Laika

This is Laika, Miss A's dog, on the beach at Moeraki. She and I and the pup took a drive down the coast to visit some friends, and then down to Dunedin to see Miss A's grown son. I drove back up to Oamaru yesterday afternoon, in an effort to quell the loneliness and aimlessness that's been gnawing at me this week. Seeing Miss A again and joining her for a day with her closest friends and family did a lot to at least take the edge off. The weather was beautiful, the sea sparkling, and it was really nice to be the passenger for a while so I could watch the scenery as we drove down the coast.

Laika is named after the first animal in space, a Russian pup sent up to test the effects of weightlessness on a living thing. The Wikipedia article on Laika is excellent; it tells a fascinating and heartbreaking story.