hot weather as a start to Autumn

It's been a while since I posted, but the hot weather we've been having takes the energy out of me and out of Penny.

But we still manage a walk most days, even though often a short one if it's a hot day.

Yesterday we headed off to Yarra Glen for a Bowen therapy session for both human and canine together.

And how wonderful it was, for me with a sore aching back and Penny with her arthritic joints.

On the way home we stopped off briefly at Heide Museum of Modern Art for a quick lunch. There's a huge garden with outdoor sculptures and various installations, and many old, substantial shade trees. Dogs are welcome as long as they are kept on lead.

However, because Penny and I had been in an air-conditioned car driving the fifty minutes down from Yarra Glen in the hills, I hadn't realised how hot it was, even in the shady outdoor section of the cafe. I had already ordered my lunch, so while we waited I quietly poured my drinking water onto Penny. (As you can see in the photo, the kindly waiter had brought the dog drinking bowl inside for us.

dogs understand how to be sneaky

While I was working on the compost pile yesterday, I scraped off the top layers of shredded paper and garden greens, revealing an underneath layer of well-rotted kitchen scraps.

When I looked toward the pile from the other side of the garden, Penny was nearby, licking her lips, and I reckon there was a ring of black around her mouth, though I couldn't be sure from that distance. If she'd been a human, she'd have been whistling unconcernedly and glancing aside innocently. As it was, she stood her ground, her tail at mid height, enduring my suspicious stare.

We faced each other for minutes rather than seconds, she the picture of nonchalance, until she decided I wasn't going to move. She headed inside the house and didn't come out again.

I've put a barrier in front of the compost, even though the 'tastiest' bits are now safely reburied under boring mulched branches and leaves and such like.

She wouldn't have been near the compost today, anyway, because she was with me at Yarra Glen, having a wonderfully relaxing and health-enhancing Bowen therapy from Deb.

Today: high bushfire danger. The temperature reached 31°C. Tomorrow's predicted weather: top of 22°C.

I think Dr Tim Entwistle is right. It's time we realised the 'seasons' we've inherited from Europe don't apply to Australian conditions. Today was summer and tomorrow is predicted to be spring. I'll start adding Dr Entwistle's Sprinter and Sprummer to my vocabulary. Or, perhaps I could investigate the traditional seven seasons of the earliest inhabitants of this area, the Wurundjeri people.

The Wurundjeri clan that inhabited the Melbourne area would often spend the summer months upon the banks of the Yarra and its tributaries. In winter, they would often head to the Dandenong Ranges (known as Banyenong) to make use of its timber for firewood and shelter. Wurundjeri divided their year into seven seasons rather than the familiar four. The arrival of a new season was based on the onset of a natural event such as the blooming of wattle or the first appearance of the blue wren.

As Penny and I drove home from another delightful Bowen session at Yarra Glen with Deb, we stopped at Warrandyte - lunch for me and a swim in the Yarra for Penny, seeing today was a foretaste of summer. We met some girls who'd seen a snake swimming in the river yesterday and I asked them whether the snake swam with its head up out of the water. They said it was flat on the surface of the water. It bothers me that if Penny saw a snake in the water she might think it was a stick and swim towards it.

But it wasn't likely there'd be any snakes around where we swam today, at a delightful little sandy beach, because of the...

horses!

Penny didn't even see them the first time she dashed into the water to collect the stick I threw.

It was only when she was shaking out her wet fur that she decided it might be a good idea to stay well back from these enormous dogs. (She hasn't been near horses before.)

Once I threw her stick back into the water she was off again, not in the least bothered by the horses.

Or the inquisitive ducks...

Bowen therapy again at Yarra Glen

Penny dashed inside when we arrived at the little cottage in the hills, ready for another session of Bowen therapy. It was fascinating to see her shift around during the session, presenting different parts of her body to Deb, as if saying, 'Here. Just here,' like Han Solo said, touching his face right near his mouth, when he wanted Princess Leia to kiss it better.

I've searched the Net, but I can't find the clip of that bit. What a pity. But maybe it gives me an excuse to look at the original Star Wars trilogy   yet again.


Deb doesn't kiss it better. She 'bowens' it better. And she provides great room service, lol.

Here she is bringing fresh water for Penny. (It's important for the dogs to drink when they're having Bowen treatment.
  

Bowen therapy for skin conditions and for joint aches and pains

Another pleasant trip to Yarra Glen today for Penny's Bowen treatment and for Reiki. We go there regularly.

And I'd better confess up front that her human - me! - has a wonderful Bowen session too, and loves it. (After all, it's my duty to check out what Penny's experiencing, isn't it?)

Penny's featuring on the Facebook page for the therapy studio - Bow-Rei Me. Doesn't she look relaxed and happy?

I'm optimistic that the therapy is not only making a difference to her joint pains, but also helpful to her itchy skin.