Alphabet Photography Project Cruising with a Dog

Alphabet Photography Project | S is for Sally

Thursday, January 28, 2016TheCambrians


Welcome to another installment of the Alphabet Photography Project and the letter S. There’s only one S in my life and, considering one has been my home for the last 15 years, logic would dictate that it’s “sailboat” . . . or “sailing”. But it’s not. A good second guess would be “Stephanie” since that’s my name (and it darn well better be the most important S in David’s life). But no. My S stands for “Sally”, our four-legged friend for almost 18 years.

I picked her up from a farm in Andover, Kansas when she was just a pup and hardly a day passed over the next 18 years when we weren’t together. In fact, we were inseparable to the point that some people would call me Sally . . . and I’d happily answer. I don’t think we had that “hey, your dog looks like you” thing going on, but personality-wise she was definitely her mother’s “daughter”. But for some reason beyond my understanding, dogs don’t live as long as people . . . or parrots (really, why do they need to survive for 100 years? What purpose does that serve?). And one day in June, we had to say our good-byes. 

That was a year and a half ago and we still miss her like crazy, possibly to the point of being unhealthy but I really don’t care (I’m not the one who refuses to throw out her dog biscuits, after all – that’s David). We talk about getting another dog (well, I say things like “I really want another dog” and David ignores me) but are trying to be patient. Having a dog aboard can make travelling to other countries difficult (depending on the countries), so we really need to decide where and when we’re going next before we make the commitment.
I have a lot of great pictures of Sal. She was a beautiful girl, after all (boy did she know it!), and choosing just one was difficult. My favourite is one of her standing in the snow at Christmas time. We had just returned to the US from New Zealand and were visiting family in Kansas for the holidays. She looked incredible against the white background, if I do say so myself. But I use it a lot so I chose this one of her in the cockpit of Cambria as we were sailing up the coast of New Zealand because it’s quintessentially Sally and shows off her difficult (and funny) personality. Life was always a battle with our headstrong dog and on this particular day she was pouting because we wouldn’t let her go on deck while we were under way (2 metre ocean swell be damned!) . . . you can see why we miss her so much!

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