!

I do enjoy attempting to set this groom correctly, and scissoring the coat to a smooth and practiced finish. And Dazzle seems to enjoy the attention she gets when people see her, here in the giggle weeds of rural Maine, running about the yard with the chickens. She reminds of a girl in an evening gown hanging out at a bowling alley.

Shoemakers children...

The old story goes that shoemakers children never have new shoes.
In my line of work, I find that this dog groomers poodle does not get groomed often enough! Dazzle is 9 years old. I bought her so that I would have a poodle of my own to work on to improve my grooming skills. And it worked. Dazzle has been a patient "guinea pig," standing rock still for endless hours while I practiced and learned. I have won awards grooming her in contests... but too often I let her run wild and free with the wind and knots in her hair! Yesterday I took her to work. She was bathed, whitened, brushed and fluffed. I then spent a happy hour clipping and scissoring to my hearts content, cutting in angles to accentuate her better points, leaving hair here and there to hide flaws. Her coat is lovely, and when she is freshly styled I find that looking at her makes my heart sing. She seems to appreciate the difference, too. There is an extra bounce to her step when she sports a "new do." Here she is, after a long day at the spa, curled up by the wood stove. Perhaps she is dreaming of cobblers kids, all wearing new shoes.