Down Memory Lane, at Easter LMAC #15

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This picture represents my entry into @shaka's letsmakeacollage Easter challenge.

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Easter! Easter means life, for me. And @shaka's picture evokes memories spent frolicking around the countryside, usually with a pet in tow. Here's a picture of me, many years ago, in a typical scene:

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Note the dog and the cat. That's my younger sister, hiding from the sun, which is just beginning to warm the earth after a long, cold winter. For the photographers out there, this might have been taken with an original Brownie :)

Yes the dog, Boots, was that big. He was a German Shepherd/St. Bernard mix. Temperament was definitely St. Bernard, because Boots was a life saver, literally. He was the gentlest dog I ever knew. No matter what we did--for example, trying to ride him like a pony--he never protested.

To get an idea of just how obliging this dog was, take a look at the confident cat in this picture:

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Boots was dearly loved, because of his temperament and because he was one of the family. There's a story my mother used to tell about Boots that helps to explain why he was held in such high regard:

One chilly winter morning my younger sister was playing on the back porch. She was about five years old. Boots was out there with her, and my mother was supervising from the kitchen window. Suddenly, my sister took a tumble backwards, down a steep flight of stairs towards the concrete platform below. My mother could not run fast enough to save my sister from calamity. But Boots could. In a flash he leapt and grabbed his charge by the collar. Gently, he pulled her back to safety.

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As remarkable as he was, Boots was not the only dog we looked to for protection and companionship. Over the years, there many wonderful animals. Rex, for example, our collie, saved my brothers from an uncertain fate. The boys were walking their customary mile to the bus stop when a car stopped and sinister men came out. Rex, who always walked part way with the boys, would not tolerate this. His usually benign aspect turned vicious and he attacked the men. They returned to their car very quickly.

I don't have a picture of Rex, but the dog in this picture looks a lot like him:

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Image: Free on Pixabay

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My Collage

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With so many wonderful animals in my life, it was natural for me to include them in @shaka's Easter challenge. You wouldn't go on an Easter egg hunt without your dog, cat and bunny, would you?

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The original picture @shaka offered to us this week:

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Every week @shaka offers the Steemit community the opportunity to make a collage and win prizes. This is a chance to stretch our creative muscles and also to have fun. Please check out the contest. Plenty of time to enter this week, and even if you don't enter, you will be charmed by what you see in the collage gallery.

Thank you, @shaka. I had special fun this week, with my walk down memory lane.

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All elements of the collage are in the public domain:

1. @shaka's original
2. Bunny: castleguard on Pixabay
3. Easter Egg Basket: coleur on Pixabay
4. Easter Eggs: NickyPe on Pixabay
5. Girl and cat: Eme on Pixabay
6. Dog: MabelAmber on Pixabay
7. Assorted flowers: Paint 3D

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Family pictures are not in the public domain---obviously :)