Our last full day together as a family – I’m soooo happy that hubs convinced me to do this. I really didn’t think it was an appropriate time, and I’m kicking myself as a photographer for never having our own family portraits done. Bromley was still pretty happy here, and I’ll definitely remember that :-)

Photographer: Grandma

Holder of squeaky fishy: Grandpa

The last two weeks have been tough for our family and extended family. Late last night, we said good bye to our dear Bromley.

Adopted 12 years ago in Vermont, Bromley has been by my side through life in Vermont, Boston and Cape Cod. His stunning good looks turned heads everywhere he went, but his sweet personality also melted every single heart he came across. I’d like to say he was the best dog ever on earth, but I also enjoy that we all feel that way about our own dogs. They’re so easy to love.

Twelve days ago, Bromley was rushed into surgery for a ruptured tumor on his spleen. The spleen was removed, but more cancerous tumors were found on his liver. At his age and having lost so much blood, our only option was to close him back up and help him heal. At this point, Bromley had been the most healthiest of dogs, and we felt whacked with too sudden of a change in fate.

Bromley received so much love and care for the next week. We are incredibly grateful to be bestest friends with our vets, and to have their support, love and knowledge through every stage. The entire staff at Hyannis Animal Hospital was amazing with us and with Bromley. We were also so amazed to have one of the staff offer her Mastiff as our double blood donor during Bromley’s surgery – we’ll forever be grateful, and I hope you soon meet her and her dogs here on my site.

Bromley’s transfusion started to wear off a week later, and his body wasn’t catching up in regenerating its own blood. He grew tired and weak, but with encouraging test results, we decided to give his body more time by tracking down another matching blood donor – thanks so much to my parents and their golden retriever, Rigley!

We had the most amazing weekend. It was Bromley’s 12th birthday and he was full of spunk. We laid in the grass and sunshine for hours each day – Bromley’s favorite passtime. I sniffed his fur, and sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. He enjoyed steak and chicken, and even a little birthday ice cream. We lounged with neighbors who stopped for a belly rub, and we captured some family photos of ourselves with my parents’ help. We soaked up your wonderful comments via Facebook and Twitter. Our young pup, Brewer, remained delicate and loving with his big brother.

And then it was Monday. Bromley was quickly giving out again, and we knew that we wouldn’t push any further. Our goal was to keep him comfortable and let him go in peace. A few more friends surrounded us, our vets even bringing a bottle of Llama-brand wine – Bromley’s most common nickname (short for the elongated “Bramallama”)! We toasted, shared memories and let this incredible chapter in our lives come to a close.

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I wanted to share a couple of things. One, you shouldn’t be afraid to read books about dogs because of the eventual subject of death. I credit Merle’s Door and The Art of Racing in the Rain as HUGELY helpful in getting me through this time. If you want to borrow one of my copies, just let me know.

Two, the next time you go in for a vet appointment, please consider asking about your local blood donor list. I assumed this kind of thing was taken care of by big city hospitals, but when it comes down to a dog on the operating table, your vet often relies on a local list to find a matching blood donor. Bromley’s second transfusion – thankfully not an emergency – came a day late because we could not find a match and the emergency facilities were out of stock. This is a free test if you are willing to be a donor.

Thank you so much for your love, energy and thoughts. It has been wonderful to be part of such a supportive dog-loving community at a time like this.

XO

What a goooorgeous weekend! Blissful weather in the 70s, sun shining, slight breeze blowing.

We went into this weekend knowing it was going to be 110% relaxation. I cancelled a shoot in Vermont to be by the side of our eldest pup, Bromley, who was rushed into emergency surgery last week. More on that to come, but right now we’re just enjoying long, lazy afternoons, laying in the grass and soaking up the sun. Bromley’s favorite things :-)

You can bet there will be more photos to come, as I employed my lovely mom to give a hand with our family portraits. But for today I thought I’d share a couple of Brewer, the little brother who is having a wee bit of a hard time relaxing as much as the rest of us. He has been pacing around the yard, picking up sticks, munching on grass, securing the perimeter… Thank goodness for the occasional squeaky fish.

Well, I’ve succeeded is spending two years looking around at all the album vendors yet never actually ordering a sample.

That’s not true… One time I ordered a client album under such a tight deadline that I had it drop-shipped and never even saw it. How SAD!

Anyway, with all the off-season vendor sales that are swimming around in my inbox these days, I decided to go ahead and finally order one. This is 10×10″ with 30 pages.

I upgraded to UV protection paper and hinged pages that lay flat. Learned a couple of things along the way… namely that I hate the glossy UV paper (gah!), and that I need to order one more start page because all the photos I planned to show side-by-side are instead a page off. Oopsie. And this is the back of the book. The text is all chocolate, as is the spine of the book. After a recent trip (read: hours) to Paper Source, I’m really feelin’ the chocolate, gray and cream combo for my branding. Got home that day and realized that my website already had the gray, ha!

I absolutely love the idea of Display Books for my pet clients, because one of the most common things they are faced with when ordering is the idea of not looking like a freak when their friends come over to visit. Somehow it’s okay to have photos of your kids everywhere in the house, but a little more curious when it’s your dog. This is another great reason to cluster your wall prints or canvas together on a wall if you can’t decide on just one to hang.

All in all, I’m glad I have a sample and learned some tweaks. I do have plans to try another vendor this spring, and will likely pick one session to depict as a full story in the album… so stay tuned for a peek!

