Snow Dog 22: Hound Dog - Found at Eldon Square, Newcastle

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 22

Photographed on 13th November 2016 although we did take one photograph on 22nd October, making this the second Snowdog we met.

This dog is called Hound Dog.

This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, at Eldon Square, Newcastle, just outside the doors of a shop called Lush and near a big clock, an attractive roof that lets some daylight in, and the man with his pigeons.

The dog was painted by Lee O-Brien, who is from Liverpool.  I've not been to Liverpool.  I must get my person to take me there next year.

Winefride and I got to meet Hound Dog twice.  The first time was by chance.  We were passing through Eldon Square, which a very busy and noisy place that I don't like very much because it's very busy and noisy.  It has lots of shops in it and I don't have much use for most shops.  There's one part of it which I quite like, Eldon Garden - where we met a Snowdog who wasn't even on the official trail.  Eldon Garden has a multilingual library which my person has joined and it also has an art gallery which is filled with hundreds and hundreds of nice pictures.

We were passing through Eldon Square so that the person we were with could be a particular present for someone who was in hospital having broken their back.  Winefride and I went to see that person nearly every day they were in hospital.  They've left the hospital now and we're a bit less worried about them than we were then.  My person took quite a lot of photos in the hospital and she wants to go back and take more.  The hospital contains lots of lovely painted Doulton tiles which came from an old hospital and those tiles are scattered across all the corridors.  So my person wants to walk along every corridor and take pictures of them all and of all the other art work that's in the hospital making it look much prettier than it otherwise would.

And while we were in Eldon Square we met Hound Dog.  Very briefly.  My person asked me if I wanted to have my picture taken with Hound Dog and whether I thought Winefride would like it too. I did want.  I did like.  But Winefride was reticent and didn't want to climb up onto Hound Dog.  So my person took one photo.  Just one.  And that was that.

But then we all got very into our Snowdog quest and my person decided we had to go back so on 13th November we returned especially to see Hound Dog again and we took lots more photos.  That was good.  We have lots of pictures.

Hound Dog was based on a man called Elvis Presley who sang a song called Hound Dog.  He was a very famous singer and lots of people still like him even though he died nearly forty years ago.  Unless he didn't really die.  My person says that there is a conspiracy theory that states Elvis Presley didn't die.  I think he probably did.  But I think it's a less crazy conspiracy theory than some others I've heard.  Like people didn't go to the moon.  Like the royal family are reptiles from outer space.  Like there's a cover up about vaccines and they cause autism.  Three conspiracy theories that are completely crazy.


Here are our pictures of Hound Dog.  The first photo is the one from October.  Winefride isn't even there.  She didn't meet Hound Dog until November.  Or was she a bit scared of it?  I can't quite remember.


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.

Snow Dog 21: Roodle - Found at Eldon Square, Newcastle

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 21

Photographed on 1st November 2016

This dog is called Roodle.

This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, at Eldon Square, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The dog was created by Isy Langhorne.  The Snowdogs website says her biography is "to follow" but the trail is over now and so I don't think she's getting one.  What we've found when looking online is that Roodle is not unique.  There is another Roodle and he's been living in The Dome in Brighton.

In a way, Roodle is the reason why I went out looking for Snowdogs with my sister and my person.  Roodle is the reason this blog exists.  Because Roodle is a white dog.  What I've written below will explain that.

To be honest I think that Roodle's fur was nice but that Roodle was one of the most boringly decorated Snowdogs.  There was no colour.  Just plain fur.  The other quite boring dog was The Snowbrador, who lived at Washington Galleries Shopping Centre.  The Snowbrador also had soft fur.  But it was just a black dog.  I much preferred the dogs with pretty pictures on and there were some quite fantastic designs.

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 Roodle.

There are less photos of dogs from this day, except for Roodle, because we were only on a photo challenge to find a white dog not lots of Snowdogs.  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.

Snow Dog 20: Hound's Tooth - Found On Northumberland Street, Newcastle

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.

