Here you go folks 🥰 https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/themagicindogs.com/Community_Call_141026.mp4

I haven’t been the most magical lately after a loss. But once Yue and I got back out to fall hiking. It’s all come rushing back. To be in our favorite place doing our favorite thing. She reminds me to live in the moment. Be excited for the “small” but meaningful things. And to live life like a dog: loving , happy, and adventurous.

I really love the song 'Ordinary' by Alex Warren, and today I looked up the lyrics and thought that this line is a perfect accompaniment to the PAWS 28 Day Challenge: "...day after day we'll make the mundane our masterpiece" It aligns so well with the ideas throughout the PAWS ethos - of finding the magical in the everyday and lingering with those moments, allowing them to inhabit more than just that moment in time, becoming something more expansive, and creating a weave of glimmering threads that become a masterpiece of life lived well with dogs. ✨🌟⭐️💛⭐️🌟✨ https://youtu.be/u2ah9tWTkmk?si=--q_6Y9KGYXkvh9X

This might be a little too woo woo for some, but I had an experience that has stayed with me, and I wanted to share it. 🐝 About a month before Apache passed, I had a series of encounters with bumblebees over six days. They kept appearing on our back step, and I would gently pick them up, carry them about 500 metres to a flower, and make them honey water. One of the bees had a broken wing. I remember looking at it and wondering whether it would survive. Should I let it go? Should I put it out of its misery? I couldn’t bring myself to do either, so I chose to nurture it, give it some honey water, and let nature take its course. Two hours later, the same bee was back on our step. I knew it was the same one because it still had that broken wing. Then came the final day. Apache and I were driving an hour away to visit a puppy client on a farm at a high altitude. On the way there, I was listening to The Canine Paradigm, and Glenn Cook was talking about a woman in New Zealand who had a blind dog called Apache. He spoke about everything she’d been through, including cancer, and how she had eventually lost her sight, as well as the work that had been done with her. I was in tears listening to him. He didn’t mention my name, but he was talking about us. I was listening to someone discuss my girl and our journey together as we were driving to this client. When we arrived, I worked with a little Jack Russell puppy. During the session, the owner said to me, “Don’t look down at your foot just yet.” There was a bumblebee sitting right on my sneaker! I couldn’t believe it. After all the encounters that week, here was another one, in a place an hour from home, on a farm at a high altitude. I picked the bee up and placed it on a tree, with Apache standing right beside me. The puppy then jumped up at the bee and got stung, but thankfully was absolutely fine. But the most profound part of this whole experience wasn’t even the bees themselves. It was a calm voice inside my head that had spoken to me when I encountered the bee with the broken wing.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is our very own @Birdy O'Sheedy 's birthday, and I'm posting this to make sure that we can collectively celebrate our incredible Magic In Dogs fairy godmother. Birdy makes the world a better place, and her passion for helping people and their dogs live more magical lives together has brought together this community, which reflects Birdy's own loveliness. She is the heart and the hub of what we have here together, and I for one am thankful for all she is and does to make it such a rare and enjoyable online space. We love you Birdy, you are wondrous! In lieu of having a good photo of a birthday cake, I've put the pic of candles to represent the warm light of your spirit, Birdy. 😘✨🌟⭐️💛⭐️🌟✨😘