Blue

Blue
7 weeks old
first time we went camping with her

When Gary and I first met, Gary mentioned he'd always wanted a breed of dog called a Queensland Heeler (Blue Heeler, Australian Cattle). Whenever Gary talked about Queensland Heeler's, I said I wasn't sure about getting this breed of dog since I was unfamiliar with them. In my family I'd grown up with Boxers and that's the only breed of dog I'd ever really known. After we'd been married for only two months, I saw an ad in the local paper for Queensland Heeler puppies. I debated about whether to tell Gary about the ad for the puppies. As the weekend drew near I mentioned the ad about the puppies to Gary.

Blue Textured Vase
10" tall x 5" wide

That very weekend we went to look at the litter of Queensland Heeler puppies. I remember it clearly, even though it was over 23 years ago. There were 13 puppies in the litter. The owner said the vet had told him it was very unusual for this breed of dog to have so many puppies, especially in the first litter.

Blue Leaves
3.5" approx. each

When we arrived there, the puppies were racing around chasing each other all over the yard. It was like a whirlwind of puppies every where. We stayed there for a while just watching the puppies running every which way. After a while, Gary looked at me and said, "Can we get one?" and I said, "Which one do you think we should get?" We picked out a female puppy and named her Blue because she was a blue Queensland Heeler.

Blue Woven Crosses
9" x 7" and 7" x 5"

As newly weds, Gary and I took Blue wherever we went. We took her camping, jeeping, and vacations. We even took Blue to the Baja for a couple of weeks. Once, when Blue was just a pup, we went camping and stayed up late around the camp fire. Blue had never been camping before and, as the evening wore on, we heard her whine. We turned on the flashlight and saw her standing in front of our tent to get in. She was telling us it was time to turn in and she instinctively knew the tent was the place to go to sleep when camping.

Blue
one year old
with our cat's kitten
she acted like the kitten was her own offspring

Later in the year we had our first snow fall in our yard, we took Blue outside to see what she would think of the snow. It was one of those snow falls where the flakes are huge and fall ever so slowly like feathers floating from the sky. A snowflake would hit Blue in the eye and she would shake it off, then it would hit her in the ears and she would shade it off. A short time later we saw that Blue had figured out the snowflakes were coming from above her, she tilted her head up to the sky and started barking with an annoying type of bark as if to say, stop snowing on me. We were always amazed at how smart Blue was. Sadly, thirteen years ago Blue died from a tick-born disease called (ehrlichiosis).

Blue Vinca Flower
2" x 2"

The photos of Blue are digital photos I took today of 35 mm photographs from our albums. Back then I didn't have a digital camera. Now you know why my blog is called Blue Starr Gallery. All of the ceramic pieces posted today are from the last Cone 10 firing. Here's a blue flower for today from a variegated vinca vine. Probably more of a lavender color, but the closest thing to blue in my garden.