MaggieMoose: Be Like The Turtle

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

 "Try to be like the turtle - at ease in your own shell."

Bill Copeland

Maggie's besties:

Timmy on top

Tui on the bottom

  Maggie loves sitting by the turtle tank staring at her friends the turtles; Timmy & Tui. The turtles love to come close to the glass and stare back at Maggie. They have their own special relationship with each other. Timmy & Tui have been in our family a long time. Long before Maggie and Flint kitty, back when Maggie's human siblings were little children. Timmy was once a tiny turtle all by himself in a big tank. Then we rescued Tui, who was full grown and a pitiful mess. The turtles bonded immediately. Nowadays Timmy is almost the same size of Tui. Both are at ease in their own shell. Maggie shares their turtle wisdom and is at ease in her own shell; red eared slider turtles and one English Springer Spaniel dog.

  

MaggieMoose: Sunshine In The House

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

 "A good laugh is sunshine in the house."

William Makepeace Thackeray

Maggie is sunshine in the house! A good laugh always follows. LOL

MaggieMoose: Sunday Reset Paws

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week."

Joseph Addison

Maggie paw'sing on Sunday - Reset!

MaggieMoose: Sunday Snoozin'

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Sunday, for me, is all about being home with the family with no plans."

John Lasseter

Sunday snoozin' with the family... #NoPlans

MaggieMoose: Timeless Dogs In The Land Of Make Believe

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"There's something delicious about writing the first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you."

Beatrix Potter

MaggieMooseTracks® chasing butterflies

Maggie & me (authors of the MaggieMooseTracks® books)

 Author Beatrix Potter & her dog

  English Springer Spaniel dogs are love catalyst for words. Our inspiration for our creativity comes from authors like Beatrix Potter. Timeless magic. All I added was one English Springer Spaniel name Maggie (MaggieMooseTracks®). Then I watched my muse spring forth bong, bong, bong- taking the words on an exciting adventure! WOOF WOOF

MaggieMoose: Heartbeat Back In Time

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye."

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

  It's #ThrowBackThursday. Maggie was the puppy I wasn't suppose to get. Long story... But, when I saw Maggie my heart spoke to me. Maggie affects others the same way too. Her heartbeat of love is not an island. It beats two ways; one beat for another and two beats magnetizing others toward her. Today's photo is of Maggie around 16 weeks old during a family gathering. Maggie was scooped up in love. Maggie's heart whispered back words of "Huggy you too". Timeless. 

MaggieMoose: Jan. 22nd It's the Birthday Sprout

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Your heart is full of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout."

Morihei Ueshiba

Maggie's 3rd birthday!

  Today is Maggie's 3rd birthday. She was born on Jan. 22, 2011, on a farm in Missouri. Her birth date is the same as the famous musician Steve Perry. We love his music. And like the famous musician, Maggie has been on quite a journey since her arrival in our household. She has gone from the cutest puppy in pink to a grown up girl (still in pink) who continues to share her puppy loving ways with everyone. Now Maggie's reach is around the world in 174 countries sharing her moose size pawsabilities. Today is also special because for the first time our pink-flowering Currant plant (Ribes sanguinem) blossomed! Ironically, my daughter received that plant 3 years ago as a gift. A gift that would keep giving... Just like Maggie.

 It's early in the morning before the roosters have crowed. Maggie has her birthday toys scattered everywhere as she heads back to sleep. Zzzzs. Thank you Maggie for being in not only my life, but in all those lives you touch everyday. You are my little birthday princess who has blossomed into a beautiful girl full of moose size pawsabilities.

MaggieMoose: To The Crazy Ones...One Twig At A Time

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." 

Steve Jobs

  Last weekend I attended a Vision Board Play Shop. After I created my vision board for 2014 from magazine cut-outs of images and words I reflected on 2013. A year ago I was in the same vision board play shop. I had a dream to write one book based on my muse Maggie, my English Springer Spaniel dog. On the vision board my dream went. I wanted to make a difference in children's (or adults) lives through my fictional adventure story telling. I was going to do this through a chapter book format with full color illustrations for ages 6 up. Maggie and I wanted a book with more than pretty fluff. We wanted our book to have substance of 'moose size pawsabilities'. We'd spread the word through Maggie's love of twigs since she was already read worldwide on six continents on all the social media venues totaling 174 countries... 

