CCA....BEfore it "Officially" begins......

Today is Friday.  Our vans are packed and ready to go to Tulsa tomorrow. 

On Sunday, the doors to the Expo Building in Tulsa Oklahoma open for a week of Pure Heaven....This year, the Collie National Specialty will be held in Tulsa ....only an hour from my front door. 

My dear friend Brenda from northern Virginia has been here for a week with her three Collies.  We have bathed dogs, trained dogs, planted flowers, mucked out the water gardens, hosted a water garden program for the Garden Club, gone to Lowe's numerous times, built stands for banners to hang over our ex-pens,

taken long walks in the neighborhood with 5 Collies, cooked, eaten lots of chocolate, and maybe even vacuumed....once....

Today we welcomed 4 Colliewimmen from Norway to my home. We had met at the 2009 National Specialty in Massachusetts, and so our reunion was beautiful and delightful.

I only took one picture.  It was before we ate our lasagna.

We talked non-stop about (what else?!) Collies. Training Collies.  Grooming Collies. Collie Health. Collie Diet.  Clickers. Collies in the snow. Collies who are too smart for their own good and find ways to challenge us.  Collie puppies. Whelping Collies. Collie books. Collie figurines and pictures. Collie wool. Knitting Collie wool. Collies dying.....

And, at some point along the way, we all six became One...I cannot explain it, it just happened....I am certain that our mutual love and passion is at the core of this phenomena. It was like family...an intimacy that is usually reserved for long-term friendships. Amazing.

As they left Tahlequah and headed back to Tulsa, we went with them to WalMart for a quick shopping spree.  Each one found treasure of some sort, and were amazed that they had "everything" there.  Ah.  WalMart. THE American Icon...

Dog treats and dog vitamins, capris with lots of pockets, shampoo, sunscreen, power bars, fresh apples, chewing gum, cotton shorts, cotton shirts....and many other things that would not fit in their suitcases for the return trip.

We bid them good night, came home and fed our Collies, walked them thru the neighborhood, fed ourselves and settled in for a slow, relaxing night.  We Know that, come Sunday, our week will begin to sail past at a pace we never even imagined could be. This One Week has been in the making for So long for So many of us.  I can only to hope to slow it down a bit with a daily account here.  Keep checking back.  I'll write till my head hits the keyboard!