Hello again.
My name is Blob Thing and I am a small pink soft toy.
Together with my sister Winefride I have toured across Tyne and Wear
over the course of two weeks and together we have attempted to
complete the Great North Snowdog Trail. This consisted of us
having to find sixty-two Snowdogs and ninety-seven little Snowdogs.
That's one hundred and fifty-nine dogs in total.
And that's a lot of dogs.
We almost succeeded too. We managed to see one hundred and
fifty-eight of the dogs in their locations. The only one we
missed was called Patchwork who wasn't in Tyne and Wear at all.
Seeing Patchwork was impossible for us. Never mind. We
saw every other Snowdog and little Snowdog and we are very proud of
ourselves for this achievement. We've also seen a lot of
amazing sights along the way because Tyne and Wear is full of
wonderful places.
And we've seen Patchwork too now, at the Snowdog farewell event.
That was a very special day for me, being able to see all the dogs
again. The streets of Tyne and Wear feel somehow empty without
those dogs.
For more information about our amazing quest and the way we were
helped by our person, please see my first post on this blog. It
can be found at
http://blobandthesnowdogs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/blob-thing-and-winefride-welcome-you-to.html
I confess that we all got more than a little obsessive about Snowdogs
in the first half of November 2016. There are worse things to
get obsessive about.
Please remember that the Great North Snowdogs existed not just as
an enjoyable addition to the landscape of our wonderful county of
Tyne and Wear but as a way to raise funds for St. Oswald's Hospice
which is our local hospice and which does amazing work. To find
out more about the hospice and see ways in which you can donate,
should you wish to, please head over to their website. It can
be found at http://www.stoswaldsuk.org/
I will include the above text in all my posts. It explains
everything. If you get obsessive about Snowdogs too then don't
feel you should read it every time. That would just be taking
obsession a step too far.
Today's post contains pictures of the following Snowdog:
Dog Number 20
Photographed on 1st November 2016
This dog is called Hound's Tooth
This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, on Northumberland Street in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
The dog was painted by Damien Jeffery who is an artist from Bristol, which is a very long way away.
It was the first of November and we had no idea that we were
going to be going on the big Snowdog hunt. No idea at all. Before the
start of November I had my picture taken, with Winefride, with only two
Snowdogs. Dog number 18, Tails of the North East, because we were
passing it anyway. And dog 22, Hound Dog, who we had passed on 22nd
October when out buying a present for someone who had fallen and broken
their back. They were stuck in the hospital at the time and I visited
them with Winefride and my person nearly every day they were there.
We didn't know that we would be seeing lots of Snowdogs -
or that we would have to go back and take a special trip to see Hound
Dog again because we had only taken one picture.
The first
of November was the first day of our big Snowdog hunt that finished on
the fifteenth of November. And even once this day was over, a day that
included lots of Snowdogs, we didn't know that we were going to be
hunting for the rest or visiting packs of Little Snowdogs or getting
more than a little obsessive about the whole thing.
On the second of November we saw one more Snowdog. Accidentally. We hadn't started our major Snowdog hunt then.
On the third of November we saw no Snowdogs at all. We hadn't started our major Snowdog hunt then.
On
the fourth of November we saw Snowdogs because my person decided to
walk a very strange route to buy a pizza in Tesco and that route
happened to pass some Snowdogs. We liked seeing them but we hadn't
really picked up the urge to find all the dogs. I think the seed was
planted in us that day but it took time to take root and grow.
You
can tell it hadn't grown because on the fifth of November we didn't
leave the house at all because my person wasn't able to. So we saw no
Snowdogs that day.
And then there was the sixth of
November. My person was sent out for a walk. And she chose a route
that would pass Snowdogs. But that was a particularly sad day for me
and for my sister Winefride because she forgot to take us out with her.
I've already posted about those dogs and repeated my moan each time.
So Winefride and I saw no Snowdogs that day either.
So
between all the days before November and four of the first six days of
November we saw a total of three Snowdogs. Three. Just Three.
