Matilda's Joy 2023 Calendar

Matilda came to me as a puppy when she was 6-7 months old. I found her hiding under my house in rural Texas. She was extremely shy, and yet somehow, for some reason, already so attentive to me. We quickly became best friends. Over the past 18 years, she has lived so joyfully and adventurously. She's journeyed across five deserts on two continents, crossed paths with elephants and zebras in Botswana, coyotes and moose in Colorado, and armadillos and bobcats in her own backyard in Texas. She's played in the surf of three seas, hiked to alpine lakes in the Rocky Mountains, crossed the Rio Grande, and kayaked the green rivers of the Hill Country. She's climbed boulders in Joshua Tree, run the beaches of Big Sur, played among the ancient giants of Sequoia, and perched on the edge of the Grand Canyon.For all her travels, Matilda loves the grasslands of the Texas Hill Country, especially in the spring when the fields are adorned with bluebonnets and all the wildflowers of the rainbow. In 2016, we started a series on the Facebook page, Dogspotting Society, called "Matilda and Flowers," honoring her love affair with the smells and soft warmth of the sunlight in spring. We started creating calendars, with all proceeds donated to our favorite shelter in Texas, Austin Pets Alive!