Smudge.

Sometimes we all need some good medicine.
It’s up to you where you find it.

Some of my favourites are:

• loving scolding from all the of aunties… all at once.
• teasing from cousins about that one you used to date, way back, remember? Couldn’t bait a hook with marshmallows.
• those hugs from Ye’eh that smelled like tobacco and good advice.
• that time your Bestie stayed up all night plotting how you would take the world by storm, while canning blackberry jam.
• double batches of Aunti Lovi’s fry-bread so no one has to be polite.

These days, our good medicine can be found in the company of our new puppy, Smudge.

We named her Smudge because she’s good medicine.

She’s not our “spirit animal”, she’s just our spirited pup.

She’s a lie in the sun,
too big for your lap & don’t care,
Salal eating,
carrot digging,
bundle of good heart.

How often do animals get treated like a nuisance or a novelty? We are a part of the animal world, we aren’t separate, and yet so often we’re conditioned to behave like we are.

Yes, she’s just a dog. But dogs work in tandem with us. They literally walk with us.

We feed her and care for her and in return she helps keep us safe, alerts us to predators, protect us. She keeps us active and very good company. I believe animals around us help keep us grounded to the basics; how we carry ourselves, eating, drinking water, resting, being present.They bring out our better character.  That’s good medicine isn’t it?

Our home is full of #Smudge puns these days, and she’s so cute, and we are threatening to start her own instagram account.  What do you think?

#RezDogsOfInstagram

~Jessica Wood