That
only left eleven days - including the first and fourth of November on
which we could try to find all the dogs. And we managed it and I am
very proud of my achievement. And there was an entire weekend in those
eleven days too on which we couldn't see any new dogs at all. None at
all.
Which means that Winefride and I managed to see fifty-eight new Snowdogs and ninety-seven new little Snowdogs in just nine days.
That's
pretty good because my person's head is often not good enough for her
to go out lots. She did extremely well. As we're typing this she's
having some worse days on which being out is very difficult indeed.
It's not her fault. It's just what it is.
And all the
time while searching for Snowdogs we were completing photographic
challenges too. Every day during the end of October and the first half
of November my person had a challenge to complete. It just so happened
that the first of November was also the seventh challenge day and the
challenger - who also happens to be my creator - challenged my person to
take a picture of a white dog. She thought laterally and decided that
since there was a white Snowdog she could take a picture of that. That
was her success. She got a bigger success the next day when she took a
picture of a real white dog just after the three of us had walked down
the length of the south pier at the Tyne estuary in South Shields.
That
was an amazing day too. We had to find a white horse and she did so
much walking and planned things very carefully indeed so we would pass a
pub called The White Horse. She had a complete moment of total clarity
not long after that. A moment that meant she could change the
direction of part of her life and walk away from something which was
very good indeed but which wasn't for her. She had a moment of total
joy too when on the pier as she was sprayed with lots of sea water
coming over the wall and she just felt bliss and freedom and wonder and
excitement and perfect wholeness. It was a wonderful day. Maybe I'll
write more about it when we come to post about dog number 59, Gizmo.
And
then she thought some more. Each of the first six days of challenges
had turned into something more than a challenge. They had all turned
into a big adventure. She had created the world's least impressive
marble run. She had found a great deal of wonderful street art in
Sunderland. She had created a hammock for Winefride and I out of a bra
and posted a video too - because that was a challenge. She had toured
Durham before finding a rainbow ribbon round a tree in Newcastle. She
had found a winged unicorn and Winefride flew on it. She had a
wonderful time in search of a duck. My person had done so many things
and the challenges had been exciting times for her. You can read about
all those challenges on her blog which is linked to at the side of the
screen if you're not reading this on a telephone.
The
white dog challenge became something more. She decided to pretend that
she didn't really know where a white dog was - which she did because she
looked it up online especially and planned things very, very carefully
before going out. She would visit - with Winefride and myself - several
dogs in the day all in Newcastle and she would even walk along some
streets she had never walked along before in order to find dog number
31, Fear of Emptiness, in the Stephenson Quarter.
It
was a great day. Or part of a day. We saw lots of interesting things
together and the autumn colours were still beautiful. I especially
enjoyed seeing the Metro bridge across the Tyne from above because I
happen to like having my picture taken with bridges. My person even
extended our walk after we had found the white dog - Roodle - in order
to take pictures of three more dogs.
I suppose it
would be safe to say that after the first of November there was a
certain inevitability that my person and I would suddenly decide to
chase down all the dogs. We can both get quite obsessive and can have
short-term special interests that burst upon us and a blossom of joy and
then depart quite suddenly after which we can't even bear to think
about them. At all. It hurts our brains too much. My person can have
long-term obsessions or special interests too. I'm not sure whether I
can because I'm not yet one year old. I've had lots of adventures for a
soft toy who is so young. You can read about some of them on my own
blog which can be found in a link on the right hand side of your screen
if you're not reading this on a phone.
That's enough
typing. My person is glad that she won't have to type so much about
every dog and that I'll be getting her to copy and paste everything I
just wrote about the first of November when we post about the dogs we
saw that day.
Here are our pictures of Hound's Tooth who was one of the extra dogs and my person hadn't
planned that we would go and see it, even after we had taken our picture
of Roodle and completed the challenge.
There are less
photos of dogs from this day because we were only on a photo challenge
to find a white dog. We didn't know that we were on the Great North
Snowdog Trail then.
You can see how excited and happy both Winefride and I were to be
on the trail of Snowdogs. We have had an amazing time.
And I think our person has enjoyed herself too.
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