Snow Dog 19: Psychedelic Snowdog - Found at Northumberland Street, Newcastle

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 19

Photographed on 1st November 2016

This dog is called Psychedelic Snowdog.

This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, on Northumberland Street in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The dog was painted by Rebecca Reed who is an artist based in our fair city of Newcastle.

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 Psychedelic Snowdog 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.

Little Snowdogs Pack 05: Newcastle City Library, Dogs One to Four

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.

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 Snowdogs:

Little Snowdog Pack 5

Photographed mainly on 11th November 2016 with a few on 1st November and the last one on 15th November
 
These dogs lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, inside Newcastle Central Library in Newcastle.

We had trouble with these dogs.  The only time we ever had trouble with Snowdogs.  Not with the dogs themselves.  Oh no.  They were wonderful.  But when Winefride and I went to meet the dogs properly on 11th November (having met a few of them already on 1st November) and have our pictures taken with them it all went wrong.  A man came over and talked to my person in a very rude manner and said it was a bad, bad thing for us to sit on the dogs.  She got very told off - even though a woman from the hospice had said that our photographic quest was a good thing.  She was already feeling bad that day, short of energy and her head was struggling a lot and she was only still out for the sake of me, Winefride and the dogs.  She couldn't cope any longer and melted.  It was horrible to see.  She ended up collapsed on the floor of the library between one of the dogs and the window and kept saying the same few words over and over again and she was in quite a lot of distress.  Nobody came to offer her any help though.

She had to get herself out of the situation.  I tried to help but I had to look after Winefride too because she was getting worried about our person and she might have melted too if I hadn't held her tightly and comforted her.  I'm just one small pink soft toy and I'm autistic too and it's hard for me and there I was having to cope with looking after not just Winefride but my person.  Winefride was my first priority because having her melt too would have made everything much more difficult.  I'm afraid my person had to fend for herself mostly.

Eventually she happened to look up and saw a changing screen and at that moment it happened to say that Newcastle Central Library is an autism friendly place.  She slowly calmed down and went to talk to a friendly looking woman and talk about autism and about everything that had happened and to ask whether Winefride and I could have our photos taken on the dogs.  The woman didn't know but she went to ask another man who was a lot more friendly than the first man.  His name was Tony and Tony said we could have our pictures taken.  He was a very nice man.

We took our photos.  But with all the difficulties my person later realised that we had forgotten to meet one of the nine dogs, Saint Bark.  So a few days later we had to take a special trip back to the library to meet one little Snow Dog.

All together there were ninety-seven little Snowdogs to find and each one had been decorated by children from different places.  The little Snowdogs, for their own safety I think and so they would have some sane conversation at night like I do with all my friends, had gathered themselves together into packs of dogs.  The smallest pack had three dogs in it and the largest had nine dogs.  And we went to see them all.

Some of the packs I will show you in just one post.  Others will take more than one post.  When there are eight or nine dogs there are a lot of pictures.

The pack I am showing you today is officially pack number five.

Here are our pictures of Little Snowdog pack number 5.  There were nine dogs in this pack. I'll be sharing the photos across more than one blog post because there were so many dogs in the library.

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.

This first dog is Saint Bark, that last dog we saw, decorated by children from Saint Bartholomew's Church of England Primary School.

The second dog is called Rio, inspired by the Olympic Games and decorated by children from Ponteland First School.

The third dog at the library was called Sky, created by children from Kielder First School and representing a kind of 3D map of Kielder.

The fourth dog was called Star, created by children from the Education Centre For Children With Down Syndrome.  This dog was our favourite at the library.  Our very favourite.  Because of the words on the side.  Same But Different.  We liked that a lot.  Because children with Down Syndrome are the same as any other children.  But different.  And we are the same but different too.  I think Winefride understood the message when she saw the dog and I read the words to her.  She certainly seemed to be very happy about it all.

 I'll show you the other five dogs next time.  They were all pretty too.

