On Warts and Walls and Stealing from the Church

Freddie has had his share of common puppy afflictions (giardia, kennel cough, conjunctivitis, topical nose infection, random intestinal bugs). The vets like us, and, though I wish we had universal health care for pets (yeah, try that, Obama administration!), we like the vets that Freddie has seen. I was hoping, however, not to see them again for a while. Then this thing popped up, seemingly overnight, on Freddie's bottom lip (underneath the big fang) ....

Initial grossed-outness rapidly progressed to "Oh my God, does my dog have mouth cancer?!" ... and off we marched to this place:

to see this guy (photo credit Granville Island Vet Hospital):

Dr. Jeff made his diagnosis in a nanosecond: common wart, will almost certainly go away on its own in 2-3 months, might be joined by others before the virus snuffs out for all eternity. He made me feel better about the $62 consultation fee by giving Freddie a snout-to-tail examination and pronouncing him healthy. The bad news? These doggy warts are highly contagious, meaning that young Freddie — Mr. Sociability — must avoid contact with "vulnerable dogs" (ie. any dog who has never had warts) until he is virus-free. Good thing Freddie's vocabulary doesn't yet extend to words like "avoid" and "vulnerable." Any Vancouverites out there have non-wart-vulnerable dogs who would like to play???

This groovy painting on Dr. Jeff's wall is of the vet hospital:

We encountered other notable walls on our walk ...

This one, crying out to be whitewashed, or painted in a theme to complement the kale growing beside it:

These ones, at 4th and Fir — animal medical central:

Mmm .... very addicted to very dark chocolate:

The fancy walls of the Vancouver Courier, where my first ever fiction publication appeared — a story set in a smoky Quebec City bar called "L'Étrange" — both the story and the bar :-) :

And here are the walls of a little church down the street from us:

Back in the summer, the plants growing chaotically behind this sign (below) were a vibrant dark green, and even my feeble olfaction could detect the smell: MINT! Now, by my calculus, WARM SUMMER EVENING + FRESH MINT = MOJITOS. But there were various issues to consider: how evil would it be to snitch a few mint sprigs from church property? Is wild mint up there with forbidden fruit? If the sprigs are leaning over the sidewalk, are they still church property? Does the mint on the other side of the sidewalk also belong to the church? Or does none of this matter because a true Christian church should share its bounty with all who pass by? These and other questions were pleasantly pondered, later on, as Paul and I sipped our mojitos in the evening light.  

This tiny park is lovely but a little sad. No one ever seems to sit here.

Foot-operated doggy drinking fountain on 7th Avenue!

A cool, dry autumn morning .... heading home for coffee ....

or a snooze!

Good thing Freddie loves his hedgehog and his eviscerated leather bear; they might be his only animal playmates for a while!