Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

Ho – Ho – Hold it! It seems that Christmas is in full gear. My neighbours put these decorations up the day after Halloween, making them the first house on the block to decorate, but now many other homes are all dolled-up, too.  I have to admit that the wreaths and bows and lights are pleasant, especially at night when I’m walking Jack in the dark. I like Christmas decorations. They’re cheerful on a cold, dark winter’s night

I have wonderful memories of Christmases as a child, especially related to decorating. Every year, Dad would put his axe in the car, and we’d drive to a Christmas tree farm where I would get to choose the tree and Dad would chop it down. Then we’d tie it t the top of the car (always a Volkswagon Beetle – because they were German and reliable as hell) and then of coming home and helping my mother to decorate the tree and the house. Mom was a bit of a perfectionist about things, but we would listen to Christmas carols and drink hot chocolate and she would tell me exactly what to put where and how. Some decorations had stories that mom would tell year after year. The Santa on skis that came with my grandparents from Germany. Blown glass birds with feathery tails also from Germany, sent by an Aunt I never met. My favourite was always the colourful embroidered cat that mom was given to commemorate the year I was born. We had a ceramic Christmas tree made by one of Mom’s friends just for her. Mom wanted extra snow on it and Aunt Dorothy made it so. Mostly, mom would take over, leaving me free to sing and play and look through the Sears and Eaton catalogues and refine my wish list.  By the end of the day, the house would be transformed into a magical wonderland. Once the house was all dollied up, then mom would begin the Christmas baking. She made dozens of cookies, many pans of squares, rum balls, cherry tarts, loaves of bread and all sorts of other pretty and delicious treats to give as gifts and share with guests during the holiday season.  My dad was a mason, and we always had a lot of lodge brothers visit over the holiday season.

Now, I feel much differently about Christmas. The over-commercialisation annoys me and the push to spend and overspend on silly gifts. This year the big box stores had all sorts of Christmas paraphernalia in before Halloween, which I found in the way and annoying. I don’t have children, and neither do most of my friends, so a few years ago, I said no to Christmas gifts. All my friends will get a donation to the charity of their choice, and that’s what I get in return. It’s win-win. I avoid the crowded stores and trying to figure out what to get the people on my list, all of whom complain about clutter, and a few charities get a small boost. It’s a great way to make a secular Christmas meaningful. Try to do a bit of decorating, too, though. The dog walkers will thank you.

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

I have something special to share with you regarding Jack. He’s learned a new trick, and you’ll never guess what it is. First, though, let me tell you a story. Jack lived most of his life with an alpha female chocolate lab named Lucy as an older sister. Lucy was 4 when we brought Jack home, and she never got over the shock of it. She didn’t like to share our attention or affection, and if she heard Jack getting some love, she always came and intruded. Over time I learned to be quiet when giving Jack love-me-ups to spare him the indignity of being pushed aside. I did my best to keep things equal, but Lucy always wanted to be best and first. She was a fierce lady lab – 65 pounds of attitude and swagger. Lou had her right knee replaced when she was six and the left one almost exactly a year later, both times without complaint or self-pity. She was angry that we forced inactivity on her. She was ready to run again after a few days post-op and it was a struggle to keep her quiet for 6 weeks. So our Lucy was a lot for Jack to contend with, which brings me back to Jack’s new trick.

Have you made a guess yet? There’s a clue in the story. For most of Jack’s life, I was quiet when giving him affection, but Lucy’s been gone for over 2 years now, and at some point, I started making affectionate noises with him. Silly noises like hum,hum,hum and har-bar-bar with the occasional argle-bargle and hubba-bub bub thrown in for variety. Well, about 6 weeks ago, Jack started making noises back at me, and for all the world, it sounds like he’s purring. His chest vibrates, and he makes these throat noises that flow out of his upside-down open maw (he’s on his back and wiggling when this happens) in waves with the steady rhythm of a cat’s purr. It’s quite remarkable and very endearing, and it seems to be a persistent new behaviour. I think I may know why. I’ve been considering getting a cat. Our last cat died about the same time Lucy did, and I miss having a feline personality around the house. It seems that Jack has been reading my mind and is trying to convince me that “we don’t need a cat, Silly Mommy.” Jack can do anything a cat can do, even purr it seems.

Jack’s Walk

A sky full of snow ©voyager, all rights reserved

Well, winter has landed with a cargo load of wet, heavy snow. We have about 15 cm already, and there’s still lots more to come. The sky is full of oppressive grey snow clouds in all directions, and the forecast says it’s going to persist for a few more days. It’s a constant fine snow that doesn’t look serious at all, but it’s sticky, and it clumps, and it requires shovelling – which Jack and I did this morning, to the consternation of my back and shoulder muscles. Usually, I’m more fit at this time of year, but I did altogether too much sitting over the summer and not enough hiking or gardening. Just a few inactive months and my muscles have atrophied to jello. Well, there’s only one thing to do – suck it up and take the pain of putting them to work again, The snow will force my hand at that. So will towelling off Mr. Wigglebum, which is labour intensive, but amusing. So, bring it on winter. I’ll take the pain. Ha, I’ll be ready for gardening season. I have a good attitude and a cheerful Jackson Brown. That’s enough to get me through the season of gloom.

Note to Self: Use it or lose it is sadly true.

Swan Swam Back Again: An Autumn Walk II

Doubling as a rare “Friday Feathers”

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Some last glimpses of sunlight remained…

©Giliell, all rights reserved

The mushrooms made a brave attempt.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Then the setting sun was reflected by clouds and the light became dramatic

©Giliell, all rights reserved

And the mist began to rise…

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Say goodbye to the swan for now, I’m sure we’ll meet again.

