We had several inches of snow recently and I found myself feeling melancholy about seeing the beautiful snow covering the trees and my backyard. Two years ago I captured probably one of my best photos, of my dog Sherman, playing in the snow. He so enjoyed just laying in it, it was hard to get him to come into the house despite the cold. He looks so perfect in this photo. How could I have known that a month later the Vet would find he had a tumor in his tummy and that cancer had moved into his lungs? So in February, we had one more short week together and then I said goodbye to him on the 8th. I have this image blown up as a print on my wall and truly treasure the nearly five years we had together. I was grateful the snow only lasted a couple of days and then the rain moved in and everything melted. Luckily we don't get snow very often here in Port Townsend but it will take me a while before I can view snow again without being sad. 

I love the poems Mary Oliver wrote in her book Dog Songs.

“And it is exceedingly short, his galloping life. Dogs die so soon. I have my stories of that grief, no doubt many of you do also. It is almost a failure of will, a failure of love, to let them grow old—or so it feels. We would do anything to keep them with us, and to keep them young. The one gift we cannot give.”
― Mary Oliver, Dog Songs