MaggieMooseTracks® Book Series

I finished my vision board. My friend across the table handed me one more magazine cutout of a quote. She said the quote was true for me. In bold, red letters the words stood out "The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." I couldn't read who the quote was from, because the font was too small. I pasted the quote on my vision board. In 2013, I wrote the 1st book: Book 1 MaggieMooseTracks® Making Friends, but I didn't stop there. I wrote two more books and then had one translated into Japanese. I continued on to create so much more, too lengthy for a short blog. It's all on our MaggieMooseTracks® website (which was also created in 2013). When I came home from the play shop Maggie ran in with a little twig hanging out of her mouth. I told Maggie '... you and I are the crazy ones and we are going to change the world, one twig at a time...' 

Before I went to write today's blog I Googled the quote my friend gave me about the ones who are crazy. The author was Steve Jobs. I should have known, an inspirational visionary from our neck of the woods. I promptly wrote his name on my pasted quote. Thank you Steve for blazing the trail for us crazy ones. One twig at a time living life with moose size pawsabilities around the world. 

MaggieMoose: Camera Ready? CUT!

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art."

Ansel Adams

  Meet Lester. He's a 14 year old, hard of hearing Cocker Spaniel. What a sweet, sweet boy he was although a little deaf. Maggie and Lester were ready for pick up from the groomer's at the same time. These two cuties had two things in common, both were Spaniels and both had the same haircut. Lester's mom and myself decided to get a photo of the both of them together. Maybe make that three things they both had in common since both dogs wanted to look the opposite way when it was camera time. Hold still Lester! Maggie look this way! Off the lens they were two peas in a pod right next to each other. 

When Lester looked at the lens Maggie looked elsewhere. when Maggie looked at the lens Lester looked elsewhere. I found these two Spaniels to be predictably unpredictable. I found out photography is a creative art as I tried to line these two up for one great photo shot. I had to dig deep in my creativity pocket to work this photo shoot out. Two WOOFS from the Spaniels.

MaggieMoose: Goggle-licious Creativity & Food

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting."

Edward de Bono

  Lunch at Google's San Francisco office was great! Although Google is dog friendly work place on this trip Maggie stayed home. Maggie's human sib and I started our tour with a bang in the parking garage  How many ELFs do you know? Then up to the 4th floor to the main lobby. After the Google lobby, photos were limited per their photo policy. We obliged. Darn! The mental movie of the Google cafeteria will have to stay in my mind and replay over and over.

True confessions here: I've loved Google since it first came out. Inquiring minds need to know! Google gets me to 'my need to know' information. Onto the lunch... There was an awesome view from the cafeteria. I was allowed to take photos outside on the balcony.

The highlight came when we were just about to leave Google. We met Willa, the Weimaraner. I think my enthusiasm took her by surprise. She was a little shy. I guess I'm use to Maggie, my English Springer Spaniel who will meet & greet till the cows come home. Willa's owner gave me permission to take photos of her. Unfortunately, Willa wanted to look anywhere but at the camera. She wouldn't hold still either. Blurry images filled the camera screen. The aftermath was my photos weren't able to display Willa's true beauty and poise. In the future, if Willa's owner wants me to post one of his photos of this beautiful girl Willa, I'm happy to oblige.

We left Google thinking our Google SFO tour was over. We were wrong. Across town when we were climbing the hills of San Francisco our Subbie car was behind a Google Self Driving car! 

 Amazing what creativity can do! You GO GOOGLE! Our life in San Francisco was made more interesting thanks to Google SFO! 

PS. Yes, it's a true story, the Google cafeteria rocks! YUM and I'm still full!

MaggieMoose: New York! New York! Show Time!

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"For centuries, New York has served as the gateway for millions of people from all over the world in search of the American dream...."