More photos from our hike of Chequessett Neck in Wellfleet, MA! This time I’d like to introduce you to Woody – a newly adopted addition to our friendship circle.

Woody is a ~one year old Catahoula mix from Louisiana. He’s the softest damned dog… both his fur and his sweet personality. So relaxed (except maybe that time he got bored with the interior of the car). And don’t you just love his different color eyes?

Tim and Alicia have fallen instantly in love, and have been great to take Woody to all their favorite ocean spots as he gets used to this new sandy life. I have a series of these shots that just make my heart melt… and Woody looks so at home.
Woody was adopted through the small volunteer group, Mutts4Rescue, based in the south and in Portsmouth, RI. He made the trek to New England with a group called Rescue Road Trips.

Congratulations once again to Tim, Alicia and Woody! We’re so happy to see your family and hearts grow! XO

Looking back, we have a lot of family Easter egg hunt photos from the last five years or so, chronicling the lives of our growing nieces and nephew. Considering one particular year was covered in a foot of Vermont snow, it was quite amazing that we had a lunch-time barbecue on the back deck this year! I thought I’d share a few springy photos of the hunt, the digging party (I knew we were keeping that huge pile of dirt for a reason), and even a peek at the resulting outdoor shower that followed for each of the kids.

Can you find the egg? I honestly did not remember one bit that I planted a bunch of crocus bulbs last year… such a fun surprise!

To give credit where credit is due, these beautiful children are the wonderment of my brother-in-law Eric and his wife Jill.

Uncle Gary (he’s with me) gave quite a show – lots of digging, wheel-barrelling, and even pulling out a real live chain saw! With all the dirt-digging and excitement, each of the kids filed in for an outdoor shower before the long drive home!

I hope you had a beautiful spring holiday, and that you’re enjoying this early warmth and blooming!

Talk about an exciting photo gig! I’ve photographed Paul Pierce and the entire Celtics team before, but when I learned – just a few days before – that this particular event was going to be a Texas Hold’Em poker tournament I literally squealed!

I think it’s safe to say that a fun time was had by all who attended the event, with prizes and donations going to the CAVU Foundation. And wouldn’t ya know it… Paul won the entire thing!!!! 

Last Friday, I arrived home after two long weeks of travel. I was in Boston for a week, dog- and house-sitting for one of my favorite photography clients, and then I spent much of the week after with marketing colleagues and clients at IBM’s worldwide headquarters in Westchester County, NY. I drove home this past Friday, arriving in the afternoon to unpack and take two big sniffs of dog fur. When Gary came home from work, it was so awesome to just curl up on a couch, no TV,  sipping on wine while catching up. Ahhhhh….. It feels damn good to be home.

My week in Boston – where I was able to walk to the park, the stores, my office, and to friends’ apartments – left me feeling like I really wanted to be closer to a city. I’ve been frustrated with the fact that we have to literally drive to every place we need to go on Cape Cod. The grocery store is down the street from the Post Office, the dog food is 20 minutes away, and the dry-cleaner is in another direction. Nevermind a cup of coffee. I love Portsmouth, NH, in particular, for its community and closeness. But as soon as I returned from Boston that weekend, I went for a long run on quiet roads and cranberry bogs (no traffic lights!). I tossed a toy for our dogs in our big back yard. And we romped the beach the next morning. I’ve realized that I really do love it here, but for our next home (soon) we’ll be looking to be no more than a mile outside of one of the Cape’s adorable village centers. Maybe even with an outbuilding for my studio!

Now that I’m officially home to a regular schedule, I was happy to seal the deal with a weekend of sunshine for our annual pilgrimage out to Chequessett Neck in Wellfleet. We gathered up a total of nine people and five dogs for the trek, so you can imagine there will be many more dog photos to come! But in the meantime, a little slideshow of the gorgeous scenery we got to partake in!

Welcome SPRING! (it’s a good thing I bought a new raincoat last week…)

chequessett slideshow 1 slideshow 2 slideshow 3 slideshow 4 slideshow 5 slideshow 6 slideshow 7 slideshow 8

We gathered a big group of friends and dogs to hike Chequessett Neck in Wellfleet, MA this past Saturday. It’s an incredible place, so pristine, and we aim to get out there every year around the start of spring – before the Cape starts to fill up with visitors and stricter beach regulations. Chequessett is part of the Federally-recognized Cape Cod National Seashore.

On our way in from the three-hour hike (one hour each way, plus one hour to bunker down against the dunes, basking in sunshine and snacking on some wine and cheese), we tipped our hats to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) rescue team that was heading out to a stranded dolphin. Unfortunately, we alerted them to a second stranded dolphin that was still breathing at the farthest-most point of Chequessett Neck. News of these strandings in Wellfleet has been in our papers and television reports for the past week, and teams of amazing folks like IFAW are doing all they can to help in the most natural way.

IFAW is an incredible worldwide organization that is headquartered right here on Cape Cod. I’ve been following them since I was a teen, and I consider it such a great honor to be able to personally greet and thank members of their rescue team. You can follow them on Twitter at @action4ifaw.

We’re loving the Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook and took a page out for baking a special treat on this lovely Saturday morning! This one even has tomato paste, spices, and mozzarella in it!

Oat flour, brown rice flour, tomato paste, fresh mozz, roasted red peppers, grated parmesan, dried rosemary, dried oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, one egg and some water… Smelled like human dinner to us!