My Little Abby

This past weekend Abby and I headed out to the 151 to do a drive that has become a full blown tradition.  I had a grande chai apple juice with a shake of cinnamon (think, nice hot apple cider) in my hand and my Christmas music loaded.  I love doing this drive year round, but something about the fall puts a touch of special on it.  The 151 is a forest service road north of the Peaks and it takes you on a loop.  I love working my way south on it so I can follow the mountain as I get closer.  The leaves were at their best and we picked the perfect day to go.

The road looked like this pretty much the whole way.

And a couple more photos of the leaves everywhere...

I take Abby out there with me so I can take pictures of her and that way I kind of have an album of her.  I also find that she is the perfect model for practice because she's totally unpredictable and you have to move fast to catch her!  Here are some photos of her from this weekend:

And I had to take a picture of my new Argus film camera that I've been having so much fun with!

Here are some of the photos I took of Abby last year in the same spot:

While I'm at it....here's a little background.  Abby was a given to me as a gift from my mom and dad.  They surprised me with her on Mother's Day weekend when I'd come home from college.  It is probably one of my favorite memories I have of my mom.  My parents always made things more extravagant than was necessary and this wasn't any different.  They had placed different items a first time dog owner would need around the house, things like food, a kennel, treats, etc.  After every gift there were paper arrows on the ground pointing me in the direction of the next gift.  The last one I received was a tiny dog collar with a pink dog tag that read, Abby Onnen.  I still couldn't figure out what was going on and why they'd gone through all of this trouble, especially on a weekend that was suppose to be about my mom.  After the collar there were three large arrows pointing to the closet.  I opened the closet and didn't immediately see her, then she walked to the front of the kennel she was placed in and lightly tapped the kennel door.  All I remember after that is grabbing my mom and crying with her.  Abby was two months old and just under two pounds.  She was one of the greatest gifts I've ever received and I think because of the importance of the way my mom gave her to me, she's always been just a little more than a pet.  She's been my best friend and at times she was all I had to hold on to.

Here are several more of my photos that I've taken of her in the past that are my absolute favorites: