biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Oct 19

#BigLove: Adopt A Shelter Dog Month — ASPCA

It’s Adopt a Shelter Dog Month and the ASPCA requested that I help spread the word about this important cause! Large dogs can oftentimes be overlooked because potential adopters think they require a spacious home and a big backyard. However, when it comes to adoption, what matters most isn’t the size of your home – it’s the size of your heart.

According to the ASPCA, to help bring attention and awareness to canine adoptables during this special month, the ASPCA is encouraging everyone this year to consider adopting a big dog via the ASPCA’s #BigLove campaign.

During the remainder of October 2015, you can tell the ASPCA why you believe BIG dogs rock and you’ll be automatically entered to win a pair of ASPCA Party Pet Pillows from Pottery Barn Teen! And if you’re a proud parent of a bigger-sized dog, please share his/her photo(s) on social media using the hashtag #BigLove and tagging @ASPCA. The ASPCA will share a few of its favorites on its social media!

*Biscuit’s Space supports dog rescue and adoption. Please remember that there are a great number of shelter and rescue dogs who are constantly looking for furever homes, and these dogs would be most grateful to receive a furever home via adoption. Dog rescue is very rewarding not only to the furry family member, but it is equally rewarding for his/her human companion.

Happy Monday!

The above image is courtesy of the ASPCA.

Oct 16

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Sisters: Wedding Day

With both of our wedding anniversaries this month, it made me think about my wedding day and my sister’s wedding day and the importance of sisterhood. I read a quote by an unknown author that summarizes sisterhood perfectly, and I mentioned this quote in my toast at my sister’s wedding. “A sister is a gift to a heart. A friend to the spirit. A golden thread to the meaning of life.” I am grateful to have my sister, Kassie, a thoughtful and genuine person, and one of the few people I have known my entire life and shares each other’s past. Below we are pictured together on each of our wedding days — exactly six years and one week apart along with a childhood photo, similar pose, circa 1980s!

My sister and brother-in-law are visiting us from Michigan for a long weekend!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Oct 14

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Victory: A Birthday Celebration — 4 years!

This past Monday, October 12, 2015, marked two years since we adopted our dear little Victory! We decided to make October 12 Victory’s birthday — the day we went to Michigan and adopted our sweet fur girl. (We also took the same approach with Biscuit’s birthday.) Victory was likely one to two years old when we adopted her, per the Michigan Sheltie Rescue.

This year, for Victory’s birthday, we did a pink themed birthday! (Last year, we did a rainbow themed birthday for Victory!) We purchased some fun pink themed decorations, candles, balloons, party hat, and new pink sweater for Victory in honor of her birthday! Victory also enjoyed some pork chops and chicken in lieu of birthday cake, which she gobbled down in no time flat! Victory looked absolutely adorable on her birthday! She had a fun birthday, a fun long weekend, and she enjoyed being over fed along with a birthday dinner in downtown Baltimore at one of our favorite pizza places! Most of all, I am grateful for Victory’s patience and cooperation. I believe Victory and I have an unspoken partnership when it comes to the camera and photographing her. Victory enjoys being photographed and she makes my job so much easier due to her participation, patience, and cooperation! We are so lucky to have our little Victory!

For Victory’s birthday, we gave her a new pink sweater; a new Orvis coat; and a new outdoor Orvis bed for our deck — she now has two Orvis outdoor beds (and three Orvis indoor beds) for our two outdoor spaces! She loves to lounge outside on the deck! Additionally, her Grandma and Grandpa in Michigan (my parents) gave her a card and a gift card to the pet store! Victory can now pick out some new toys and treats, etc.! Thank you! Victory loved all of her gifts! Below are some fun images of Victory on her birthday! Enjoy! (You can view Victory’s birthday from last year here!) Happy Wednesday!

Oct 13

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Seven Years In

Not only did we celebrate Victory’s Birthday this weekend, we also celebrated our seven-year wedding anniversary! It is difficult to believe seven years ago around this time we were getting married! Additionally, in September, while we were in Quebec on vacation, we celebrated eleven years together since our first date!

