Working at it.

The weather today is supposed to be a wintery mix of weather. I really don't mind it at all.
Yesterday was cold and breezy. The sky was overcast.
Perfect for hiking into the valley.

I got out my camera backpack and shoved a Crazy, Happy, and Terrible into it. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do, but at least I had a purpose for hiking in the blah brown season.

I headed of course to the creek with the toys. Ideas began to roll around in my head.

The idea of doing a last book with Morris and his toys seems like a good idea to me. I don't find it morbid or sad, but something I can get involved in with my whole heart.
I'd been waiting for an idea to pop up in my head since the last adventure story called The Long Journey. A story about unwanted toys and how they came to live with Morris.

For this final book, Happy the Hedgehog will make a comeback. Morris's long search for his puppy-hood buddy will be resolved.
Of course Terrible Tiger and Crazy Squirrel play an integral part.

This idea helps me deal with the eventual loss of my best friend. I think that by doing this story now, I will have a lasting 'memorial' to my pal. What better way than to have a story right?

By the way, Morris is doing well still. He sleeps a LOT. However after doing his business this morning at 3 AM, he thought it should be zoomy time around the living room, complete with barking, growling, and tail wagging.

I had to hush him and then bribe him with a dog treat to be quiet.

Now I have to take him out and bribe him with treats so he can do some posing for me.
That will be a challenge!

Friends Forever

So today I was cleaning out Morris's toy box. No worries, he seems to be doing just fine. I picked up Hoppy the Hedgehog, Terrible Tiger, and Crazy Tiger. I tossed the old pull toys but sat on the floor staring at Morris's characters that had been the subject of so many fun stories.

Morris pretty much ignores his toys now. Sleep is a big thing. Sleep and walking to the bus stop are his priorities. Well. Food.
He doesn't play even if I toss the toys for him.
I couldn't bring myself to toss the characters out. However they do need a good wash and a few repairs.

And then I began to think. One more storybook? One more adventure?
What would it be about?

How could I work Morris's aging into it? How would the story evolve?

Friends Forever.
I held the smelly toys and stared at Morris who gazed sleepily back at me.
I felt a welling up of emotions from deep within.

I may have hit upon my next project.

Old Dogs and Toys by Morris

Sometimes it is hard just to keep things going around here.

I have to make sure that my toys are spread just right across the living room floor. And to make everything better, the toys must be tossed artfully in front of the Christmas Chair.
I swing the hedgehogs and my Angrybird as hard as I can.

Don't you think it is artful?

I do.
She doesn't. Today she pursed her lips and shook her head at me. She called me an old fool and a couple of other names. She should talk, she's getting up there in the years too.

So what, I'm getting to be an aged dog. This only means that I play very hard and just take longer naps.
Preferably in the sunlight on the floor.

I rest my case.
And my eyes.

The Big Flood

Oh I think I found another 'story' to write with Morris and his toys.
In The Big Journey Morris had many toys show up at his house that were unwanted and unloved.
Morris took them all in.

Even Pete. The nasty little hedgehog that never had anything nice to say. 
Pete decides to run away. None of the other toys care because he was so annoying.
Well Morris takes his stewardship of toys rather seriously. Even the obnoxious ones.

Pete disappears just before the Big Flood [yes we actually had one]. Morris decides to go look for Pete and enlists the help of his other reluctant toys.

Meet Pete:

And so I look forward to making another fun adventure with Morris and his toys.

Toys and Animals...just fun and crazy

Sure, why not?  Put a stuffed animal in the pasture to see the reaction of any of our Dexter Cattle.

And then wait.

WhoDunnit was more curious than the others.  Bunny came over and gave the toy a once over before she went on to grazing, but this guy was really curious.

Then there is the other aspect.  Posing very non-posable toys to interact and using a timed exposure to show running water....

This is so much fun.

The hard part will be putting the story together and making it work with the photos.

Now I have to get Morris out and get some shots!

In my Child's Inner Eye....

The leaves are just about all gone.
On the steep valley sides the oaks cling to their leaves.

My intention yesterday of course was to visit Tainter Hollow and Tainter Creek to get some beautiful late afternoon shots.

However, in my bag of goodies in the back seat, I had some characters from the new Morris Adventure Books.  Some 'wandering' Hedgehogs and The Wise Ol' Frog.

Hmm, I'm near water.
I have the Toys, I have the camera equipment.

I am totally alone in this remote area.

So, I decided to have some fun.

Those Hedgehogs sure know how to get into things.  In fact as I was 'shooting' the two little 'hogs' talking with The Wise Ol' Frog in the creek, a gust of wind tossed one of them into the water.

Lucky me, I caught it and it was not staged.
So now of course, it has to be part of the book somehow.

I almost felt silly placing the little Hedgehogs in the middle of the road and then squatting to try and get a neat photo.

What if someone had come along?  

Well, I would have heard them from a pretty fair distance and would have scooped them up and whisked them back to the Subaru.

The Creek was quite beautiful and I hope to get back and get some more shots in different lighting conditions. 

In case you are wondering there is a fair amount of editing for the 'book' photos.

Here is a sample of what I was working on in PSP X6 ... [sorry Adobe, I am not paying you per month to use your program!]

I separate the characters in each photo generally and give them an edit so they will stand out from the backround of the scene they are in.

I want them to look like toys, but the scenery to have a slightly 'drawn' or slightly imaginative look to it.

Working with Morris in scenes always adds a bit of the unknown.
I hope to get that part done fairly soon.

The story has already begun in my head and yet the photos and the characters may take the story in another avenue that I wasn't prepared for.

That is the beauty of creativity.

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ~~Madeleine L'Engle

Mystery of Missing Hedgehogs~By Morris

I woke up on Monday and came downstairs to play with my toys.

To my horror and confusion...um, which SHE says is a constant state of mind, um the confusion part...
I could not find my Hedgehog family.
Crazy the Squirrel was tucked nicely into my toybox.

But no Hedgehogs.
I went upstairs and poked around.
I went in the kitchen and looked under all of the chairs.
I looked in the bathroom and in the tub.
I looked behind the couch.

Then I sat in the middle of the living room floor and stared at HER.

SHE must be dense because SHE did not figure out that something was terribly wrong. SHE said to HIM that I must be sad because the grand kids were gone. Oh, I was, I do love the grand kids.

They are great friends, they love to run with me and play with me. I wish I could put them in my toybox or in my crate and keep them from going home.
[then I'd always have someone to play with!]

Finally SHE realized that I only had left the Crazy Squirrel on the living room floor. SHE finally realized that the mess I normally make by spreading out all of my stuffed toys was absent.

SHE walked over to the Kid Toybox and opened it. What a relief! There was my Hedgehog family!
I grabbed them one by one out of the box and tossed them about on the floor.

Then since all was well, I could resume my duties by holding the corner of the couch down and taking a long awaited nap.

Mystery solved.