 Hillary Clinton

 

  July 25th. Tonight is the night, Maggie's photos will be on display at the Angel Orensanz Foundation for Contemporary Art in New York City for its Opening Reception of The Story of the Creative. Maggie and I are humbled and appreciative we were invited to participate in this incredible international art exhibition that runs through September 10th in NYC.  We are living the American dream- all the way from the San Francisco bay area. Since we aren't able to attend in person Maggie thought she'd hop on up on the art poster for the exhibit. New York City's international gateway can add one English Springer Spaniel dog to their list of millions of people from around the world in search of the American dream. MaggieMoose is in town for 6 weeks! We thank the See.Me community for selecting us. WOOF WOOF! 
For our Twitter followers tonight's exhibition can be followed @seemecommunity #SOTC2013

MaggieMoose: Annie the Great

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Some choices we live not only once but a thousand times over, remembering them for the rest of out lives."

Richard Bach

  Today I woke up thinking of our sweet Annie. She is no longer with Maggie and me. She went OTRB on Sept 23, 2011 (over the rainbow bridge-a fond pet term for passed on).  Annie weighed all of 3 lbs and was the greatest pup. We rescued her from a Yorkshire Terrier breeder. I remember when my girls and I picked her up. The breeder was chain smoking; she had one cigarette in her mouth and one cigarette lit and burning in the ashtray. Annie smelled like cigarettes for two weeks afterwards even with us giving her multiple baths. When we brought her home her weight was only 2 lbs. Our Vet told us she had a hole in her heart. We took her to UC Davis Animal Hospital for cardiac surgery. After her surgery she grew taller and longer to reach a full 3 lbs & 4 oz. Healthy at last. Annie was pure sweetness. We had her for many years. Maggie and Annie were great pals even if Maggie grew a bit bigger than Annie's petite size. The reason I have Maggie is because of Annie. 

I knew Annie probably wouldn't last through the year (2011). Selfishly I didn't want to suffer the heartbreak I did when I lost my pal Scotty (Maltese) OTRB so, I went back to my childhood breed of English Springer Spaniels. Ironically, Annie was rescued from a horrible breeder that should have been shut down, while Maggie was from a breeder that puts "over the top" loving into her dogs. Maggie is proof of this-she is pure love. As I remember Annie's life with us I remember the first day Maggie arrived almost two years ago. My daughter Christy and I picked her up at the airport. She was the cutest, sweetest puppy. Mellow as can be. Loveable, huggable, and ready for anything. We stopped at the pet store on the way home because the collar I bought for her was too big. In the pet store I captured the moment. I took a photo of my daughter holding sweet Maggie. Ahhh.

Our little Yorkie Annie took to our new puppy Maggie immediately. Annie always was by Maggie's side. Annie shared her fleece blankets with Maggie. Annie was a big 'fleece blanket' aficionado. She loved her cozy, just like Maggie loves her cozies now. In remembering my choices; rescuing Annie and later purposely choosing Maggie, I would do it all in a heartbeat again. Annie was so full of love and sweetness. Her passing was rough, but Maggie's presence was a wonderful help to ease the transition. I was able to wake up and still smile even if I missed my 3 lb buddy Annie. Both my dogs Annie and Maggie have blessed my life. It is in remembering their loving essence at different stages in their sweet doggy lives that puts a smile on my face today. 

MaggieMoose: Paige- Puppy Love Chronicles

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

William Shakespeare

Paige

  Puppy ears-the best! When I first got Maggie as a puppy the one part of her body that was so easy to stroke were her velvety ears. She would lay across my lap and I would stroke her ears while she slept. We both liked that. Win-Win. Her sweet little vibes came back to me with each stroke. I imagine it was like being on the end of a good massage for her. Maybe comforting too. As an adult dog, in the winter the best thing Maggie loves is her ears being stroked. She comes in from the cold and sits next to me while I'm at the laptop. I stroke her now much bigger velvety freezing ears. I can feel them warm up. When her ears are warm she's ready to go find a toy. At nighttime she lays next to me while we spend time together and I play with her ears. Maggie melts. I might be partial to the velvety, plush feeling of English Springer Spaniels' ears, but my other dogs before Maggie loved their ears being stroked too. 

