Zef and a Happy Jar

I have had a little blogging hiatus.

Merry Xmas and a very Happy New Year!

Summer is such a lovely time to be away from the computer, I have simply not felt like blogging. It has taken some scorching heat to drive me back indoors.

I heard of a great idea to celebrate the new year, and remember the old. A memory jar - filled with happy memories - you can see some great examples here. A jar of happiness brimming with good times, breath taking moments, little nature moments, acts of kindness, goals achieved, hilarious, big belly laughs, things that made you gasp and joys that filled your eyes. I might see if I can convince the kids to start one.


I think my blog is somewhat like that, a memory jar, with mostly the good stuff in it. I'm not sure really who it's for, or what it's main theme is, it is a little direction less, as I am wont to be. I really admire blogs that talk about everything and can be brutally honest, it takes talent to write about sad and dark things. A jar to look back on is still a fine thing, and so I am inspired to write again.

It would be fun to make a nasty jar too, perhaps one to burn at Halloween, filled with shades of brown and black. Perhaps it would be cathartic to notice the crap moments, acknowledge their shittiness, and put a lid on them. The beauty of this is that you needn't have shared the gloom with those around you.

Filling our lives with happy (and sometimes not so happy) memories is our new canine companion.

Meet Zef, or the Zeffalump as we sometimes call him, especially when he's stretched out luxuriously on our shag rug. The shag rug that we recently took outside and gave a thoroughly good beating, so much more satisfying and thorough than a vacuum, and very necessary after a few visits from a dog losing his winter coat.

The name Zev, is Hebrew for wolf, we started calling him that, but it ended up coming out more often as Zef. We also use Zephyr. He looks very wolfy. He's a Norwegian Elkhound. I kind of feel a little bit silly getting a pure bred dog, but we were at the Kyneton Show looking at all the breeds and doggy antics, and fell in love. He's around 10 months old and has been keeping us on our toes since December. We changed his original name to one that suits our kooky sensibility, it is such a long time that you use a dog name for, and he didn't come when called to his original name in any case.

We are dog people, and really pined the company of our old dog Sam. I thought it would be longer before we went down that doggy road, but here we are again - a dog to see our children turn into adults. They adore him.

The Norwegian Elkhound is the National dog of Norway. It is an ancient breed once used by the Vikings, and kept to hunt elk, bear and moose, hence the name. We knew of no one else who owned a Norwegian Elkhound so have gone into this doggy adventure a little blind.

The good -

• He's very loving and not barky as the breed can apparently be. 
• He is very gentle with the children and takes food from them shyly.
• He is getting along well with other dogs and looks the other way when yappy dogs are around. 
• He's very playful and goes silly when we throw a bone in the air for him. Still working on the ball, he will fetch it a couple of times but quickly loses interest.
• He doesn't smell, and his coat feels divine.  He is currently "out of coat", so will get twice as fluffy. He is happy for us to brush him, and his coat is far easier to manage than our old dogs, which was prone to matting.
• He is very light on his feet and has a prance like run.
• He's quite calm for a puppy, and will happily lie around at our feet for most of the day.
• He seems clever and trainable, we have taught him to sit and are now working on stay and come.
• He's got personality.
• He thinks we're awesome and gives us the best greetings.

The bad -

• He doesn't come if it doesn't suit him, and he likes to run free - he's very fast so this is a big problem. This morning he was playing a game of dodge with me after escaping out our front gate - good exercise for him and me no doubt, but not my favourite start to the day. There has been a lot of fencing work going on around here.
• There is quite a bit of dog hair around, I'm hoping this is a temporary thing.
• There has been a little digging in my garden and he is very keen on making a cool spot to lie in our sandpit. This involves a lot of flinging of sand and destruction of sand castles.
• He is a little keen on the guinea pigs - in a not so happy way.  We think we may need to find them a new home.
• He will pull on the lead if we are not firm with him and he likes to bolt out the door before anyone else.

It is lovely to have a dog around again, warts and all, our family didn't feel quite complete without one.