Snowdog 18: Tails Of The North East - found at Newcastle Civic Centre

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 18

Photographed on 21st September 2016

This dog is called Tails of the North East

This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, outside Newcastle Civic Centre, opposite the river god.

The dog was painted by David Maguire.

Hey, look at the date.  21st September.  Yes.  That's right.  We didn't really start seeing Snowdogs until the start of November.  By the start of November we had only seen two dogs.  Or at least we had only stopped to spend time with two dogs.  This dog.  And Hound Dog, who lived in Eldon Square in Newcastle.  We had a very quick trip to see Hound Dog and took one photo in October - and had to go back later to see it again.


So this dog, Tails of the North East, was the very first dog that Winefride and I met.  I don't know why my person decided to allow us to meet this dog.  She was at the Civic Centre for some other reason that day.  I think she had taken us to a training session there about autism awareness.  I think Winefride and I are quite aware of autism already because we're autistic.  And so is our person.  She probably wasn't really meant to be at the training but she went anyway.  Some of it she thought was very good.  Some of it she thought could do with tweaking (as a bare minimum) or overhauling in bigger ways (ideally).  The very first thing said made my person completely cringe - the man said that everyone is a bit autistic.  And that's complete and utter ... well, I want to utter a swear word there but I am a very polite small pink soft toy and don't use such words.  Because the statement is wrong.  And because it plays down just how hard it is to be actually autistic.  I don't like hearing that statement.  My person is nodding her head as she is typing what I'm saying.  Another thing we hear quite a bit is that we're all a bit OCD.  There are quizzes that ask "How OCD are you?" and the answer is that you're not.  You're just not.  At all.  Unless you have OCD.  In which case you have OCD.  But even then the question doesn't make any sense.  How OCD are you?  It's like asking "How depression are you?" or "How whooping cough are you?".  Nonsense.  There might be a "How whooping cough are you?" quiz out there somewhere and you would get marked as being a bit whooping cough because you sneezed last Thursday.  It's that nonsensical with the OCD quizzes.  And it's that nonsensical when you hear someone say that we're all a bit autistic.  No.  You are not autistic.  And that's final.  Unless you are autistic.  In which case you are autistic.  And that's final too.  No arguing with a wise autistic soft toy please.


Sorry.  I got carried away there.  My person has told me to take a deep breath and let go of the stressful question.  That's hard for me because my brain would prefer to carry on talking about it.  The course ended with something about an organisation called Autism Speaks which was always renowned for not allowing autistic people to speak.  But my person says that much of what was between the screamingly awful start and finish was actually pretty good and would have been useful to people who weren't aware of autism.  And the person running the course was doing his best to provide something as good as he was able.  He wasn't a bad person.  He was standing for autistic people.


Anyway.  This dog was the first one that we saw.  In September.  On the 21st.  Six weeks before we started our Snow Dog quest.




Here are our pictures of Tails of The North East.  You can see the river god in a couple of these photos.  My person had already taken a picture of the god that day.  From above.

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.

Snowdog 16: The Snowdog - Found At Seven Stories, Ouseburn, Newcastle

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. We will be seeing Patchwork too, at the Snowdog farewell event at the start of December.


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 16

Photographed on 15th November 2016

This dog is called The Snowdog - or Traditional Snowdog.

This dog lived, for the duration of the Snowdogs festival, outside Seven Stories children's book museum, Ouseburn, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The dog was painted by someone who asked to remain anonymous.  I wonder who it was.

It's a special dog to me.  Less so to my person because she saw it long before Winefride and me.  It's the sixty-first Snowdog we saw.  The sixty-first and last until seeing Patchwork the naughty Kielder stray dog at the farewell event.  The completion of our Snowdog trail - apart from some little Snowdogs we saw later in the day.

We had done it.  All of the dogs.  Except that annoying one.  There were sixty-one dogs on the trail and even though we hadn't seen Patchwork we had still seen sixty-one dogs, thanks to finding that other stray dog called Splodge.  The hospice people with Splodge said they thought it to be the only full sized Snowdog in the area who wasn't listed on the trail.  And we found it.

