So I’ve discovered the downtown Dollarama…and I’m hooked. Last weekend I bought 8 of these Bamboo Floor Mats – which do a fantastic job of covering up the wine stain. They also give the room almost this old circus or gypsy tent feel. They ground the room a bit I believe. Also purchased were some tea towels.  Oh, I know, just WAY too exciting. Insignificant décor becomes significant within a small space as this. Which is right convenient as it’s not as if I have unlimited fundage.

On a previous trip I bought the wall sticker, and the pillow shams. Plus the outdoor decoration I have at my stoop were put together with items from the same Dollarama. I just took 1 plastic topiary ball, and 1 neat plastic lime yellow daisy vine… and TADA. Coupled with the iron works my sister gave me as a house-warming, I do believe it looks rather daper. Sitting here this morn with my morning java, and realizing that I’m one heck of a lucky gal. I have a great place, I’m doing good, feeling fine… PLUS there’s that dog’o’mine laying there quite contentedly on the floor mats chewing her bone, leaving me alone, doin’ her own thing. We really have developed this yin/yang relationship of late. Different in so many ways, yet cohesive and even though our needs may be different, I do believe we’ve managed to become a pack of two. Although, really, in her eyes she recognizes Lex and the familia as part of the pack as well… I can see that in her interaction with them. It’s nice this time of solitude to have a wonderful canine as she. I mean, for starters she’s silly and gets me outside, that’s valuable all alone. She sometimes, I swear, gives me her wise eyes, and I see in them “no, really? that’s what you’re going to do?” I can’t help but often think back to that day, I guess 3 years ago now, when this fluffy blonde head popped up at the cottage kitchen window, that January 1st night. With a halo of snow and ice framing her sweet chocolate eyes, I fell in love with her at first sight. A stray. Right then and there I knew I be doomed. How could I so love a stray dog, that could be anyones? I’m not one for love at first sight…but her and I, our eyes met and I loved her, and maybe it was reciprocated. We did find her owners, but they could not keep her and it all worked out in the end. Yet that first weekend, when we didn’t know, I was beside myself trying to not love her. To no avail. We decided to call her Irish, after the Lake. And so Irish she became and answered to it right away, as if it had always been her name. That Monday we had established her pedigree and details with the old owners, that afternoon she was ours. So we took her out for a walk, and called her by the old name we found out she had from birth – SHASTA – she didn’t even turn her head, not one ear flinched, she ignored it like we were spitting into the wind. Amazing how much a sense of herself she has. I’ve never quite met another like her. I can take alittle credit for her behavior, but not her character. That is something she came with, to such a degree that I almost wonder if she’s really some reincarnation of some ancient guru or some such. She has that look. So when I created the entrance way, I designed a space behind the Bamboo Screen for herself, and tis there she has her own den. I’ve always believed a dog must have their own space, their den, their spot, their place. It all goes towards creating hierarchy and establishing their place within it. Anywho, DOG needs a den. And Master Too. These creatures, they certainly do put things in proper perspective. They know goodness, and wrong, and they love unconditionally. They guard you, love you, lick you, and wait for you. They follow you, and have your back where ever you may go.

Let’s hear it for DOGS & DOLLARAMA !!!!!!