Photo of the Month (Jan 2021)

 A snowfall here this weekend.

Not a lot
and by Monday it had virtually all melted.

Still enough to enjoy;

So here is a selection of snow photos.

A snowman and his snow dog taking a rest

Snow on a branch

Pearl on a snowy walk

My favourite photo

Ruby and Amber playfighting in the snow

Dogs and Lockdown

This has been a difficult year for everyone,
especially during the lockdowns.

Those of us with dogs have been fortunate.

Our pet dogs have been a comfort during this time.

We also realize our dogs are encountering problems.
They have picked up on our worries and anxieties.
How they show this varies.

Those who acquired puppies in the past year
have had problems socializing and training them. 

Classes have been forced to close.

Though my wonderful dog Pearl is a mature dog
having just turned 6 years
she too is not the same.

She has become reticent meeting other dogs.
If they don't have very good doggy manners
(rush up, uninvited)
she becomes snappy.
Sometimes for no apparent reason she barks. 

Pearl(behind) and Lucy

Unfortunately right now there is little I can do.
We continue to walk with "family";
Her aunt Lucy 
and her son Toby

(I collect them and walk 2 dogs sometimes 3)

When we can finally meet up with people
(even if we have still can't hug)
I intend to find dogs of all ages to walk with.

To that end I have joined

South Glos Dog Walks & Events FB group.

Hopefully the groups will be smaller than
the Labrador Group I met up with
a couple of years ago at Ashton Court.

Pearl sitting in the middle (quite happy)

It was great fun
but
there were too many.
Pearl was continually looking for me
instead of enjoying doggy company.

Read of the Month(Jan 2021)

 With all that is happening at the moment;-

• the pandemic (insufficient information)
• the riot in the States (conspiracy theories) 

knowing a source that collects information and data from a variety of sources and then analyses it carefully is an essential antidote.

As it says on the dust jacket 

"...carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts"

greatly reduces anxiety, worry and stress. 

The tag line of the book is hugely encouraging

"Ten reasons we're wrong about the world and why things are better than you think"

What is the book?

The title is simply

Factfulness 
by
Hans Rosling

This is a book can be read many times.

As the title suggests it gathers facts and then orders them logically and systematically to clarify thinking. 

In order to continue to examine facts and inform people, the author, 

who is Swedish, set up the organization "Gapfinder".

https://www.gapminder.org/

As they state this is 

"an independent Swedish foundation with no

• political
• religious
• economic

affiliations".

Its mission is

"to fight devastating ignorance with a fact-based world view".

The author is now dead but his son Ola Rosling and daughter-in-law Anna continue his work.

This is a book I would suggest everyone read. 

Wonderful.