To celebrate our wedding anniversary, and with the beautiful weather over the weekend, we went to Delaware along with our fur girl! The weather on our anniversary reminded us of the day we got married — it was beautiful with the sun shinning and warm temperatures. While in Delaware, we went to the pumpkin patch, an annual tradition. Doug and Victory picked out two large pumpkins to carve on Halloween! We only know of one pumpkin patch where Victory can come along, and it happens to be in Delaware. We also celebrated with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants! We had a really nice long weekend together!

Seven years ago we promised a life intertwined together forever. I cannot imagine my life without you. I admire your character, steadfast patience, and your kindness that you show to everyone. Most of all, you are my very best friend. You are the greatest gift of my life, and each day spent with you is truly a gift. I love you and I am so honored to be your partner in life. I cannot wait to see what our life looks like in another seven years! Happy Anniversary!

Oct 9

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Photographs: Vacationing in Quebec City

We went to Quebec City in September this year, and I have finally had time to finish culling and editing the images from our vacation, our second vacation with our dear, Victory! You can view the snapshot of our vacation here, which I posted upon our return from Quebec City! (You can also view our vacation last year to Montreal, Quebec here.)

We started our vacation In Manchester, Vermont. We took Victory to Mount Equinox, and the views were just beautiful and it was so peaceful. We also previously took Biscuit to Mount Equinox, and we thought a lot about our dear Biscuit. We still miss him very much. We also took Victory to the Orvis Flagship Store where Victory had fun picking out and trying out the Orvis dog beds along with trying on her new Orvis coat! We also went to the Vermont Country Store, where I got some goodies and Victory walked around with Doug! We also visited Robert Frost’s home.

We stopped in Montreal on our way to Quebec City, and where we went to the Orange Julep! The Orange Julep has the world’s best orange juice ever!

We made it to our lake house that we rented for several weeks on the Saint Lawrence River, just outside of Quebec City. The views were beautiful and we witnessed many lovely sunsets each night! Victory loved being by the water! We also enjoyed many long walks together each day. And, we ate way too much ice cream, which was delicious — the best ever!

We also visited the vineyards located on an island not too far from where we stayed. It was very pretty with a real French-country feel. The iced cider and fire cider are very popular, as there were many apple orchards located on the island!

We went to Quebec City multiple times. On our first visit to Quebec City, we even met a native sheltie named Choco! We ate outside with Victory in Quebec City and the food was absolutely delicious! We also walked all over the city, saw the main sites, and did some shopping.

Most of all, we are grateful for our time away together. We enjoyed spending time together; getting away; having a break; having a change of scenery; and having days where we had no plans and were able to take each day as it came! Everyone was nice in Quebec City and the pace of everything was much slower than we are accustomed to, which is refreshing! Enjoy a few images from our vacation, shown below!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend! We are looking forward to this weekend! The weather is supposed to be beautiful and we are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary; and we are also celebrating Victory’s birthday! We cannot believe that our fur girl has been with us for two years on Monday already! The time is flying by and we are trying to savor it! (You can view Victory’s birthday from last year here!)

Vermont

Quebec and Quebec City

Oct 7

Dog: The Universal Language

After visiting Quebec City, a French-speaking territory, during our recent vacation, we realized that no matter what language someone speaks, everyone can relate to a dog/chien! Many people, total strangers, came up to us to meet Victory! Even though we do not speak French (Doug knows more French than I do), everyone can relate to a furry family member! Many people commented to us that they loved the Ergo Performance Carrier and others wanted to take a photo of Victory in her Ergo Carrier — and they could not believe that she liked her Ergo Carrier! For those whom we could not understand what he/she was saying to us in French, we could understand “Beau Chien!”

We rarely meet other shelties while we are out and about with Victory. However, during our first visit to Quebec City, we met a native Quebec sheltie named, Choco, a male, tri-colored sheltie, shown below! Victory and Choco met giving each other some sniffs and kisses, and the Ergo Carrier came in handy — otherwise, Victory would have been quite overwhelmed! Choco’s parents were so happy to meet Victory, even though we could not understand most of what they were saying — we could discern their excitement and enthusiasm to meet our fur girl!

Additionally, shown below, is a very short iphone video of our fluffy girl in motion during our vacation!

Happy Wednesday!

Oct 5

Two Views: Mount Equinox

During the spring of 2013, we took Biscuit to Vermont, which marked our last trip together. During this trip, we visited Mount Equinox, which Biscuit loved. It was also our first time visiting Mount Equinox, which is very beautiful. During our recent vacation, we stopped in Manchester, Vermont, on our way to Quebec. During this trip, we also took Victory to Mount Equinox, which made us think a lot about Biscuit; and we felt Biscuit there with us.

