“Hey Cooper, it’s Canada Day!! Want to take some Canada day photos with me?” asked Julie.

Cooper, not even lifting his head from his usual place snoozing under her feet, says “~~yawn~~ I don’t know mom, I’m pretty tired at 10 am after that long night of sleep and that 10 minutes in the backyard ~~yawn~~”.

“Come on, it will be fun. I PROMISE!”

“Okay”, says Cooper, always eager to please his mom, who he is obsessed with and never leaves alone for even one single second of his life if he can help it.

So, off to the craft table they go, where Julie looks for the PERFECT Canada Day accessories she can find to adorn her annoying but super gorgeous dog, Cooper.

“Yes, I am tremendously beautiful and Canadian and beautiful”, says Cooper.

“But I can’t really see the Canada flags on your tie. I need to move it and I have a GREAT idea”, says Julie.

“Okay mom, whom I love more than chasing rabbits, peanut butter, hot dogs and even life itself (okay maybe not hot dogs…)”.

“You have GOT to be kidding me!” declares Cooper.

“You look A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.!!!” says Julie with a snicker (or 5…who’s counting?!)

“THIS is beyond humiliating”, Cooper bemoans emphatically (yes, he is a very expressive dog and has wonderful vocabulary!)

~~expresses his displeasure like a wild beast…or yawns because he is tried from all this modelling business~~

“I am not impressed and I wish there was at least some peanut butter on my nose…did you put some on there for me?” (checks nose for peanut butter…is disappointed…that is just some dirt).

“Now I shall sing to make myself feel better…Oh Canada, our home and native land. True patriot love, in all our sons command…” they should change “sons” to “dogs” mom, just saying, cause people are always “commanding” us to do silly stuff,” Cooper muses.

“Oh my GOD I am such a good singer, aren’t I mom? IN fact I shall sing LOUDLY everytime someone comes to the door, or the fence, or walks on my sidewalk, or leaves a room and returns, or barks ANYWHERE in my earshot!”

“Yes, I know Cooper, you already do that…every.single.day!” Julie shakes her head in frustration at the thought of all of Coopers barking. It does not in any way sound like singing, by the way.

“Mom, I sang that for YOU. And for Canada Day of course! Don’t you love me? Like a TON! Like all the TIME! Like pay attention to me every single minute kind of love! You are my favourite! Mom, I see no one but you when you are here. When you are away, I won’t even eat, I won’t sleep, I pant and get stressed out alot. That might translate into eating stuff in the garbage or even ripping up any paper I can find. You are the sun and the moon and the stars and I…”

“Okay okay, I get the drift!” Julie thinks that if Cooper were human, she would have taken out a restraining order LONG ago.

“Hi mom! What were we talking about? Oh yeah, I love you mom! AND I love Canada, if I knew what a “Canada” was…but I love it cause you love it…and aren’t I pretty and happy and sweet and funny and cute?” says Cooper very excitedly.

“Yes Cooper, you are all of those of things and more” says Cooper’s mom Julie.

“This is a good day and I am a good dog,” Cooper smiles.

Happy Canada Day, from Julie, Cooper and the rest of the Tauro household!!

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Julie Tauro is a Kitchener Waterloo photographer and the owner  at Tauro Photography. Tauro Photography has been providing photography services for families in the Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge since 2002. She is also the apple of Cooper the golden retriever’s eye.

New Orleans is an old city. Of course they have areas with malls and I am sure lots of Mcdonalds too, but the original city and the areas around it, have some very cool history. I took myself one afternoon on a self-guided walking tour of the Garden District and stopped into an old cemetery at the end of the tour (NOT because my feet were dead or I needed to lie down for a long time or anything, it was purely coincidental that I felt that way by the time I got to the cemetery).

Here is a link to the self-guided tour I used. I am sure there are others, as well as the organized tours. But I wanted to lolly gag around with my camera so this was my best approach (never ever imagined I could find a way to use the phrase “lolly gag” but I did it!).

The Garden district has the stunningly beautiful homes, gardens, estates that the rich folk built. Truthfully I am pretty sure they are still the rich folk and know for certain that some celebs have homes in that area (on the walking tour I used apparently one of the homes is John Goodman but honestly I got lost and then took a wrong turn and by the time I got back on track I forgot which one it was supposed to be…yeah, I would make a MOST excellent tour guide).

I know that some of the celebs in the area are or were (not sure how current my info is…I am not paparazzi, that is for sure) Sandra Bullock, Nicholas Cage, and Anne Rice. And some films using the gorgeous homes in that area include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 12 Years a Slave (there are tons more but I think that is enough name dropping of people and movies I have no connection to whatsoever). As well, the cemeteries in the area are so cool. Different than anything seen here in Ontario. But I am sure you have seen them in movies such as Interview with a Vampire or Easy Rider (again, there are lots more…just take a tour if you go because they will know much more than me…which wouldn’t be hard).

And there you have it. My adventure, first one, out of my middle aged, non-travelling comfort zone. It was inspiring, amazing, thrilling and diet-busting, as all great adventures should be.

If you missed the first two posts about my NOLA trip and want to check it out cause I am clever and took some pretty good photos, click HERE and HERE see what all the fuss was about!

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Julie Tauro is a Kitchener Waterloo photographer and the owner  at Tauro Photography. Tauro Photography has been providing photography services for families in the Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge since 2002. She also is deep into planning for her next trip, this time to South America!