Tika & Her "Cousins" & Cookies

 On Christmas eve day, Tika rode with Handy Man and Nice Lady south to Pullman, Washington, to spend Christmas eve with her "cousins" and to paint Christmas cookies (a long time family tradition).

Her "cousins" are Dolly, Cody, Bentley, and OneSpot. Tika was not thrilled with this line-up and Handy Man had to "convince" her to join in.

And what helped convince them to pose so nicely? The promise of a cookie! What else?

Our family has been making sugar cookies and painting them since the 1970s. We make the cookies the day before (using a butter and sour cream recipe)
and on The Day we mix up frosting (powdered sugar and water) and use actual tiny paintbrushes to do the
decorating. Of course a few noses are painted! After the frenzy of imagination is over, there is a judging....
prettiest, most creative, grossest, etc. A fun time is always had by all...... even the doggers.

Tika..... hope she makes it this long.

As Tika sat by my side in our chair, I read to her the sad news that the world's oldest dog (according to the Guinness World Records) has died in Japan at the age of 26 years and 8 months. Her owner told reported that Pusuke, a fluffy tan Shiba mix, died Monday (5 Dec 2011) after suddenly falling ill and refusing to eat. According to Guinness, the dog was born 1 April 1985. Pusuke was recognized as the world's oldest living dog last December. Click on the USAToday link below if you'd enjoy seeing a photo of Pusuke.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/story/2011-12-08/Dog-Worlds-oldest/51726488/1

Domesticated animals have always been with mankind. Dogs especially have been near and dear to us. We always mourn that our beloved pets don't live as long as we would like. But my friend Cecily gave me a good perspective on this. "It gives you a chance to love another dog," she mused. And I guess I do agree. Tika is now 2 1/2 and I want her to live to be 25!  Fingers and toes crossed. I wish the same for your chair-mate.

Tika Surely Misses Me ??

In a class taught my Thomas MacEntee I just learned about a free photo website, Wikimedia Commons. Any photo you find on this website can be freely used without any question of copyright. It is NOT that way with Google Images, by the way.

Anyway, I'm in Salt Lake City on the 27th annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour and while having a great time some of my thoughts (especially at bedtime) stray to my Tika. While I did not find a picture of her on WikiMediaCommons, I did find this most darling photo. We all can emphasize, right?

Remember: WikiMediaCommons for totally free photos.......and Thomas told us that they have millions so surely you will find what you need. (Except one of my Tika.)