Jack’s Walk

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We went to the park again today and I can’t get over how much the goslings have grown in just a few days. They’re at a sort of “homely cute” stage with beaks that look too big for their heads, fuzzy hairdo’s that stick out in all directions and the beginnings of eye marks that make them look sleepy. I think they’re adorable. The parents keep a careful watch, but don’t seem to mind us being around. These are park geese who live here all year and are very used to people and dogs. Of course, Jack is also pretty laid back and usually lays quietly on the grass while I take  photos.

Jack’s Walk

Jack and I strolled through the tulips at the park today. Our city plants thousands of bulbs every fall and they vary the colour from year to year so it’s always a surprise in the spring to see what opens up. This year it’s purple, my favourite, and the best part is that once they’ve finish blooming the city will sell all the bulbs at a good price. They start again with new bulbs in the fall and local residents get the pleasure of more tulips around the whole city.

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Jack’s Walk

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We had a wind storm on Friday that caused a lot of damage across my region in Southwestern Ontario. There were wind gusts of up to 100 km/hr and some areas suffered power outages lasting several hours because of downed trees and hydro lines. There wasn’t any real damage in my neighbourhood, but today at the park Jack and I found a small uprooted tree and several large branches down. I’m  worried that our little wooded trail in the country will also have suffered damage. There are quite a few trees there in precarious condition and it’s prone to storm damage. I plan to take Jack tomorrow to check it out.

Jack’s Walk

I’m so excited. Today Jack and I found new leaves on the maples. They’ve come so quickly this year, almost overnight, that it’s a bit astonishing. It’s likely because our temps have gone from the zeros to the twenties this week and seem to be staying there. All those plants that were waiting for some warm are making up for lost time. My grass already needs cutting. What a strange year.

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“Going to the Dogs?”, Workshop.

“Going to the Dogs” Workshop #2 brought together scholars from England, Scotland, and Poland to discuss the various and complex intersections of disability- and animal-studies research. Discussions centred on talks delivered by Rachael Gillibrand (Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds), Dr Ryan Sweet (School of English, University of Leeds), Dr Andy Flack (Department of History, University of Bristol), Dr Neil Pemberton (Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester), and Dr Justyna Włodarczyk (Department of American Literature, University of Warsaw). The talks covered topics including the animal assistants of disabled people in the late-medieval West; nineteenth-century representations of animals with prostheses; connections between historical understandings of animals that live in darkness and vision-impaired people; the role of the caress in 1930s America human-guide-dog partnerships; and current controversies surrounding emotional-support animals in the US.

-Via Medievalists.

The full set of workshop videos.