This week's 52 week project theme is "Fun Time"! For Fionn or Belle that would be working sheep. Since it has been raining and muddy at the field, sheep/ducks were not an option. I grabbed Mr. Wisp and visited Wisp's Mom, Bonnie Border Collie. Then Meg'n, my 12 year old, put up a fuss, so I decided to take her along for the ride. For Wisp and Bonnie it's all about fetching and catching, anything. Meg'n, at her age, is all about being the cheerleader.

Bonnie never does ball chasing or frisbee catching half way. She goes full throttle, stops on a dime, flips around, sets grass and dirt flying, and is generally amazing. Mr. Wisp (red border collie) races Mom to the thrown toy, usually losing the race to Mom, and chases her back. If he gets the ball, he hoards it, playing keep away from Bonnie. No problem, there are always multiple balls in Bonnie's back yard! When it comes to frisbee time, they both grab the disc, or take one another out trying. If Wisp manages to get ahold of it at the same time as Bonnie, neither will let go, racing back to us with both fighting for control of the frisbee. It's rather cute.

In the meantime, Meg'n races around, not quite able to keep up, but doing her best to stay involved, barking the whole time. For a dog who will be 13 in September, she is still pretty agile. We threaten to buy a little cheerleader skirt and get little pom poms for her front paws...

Conditions were not optimal, it was quite cloudy, then it started to rain. I don't typically use Auto anything, but opted to use Auto White Balance since the light was horrible and inconsistent. I did not take one of my fast lenses and opted for my older 70-300mm so I could zoom in on the dogs as they raced around. With the poor light, long, slower lens and fast shutter speed for moving dogs I had to make some decisions on exposure. I was not looking for depth of field so set my aperture lower than I normally do and stepped up my ISO and  popped up my shutter speed. It was quite like shooting a football or soccer game, on a nasty day.

What a fun morning this was, and a great way to wear out a 1 year old Border Collie, even if I did get a bit damp! Many thanks to Bonnie's owner Peggy who noticed I left my open camera bag on the outdoor table when it started to rain, rolling her eyes at me and running it inside!

Please follow the Beautiful Beasties Project 52 Network Ring to the next member's "Fun Time": Susannah Maynard of Suzi Pix Photography, Cincinnati OH.