We both feel a special connection when we touch. Maggie loves the loving. She also hands me (or any human available) her paw to stroke. Foot massage? The paws are a whole other chapter! A touch of nature between two creatures makes our world kin. Sweet!

Maggie as a puppy

My what lovely ears you have!

MaggieMoose: Neighbor Dog's World

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"What a dog I got, his favorite bone is in my arm."

Rodney Dangerfield

  Maggie and I have realized we live in a dog world. Maggie likes that. I know because she's all about the WOOF WOOF let's go for a walk! Or a car ride! One day we decided to take a MaggieMoose non-scientific poll. We wanted to see if when we went out & about would it be possible to NOT see a dog walking with their human? The first day we tried this experiment every human we saw was walking two dogs at a time! WOW-a lot of doggy love happening in the neighborhood. I guess some humans want more than on dog. Great news for Maggie's canine pals. 

One day of poll taking wasn't enough for our non-official poll so, we carried on our work for a few more days. We saw people walking one dog at a time. Lots of people in fact. All this exercise and human-canine bonding. Most excellent we thought. We know the most popular dogs in our neighborhood are the Golden Retrievers or Labrador Retrievers, but we saw a lot of shorties too. The big dogs stroll at their leisure. The shorties were the quick movers and shakers. We were almost unable to capture them on camera-blitz & gone.

We'd feel like David Attenborough if we were able to spot an English Springer Spaniel like Maggie. English Springer Spaniels are a rare species in our neighborhood. No such canine on our little poll. We did see many dogs species like the friends Maggie has in the virtual pet world (Twitter, Blogs or Facebook). From 100% mutt to Pitt Bull to Pug to WOW-what was that kind? Our conclusion is that every time we go out we will see at least one dog. We live in a dog world here. WOOF WOOF to that! We think that for a lot of these walking dogs their human's arm must be their favorite bone as they lead them about their neighborhood walk. 

Maggie & I were so impressed by our non-scientific poll that we decided to create a column called "Neighbor Dog" when our web page is unveiled. It will be online soon, shortly, in a couple weeks according to what our web guy says. Maggie read somewhere we are only separated by 6 degrees of separation.... Since Maggie's world is global we want to highlight pets from around the world which includes our local neighborhood too. If anyone has a pet they want Maggie to highlight in our Neighbor Dog column please send us a photo and some info too (who, what, where, when, why) to our email: maggiemoosetracks@gmail.com. All animals are welcome (cats, horses, rabbits, etc.)-they can have their Dog Day! WOOF WOOF

MaggieMoose: L-O-V-E Refreshment

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life."

Pablo Picasso

  Maggie is the Princess of Hearts in our home. She wears her princess crown and carries out her royal duties with grace. Maggie knows when to have her manners about her. She's always camera ready for me. When her crown comes off she's a St. Bernard dog hug, licks and kisses in an English Springer Spaniel body. I have a Valentine's Day card everyday from Maggie. She's the living & breathing version of the multilingual song L-O-V-E made famous by Nat King Cole. Her love needs no translation.  

L is for the way you look at me 

O is for the only one I see 

V is very, very extraordinary 

E is even more than anyone that you adore can 

Head to toe Maggie's got the LOVE thing down pat. My girl is always willing to share a body hug, a snuggle, a lick or two in kisses, or chase a ball and bring it back to me. We walk about and admire the flowers on this special Valentine's Day. Love really is the best refreshment like the pretty primrose flowers on our brisk morning walk. All I can say to Maggie is:

Love

 Love You

 Love

 I love You!

Happy Valentine's Day Maggie!

Wanna hear some Love? 

CLICK YOUTUBE: Nat King Cole - LOVE (Multilingual Version)  

MaggieMoose: Old Dogs Rule

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Everyone is the age of their heart."

