We interrupt our regularly-scheduled Halloween week festivities for a celebration of a different kind.
Today is day two of the five-day Nepalese Tihar Festival. Each day is dedicated to a different animal, and today honors the cherished relationship between humans and dogs. Have you ever heard anything lovelier?
The lucky beasties are rewarded for their loyalty with love and affection. They are given garlands and tika (forehead) markings, and are positively showered with treats and favorite foods and gratitude. I haven’t been, but I’m guessing everyone, dogs and people, come out feeling good.
So let’s all take today to say thank you to the dogs in our lives. Happy dog day!
And just in case you really miss the Halloween series, here’s a great article on Metro.co.uk with some awesome homemade dog costumes that anyone could make!
Share:
My OBT 
October 28, 2016 at 7:00 am
Oh my goodness–too sweet. Happy Friday, Donna.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 7:25 am
Happy Friday, my dear!
LikeLike
October 28, 2016 at 2:00 pm
I confess to never having heard of this particular festival. Dogs are definitely special and deserve a day of pampering and celebration. We do not own a dog – I do actually know my limits – but I volunteer at my sons’ Elementary School with a programme where kids needing a bit of a boost with literacy come along and read to therapy dogs for half an hour. The dogs really calm and engage the kids. It’s a joy to watch them reading together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 2:15 pm
What a lovely way to use dogs! And I’m tickled half to death at the idea of them reading together. By the way, “I do actually know my limits” is something I’m going to give some real serious thought to. It would be a good idea for me to acknowledge mine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 2:37 pm
I learned the hard way. I was committed to doing way, way, way too much before we emigrated and did not appreciate how burned out I was with volunteering and helping out and spreading myself too thinly until the relocation made me take a break from it and start from square one. Then I felt guilty for just being a Stay Home Parent and ended up volunteering too much again for the first couple of years of life here (nowhere near as much as I was volunteering in Scotland but too much for my current life/family dynamic) so I did some deep thinking and this year – especially since I recently went back to paid employment – I have scaled way back. Now I just do the reading to dogs thing and some ad hoc events so that I can mostly pick and choose. But it definitely took burn out for me to realise and recognise that I had to say No to some things.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 4:20 pm
That’s a tricky skill to master. I’m still a work in progress.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 4:25 pm
Me too actually. I’ve been offered more hours at work and really need to resist the impulse to say yes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 4:57 pm
My internal monologue in meetings is always “don’t volunteer. don’t volunteer. don’t volunteer.” And then I do anyway. argh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 5:07 pm
I suspect my issue is I’m a control freak who likes to have things running in a way that makes sense to me so it’s tempting to take charge and get things done “properly”. I don’t know if that holds true for you too obviously but for me it’s been necessary to accept the annoyance of doing something someone else’s inefficient way rather than adding another layer of stress by doing it myself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
October 28, 2016 at 5:34 pm
You’re singing my song!
LikeLiked by 1 person