But The Snowdog was our last Snowdog.  That seems appropriate doesn't it.

We got told it was the last and I felt a bit sad.  Winefride obviously understood and took it to heart in some way because when we were sitting on top of the dog she decided it would be a good idea for some reason to take a flying leap off the top of the dog.  I tried to grab her and keep her on the dog but I couldn't do it and I ended up falling from The Snowdog too.

My person was halfway through taking the picture at the time and the picture ended up having both Winefride and me in midair, she halfway through her not very graceful jump and me halfway through my less graceful fall.  Luckily we weren't hurt.  And we managed to take the picture afterwards, with me holding on very tightly to Winefride in case she jumped off again.

You will see that picture among the ones at the end of this post.

Now.  I have to have a moan here.  I'm going to repeat this moan six times because it's a moan related to the finding of six Snowdogs.  I might even moan again when I talk about some little Snowdog packs.

I said that we photographed this dog on 15th November.  That's true.  We saw it on our very last day of Snowdog hunting.  The dogs were going to be leaving their temporary homes on 21st November or as soon after that as they could all be collected so the last day for searching would have been the 20th.  But we were away visiting my creator from the 16th to the 20th so the 15th was our last Snowdog day - and we had only started our quest at the start of the month and had been forced to take days off too.

My moan is this:  My person had already SEEN this dog.

Yes.  It's true.  She had.  She saw this dog - and others - on 6th November.  On that afternoon she had decided to go and see some of the dogs in Newcastle and walk from Gosforth to Seven Stories in Ouseburn.  She would see six Snowdogs and some packs of little Snowdogs too.  She got ready to go out, even though the weather wasn't great, and caught a bus to Gosforth.  When she got there it was hailing and she nearly came straight back home.  But the hail cleared and she reached the first dog.  While walking to the second it rained on her hard and she was glad of her adventure coat.  She persevered and saw all of the six dogs.


BUT she saw the six dogs ALONE.

Yes.  It's true.  She was alone.  She reached the first dog of the day, Addam Upright, and realised she had forgotten to take me with her.  And she had forgotten Winefride as well.  How dreadful.  She.  Had.  Forgotten.  Us.  Did she come back home and collect us?  No she didn't.  She just went to see the dogs on her own.  She says that she was sad when she discovered we weren't with her.  But obviously not sad enough to come and get us.  Oh no.  Not my person.  She carried on regardless.

You can imagine how angry I was when she got back later that day.  I was livid.  I'm usually a very joyful small pink soft toy and my smile is famous, or should be famous, across the world.  I'm a happy person.  But that evening I was cross, cross, cross and I cried a lot too when I realised that we had missed out on seeing dogs.

Eventually my person promised me that she would try to take us out to see those dogs and that she would do her best to make sure that we would see every single one of the dogs we had missed.  She would walk the whole walk again - and as it turned out she walked even further second time round than the had the first.

I calmed down at the news that we would see the dogs.  In the end it worked out very well because we didn't get wet at all when we went to see the dogs we had missed.  She got soaked.  We stayed dry.  Serves her right.  Of the sixty-one Snowdogs we saw these six were the last.

It was a very good day once we came to experience it.  We saw the dogs and three packs of little dogs.  Then we walked to Byker and my person spent 99 pence on four books.  She likes cheap books.  And she likes books to be cheap.  Then we caught a Metro and went to see the Snowdog pack in Tynemouth that I've already posted about.  Then we had a very nice walk and ate some very nice chips in a very nice location.

Winefride and I had a lovely time and now that it's happened I don't mind having missed out on the 6th.  And I am very thankful to my person for taking us on a special trip even though she had already taken the trip.  We picked up our certificates that day too for completing the Great North Snowdog Trail.  I am glad to have my certificate.  And I am glad that we all heartily deserve our certificates.

Here are our pictures of The Snowdog.

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.

Firstly, here are our photographs from 15th November.  Glad to be there.  The first is a successful photo.  The fifth is the falling off photo.

And here are the 6th November photos.