Guatemalan Proverb

  Last Friday Maggie went to the groomer's. It was her bi-monthly trim. English Springer Spaniels get longish hair with feathering on their legs. I prefer to keep Maggie's hair short.  She's not a show dog, just an everyday dog. A short hairdo cuts down on dog hair around our place. It also keeps outside seeds of burrs, foxtails and more from attaching to her. Maggie told me last Friday was "old dogs rule" day. We met a Golden Retriever in the tub waiting to get a scrub a dub dub. Our impression was he was like the old, sage Shaolin monk referred to as "the blind Master Po" in the Kung Fu TV show. The show starred the actor David Carradine who was referred to as Grasshopper. This old dog just had that Master Po vibe. Next to the Master Golden in the tub were some old dogs chilling on the bench with the fans on to dry them. They might have been old, but they were youthfully curious. Who's the kid? Maggie, I think they mean you Grasshopper.

Maggie walks in the back. The old dogs must have recognized Maggie. They went back to their comfortable positions of laying prone. Maybe they had more to contemplate or perhaps banter between the two of them? These old guys knew the grooming drill. It looked like they took it in stride like a day in the park. Nothing to shake their tail feathers like it might a young buck or lass.

Time went by. I think while I was gone Maggie had a few sage lessons from Master Golden on mental and spiritual power. 

Maggie shared with me that although bodies may slow down, everyone is the age of their heart. I think Maggie must be a toddler. Her wiggle butt was full throttle and she completely forgot her manners. She was about to open the door herself. Patience Grasshopper! 

Wanna gsee retro TV? CLICK: Kung-Fu TV Show Compilation: Wise Sayings

Happy Birthday & Merry Twigmas To You Einstein!

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree."

Albert Einstein

Merry Twigmas

  Today is Albert Einstein's birthday. Meanwhile, it is also our friend John's birthday. Maggie and I thought it appropriate to give them a shout out. Einstein is Maggie's poster boy (she loves the brains & hair) while John is her friend. Bonus plan for Maggie, John is another English Springer Spaniel aficionado. Maggie wants to say Happy Birthday to Einstein and John in her best voice, here it goes.... WOOF! WOOF! OK, sometimes the big guns need to come out for special occasions. Maggie decided to enlist some other dog pals to sing Happy Birthday in bark-ese. Click the YouTube link: Dogs Singing Happy Birthday and bark along. Birthday greetings aside, Maggie has been trying to combine the arts, sciences, and religions all in one Christmas card. She's got the tree lights, she has the tree branch (her favorite), the holiday, and the art of looking marvelous in her comfy, doggy throne. We already have a couple different poses with different twigs. How lucky can I be? Every time she goes outside she brings in a new twig? Maybe we can do a calendar for the 12 days of Twigmas? Maggie is wondering what is her best side; the twig on the right or the twig on the left? Oy vey, such decisions. 

Merry Twigmas to you!

MaggieMoose: Dog SUPER MODEL

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Beauty has a lot to do with character."

Kevyn Aucoin

MaggieMoose: dog super model

  Maggie takes her photos seriously. She willingly poses for me. She will hold a pose for the longest time. I can tell she loves it. It's the twinkle in her eyes that gives it away. She loves the act of acting like a dog super model. I think she takes pride in her work. Well, she is from America's heartland where hard work, integrity and pride of one's work is valued. Maybe it's in her English Springer Spaniel roots. She's just a country girl at heart that rolls up her sleeves and gets it done. Yesterday thanks to the rain the fresh green grass was so beautiful. I wanted Maggie to sit and pose in front of it to show off her beautiful coat contrasting the green. She sat and posed for me as I started taking her photos. Then I notice that her lip on her right side was eschew. Her smile wasn't symmetrical. I didn't care. I kept taking photos. Later when I reviewed the photos I noticed that Maggie noticed her lip was out of place. Beauty really does have to do with character. What a character my Maggie is!

First she aligns the left side.

Then she corrects her right side.

Finally, all is well-perfectly posed.

She held this pose and didn't move a muscle! 

I guess she was happy with this look!