A Dog for Jesus

I wish someone had given Jesus a dog.
As loyal and loving as mine.
To sleep by His manger and gaze in His eyes
And adore Him for being divine.

As our Lord grew to manhood His faithful dog,
Would have followed Him all through the day.
While He preached to the crowds and made the sick well
And knelt in the garden to pray.

It is sad to remember that Christ went away.
To face death alone and apart.
With no tender dog following close behind,
To comfort its Master’s Heart.

And when Jesus rose on that Easter morn,
How happy He would have been,
As His dog kissed His hand and barked it’s delight,
For The One who died for all men.

Well, the Lord has a dog now, I just sent Him mine,
The old pal so dear to me.
And I smile through my tears on this first day alone,
Knowing they’re in eternity.

Day after day, the whole day through,
Wherever my road inclined,
Four feet said, “Wait, I’m coming with you!”
And trotted along behind.

~ by Rudyard Kipling

On a recent photowalk in Dungeness with the cool kids, TheRandyManCan and Madam L (Mr Jam unfortunately can’t come out to play!!), we decided to go ahead with the “photographer’s shootout” idea we thought up several moons ago.

The idea is a very simple one – One location. One theme. A bunch of REALLY cool photographers. SHOOTOUT!!!!

I won’t go into details on the judging etc etc, but the winner gets….wait for it, drum roll please…. The recognition that you’re THE COOLEST KID ON THE BLOCK!!! Oh, and all the pints you can drink at the local pub.

Here’s the set of 9 images submitted by TheRandyManCan, Madam L and myself. Since Mr Jam can’t make it this time, he has the wonderful pleasure of playing Mr Judge. Click on the book to view fullscreen. Enjoy!!!

It has been three months now since his lordship went through a six weeks long cancer treatment of chemo and radiotherapy. Today we had the results of the recent scan – The cancerous whatchamecallit has shrunk from 4.5cm to almost nothingness!!

A 100% success!! W00T!!! (OK, so he still has to go visit the toilet about five times in the morning, and he gets tired more these days, and there’s the occasional “opps!! I crap my pants!!”… So what!! We’re on the road to recovery – THAT’S what matters most!!!)

What next? Check-ups every three months where he gets to moon the entire doctors and staff of The Royal Marsden Sutton, and they all in turn inspect his back passage….Followed by an annual scan for the next three years.

Oh yes, it’s my birthday tomorrow… WoooppiieeDooo!!! They say life begins at 40 and it sure looks that way to me!!! My best buddy Randall gave me a FAB birthday card and an even more FAB fridge magnet!!! Thank you buddy!!

My dear friends Becca and Steve got married on Thursday 9th July, and I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding with my best buddy/collaborator/partner-in-crime/colleague Randall Murrow.

Codenamed fondly “The Wedding In The Cow Pastures” by me; following a beautiful wedding ceremony at the Leatherhead Register Office, everyone retired to a field on the outskirts of town for the al fresco celebrations. Having had a slight setback with the generator failing within its first hour of operation

(which had to be replaced. BIG thanks to Tristan for organizing and driving all the way to Crawley to pick up the second generator!!!), the party very quickly went full swing!!! Plenty of food, drink, cake, and dancing, the evening ended with the released of 50 paper lanterns, lit by the guests, into the sky…. It was truly magical!!!

The photo above is Becca with her little nephew – Cheeky little munki he is!! More photos to come.

My dear friend (and amazing photographer) Randall over at Randall Murrow Photography has been a constant source of inspiration for me over the years. It has been an honour for me to have met and gotten to know Randall; working alongside him on several projects and assignments.

Oh… and the copious amounts of beer we seem to consume every time we meet at the pub. There is that too!!!