Jack’s Walk

Shovel face ©voyager, all rights reserved

We’ve been having steady fine snow since early this morning and by mid-afternoon, there was about 8 cm of the stuff on the ground. That seems like more than enough to me, but the weather gods are in a giving mood and apparently, it’s going to snow for the rest of the week.  That’s right, 5 days in a row of snow. In November. It isn’t even winter yet, and I’m already fed up with the weather.

Jack’s feelings are quite different, though. Jack doesn’t mind getting cold and he thinks that snow is fun. He begged me to play outside with him all morning, so I finally took him to our little forest where he frolicked off-leash for about an hour. He kept laughing and telling me that his toes were tingling as he hopped off and on the path, leaving big, sloppy paw prints facing in all directions. He used his face like a shovel the whole way round. When I asked him why he did that he told me that snow smells are layered and it’s helpful to know what’s at the bottom.

“Oh,” I said, “but you must inhale snow when you’re sniffing like that.”

He was quiet for a beat or two and finally said” Snorting snow is fun, mommy. You should try it, the smells get smellier. And deeper.”

“Snorting snow, Jack. No thanks, I like my nose to stay warm and dry.”

“You have a bad attitude, mommy. You need to try new things. Maybe if you did, you wouldn’t hate winter as much.”

The boy has a point. It’s going to be a long winter and attitude is important. I’ll waste a lot of todays waiting for a warmer tomorrow. Even so, I still don’t think breathing in wet snow will help, Bubba. “How about you do the snorting for both of us.”

“I always do, mommy,” he said bounding off with a laugh. “we’d never know anything if we counted on your pitiful nose for information.”

Jack’s Walk

The Armada Arrives ©voyager, all rights reserved

The swans stop by to say hello ©voyager, all rights reserved

Well, for once, the universe listened to me. Late yesterday we had a small dusting of snow that decided to stick around. It’s just enough to make things pretty, but not enough to need shovelling or make walking difficult. It’s perfect. I can see Jack at night again, and sure enough, it was easy to find his poop, even in the dark. It’s cold anyway, so there might as well be a bit of the white stuff around.
Jack and I decided to go to the park this morning, and it was reasonably quiet when we arrived, but we hadn’t been there long when we hear a loud, sustained honking overhead and looked up to see an entire Armada of geese flying in. A hundred or more birds were circling the pond. They finally landed in teams, and it took several minutes for them all to get down. Once they were all on the water, they continued to make noise for several more minutes, and boy howdy was it loud. It seemed to upset the swans who managed to get away from the crowd to come and say hi. Jack was quite rude and barked at them, but they didn’t care at all. The geese are permanent residents at our park – they don’t fly south because the living is comfortable here. The swans have an even easier winter ahead – they live in an indoor pond and have a keeper. Once the weather is warmer again in the spring, they’re driven back to the outdoor pond, happy, healthy and ready to have a new family.

More Barcelona

It seems that Giliell’s photos of Barcelona have inspired Opus to share a few pictures of his own.

I was struck by the Sagrada Familia pictures and dove back into my picture files. These are from long before I purchased my first ‘real’ camera, but the nighttime shots of Casa Batlio are still among my favorites. If you need one for the front page I’d suggest Casa Batlio 2, but I’m biased: too much time with this as a child:

Reptiles and Amphibians Familiar American Species

Casa Batlio 2 ©Opus, all rights reserved

[Read more…]

Jack’s Walk

Hosta La Vista ©voyager, all rights reserved

We had a lovely bit of sunshine this afternoon, but it didn’t warm things up one little bit. Except perhaps inside the car where I started to sweat underneath all of my layers, which today included a pair of silk long johns and undershirt, a sweater and yoga pants topped off with a puffy winter coat, tuque, scarf and mittens, but not yet double socks. I really dislike feeling cold and have a tendency to overdress. Jack wondered what the heck was going on when I pulled over to take off my coat and then put it on again once we stopped. Jack thinks clothing is a human vanity, which is true, but clothing is also a necessity for a naked Canadian ape like me and he doesn’t get that part. He says silly things like “you’d stay warmer if you didn’t shave your legs” or “you need a little more fat to insulate.” Bubba, if I never shaved again and gained a hundred pounds I’d still want the long johns and winter gear. “Bah,” he says. “Humans are soft.”

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s time to check-in and see how much hair Bubba has grown since our last photo on October 3/19. Hmm… doesn’t look like much yet, does it? This is really unusual for Jack. Normally his neck ruff would be filling in by now, along with a thick all-over undercoat. This year he’s without both, and the weather is getting colder. At the moment, he’s relying on his fat pad (shhh… he’s sensitive about it), but’s that’s not going to be enough for much longer. He does have a stylish red coat to wear if it gets super cold, but he doesn’t like it, and we’ve only used it a few times in his life. Hopefully, he’ll get growing soon, and once it starts, it should fill in fast. I’ll update you in another few weeks.

I think that Jack looks puppyish without his neck ruff, probably because he didn’t grow his first one until he was about 3 years old.

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

The past few days have been cold and damp with heavy grey skies that look full of gloom. Temperatures have been hovering around 8° during the day and a mere 3 or 4° at night and it’s been the sort of weather that works its way into your bones and keeps you feeling chilled. November has definitely arrived and so far it’s been a bit unpleasant, but I really shouldn’t complain. Overall, it’s been an enjoyable autumn this year. There’s been plenty of sunshine, lots of warm days and the changing leaves have been ablaze with brilliant colour.  Conditions were my idea of perfect right through the whole month of October. Now, if I could only find the repeat button for that…