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 30
Photographed on 1st November 2016
This dog is called Snowline.
This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, at Newcastle Railway Station.
The dog was painted by Jim Edwards, who is quite famous for his artwork that shows north-east buildings and locations in all their abstract glories.
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 Snowline, who was the very first Snowdog we found on our very first day of looking for Snowdogs when we didn't know that we were going to get obsessed.
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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