Flower Friday : : Hellebores

We have three hellebore plants. OilMan calls them 'Lenten Roses' which seems perfectly appropriate this year. I wonder if the fact that they turn their faces toward the ground has anything to do with why they are called that as well. It does have something to do with a story about Ozzie, and possibly even a story about Lucy, Ozzie's predecessor, so if you can't stand reading about other people's dogs, read no further.

The sun was out and it was lovely and warm when I went in search of a flower photo and I couldn't resist the hellebores next to the back stairs. I managed, most ungracefully, to drape myself flat on my back across several steps and was engrossed in  trying to figure out how to get the flowers to look up when a black, snuffling nose appeared in  my face. Without going into all of Ozzie's peculiarities,, I must mention that he is reluctant to use his dog door (although he had an identical one in Berkeley and used it all the time) and usually waits to go outside with one of us. In this case, I had left him sound asleep on his bed in the house,. He must have looked out, seen me sprawled on the steps and come outside through the dog door to see if I was OK.

I was running with Lucy one time, many years ago and  I had chosen her as a pet and a running companion because I often ran alone on fire trails in the hills and thought a large black dog would be a useful deterrent to mischief and a much more pleasant companion that a can of mace, which had been suggested. I often wondered how much of a protector this friendly labrador would actually be...

This particular day, I was running and Lucy was investigating something behind me when I tripped over a root and went sprawling. I lifted my head and saw Lucy standing stock still some distance back looking at me. I put my head back down again to see what she would do. She didn't move until I sat up and called to her. Once she knew I was OK she let down her guard and came running.

Ozzie had his own approach. He hung around licking my face for awhile .  Then, convinced my ungainly stance was voluntary, he wandered off. I spent fifteen minutes hunting for him, but it seems that once he figured  Iwasn't hurt or dead he went back inside through the dog door and went back to bed.