Shown below are Biscuit and Victory photographed in nearly the same place at the top of Mount Equinox along with the view from this area.

Happy Monday!

Oct 2

Victory: Photography Project — 73

Beginning in January 2014, I started a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog this year! My goal is to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories, while capturing moments of our everyday.

This past Saturday, we took Victory to Pups in the Park, and it was fun and Victory liked it, too! We even met three shelties who were also attending the baseball game, including a four-month old sheltie, named Missile, checking Victory out, pictured below! A few images from our trip to the National’s baseball game/Pups in the Park, are shown below!

This weekend, we were scheduled to head south and go away for a long weekend with our fur girl. However, with the direction of the pending hurricane, we thought that it would be best to reschedule. We, therefore, rescheduled our trip for early November, and we hope for better weather. We will have a quiet weekend and we hope to catch up on some things at home and watch some Netflix/Amazon Prime!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Sep 30

Photo Book: Engagement

When I recently made our wedding photo books, I also made a photo book of my sister’s engagement images to commemorate her first wedding anniversary, which is this weekend! I took these engagement images during the fall of 2013 when we traveled to Michigan to adopt our fur girl, Victory!

The images in this photo book are printed on matte art paper, mostly containing color images, with thick boarders surrounding each image. (You can view the inside of a sample book here.) Each image is printed on the right side and a blank page appears on the left side. This way, the viewer can focus on one image at a time.

I am pleased with the way this photo book turned out from Artifact Uprising — and my sister and brother-in-law loved it! I am a strong proponent of making my images tangible, which creates wonderful family heirlooms and joy!

Happy Anniversary, Kassie and Jason! See you soon!

Sep 28

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Around Here: September

Well, it is officially fall, our favorite time of the year! Below are some items that have occurred around here in September, a fun month, as we took our vacation during this time!

-continuing to work steadily on my project; I am about half way through drafting the draft the copy for my project; and I continue to work on the final images.

-continue to prepare filings with the U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

-we has a great vacation together. It was very nice to have a break from the normal routine along with some much needed rest. We loved Vermont and Quebec, and we had many adventures together that we will cherish always.

-we loved taking Victory to Mount Equinox, where her brother, Biscuit, also visited.

-editing images from our vacation.

-finished reading this book — a great read!

-finished reading this book — a good read!

-started reading this book — so far, an excellent read!

-on our drive home from Quebec, Doug and I listened to and finished the entire Serial Podcast, an interesting podcast. It made our time in the car pass more quickly! Next up is the Limetown Podcast!

-this was the best ice cream that we have ever had, even beating out Cow’s!

-we ate far too many Tim Horton’s pastries while we were on vacation!

-we took Victory to Pups in the Park this weekend — it was fun and Victory liked it, too!

-we got Victory’s gifts for her birthday, which is quickly approaching!

-we purchased Victory’s Halloween costume — it is just darling — and I can’t wait to share!

-Doug is working on the theme for this year’s pumpkin, an annual tradition!

-loved using the Ergo Performance Carrier on vacation — Victory absolutely loved it! Here is Doug wearing the Ergo on vacation; and here is me wearing the Ergo on vacation!

-Victory is gaining confidence. She is barking a little more in the evenings, prior to bedtime. We had three barks in one night, a record! She has started to follow me all around the house, which is a new development. She even likes to go out on the deck by herself, while keeping an eye on the neighborhood! She loved being with us during vacation and she seems to be getting more confident with each passing day!

-burning fall-scented candles all over the house!

-enjoying opening the windows and waking up to the crisp fall air in the mornings.

-enjoying cooler evenings and walks together outside, breathing in the crisper air, a welcome change from the humidity!

-enjoying the return to yoga after missing several weeks of class.

-enjoyed the first season of the original Danish/Swedish version of The Bridge.

-started the series, The Hand of God, on Amazon Prime, and so far it is really good.

-beginning to think about our annual Pawliday card!

-working on finishing framing my images for the house — I am almost finished — this project has taken a lot of time and dedication to finish!

-continuing to make more progress on our ever-growing to do list!

Happy Monday!