The Luddite's Lament

I know. A photo weblogger is not a Luddite. But I do have some credentials: no car, no cable (is that even a thing anymore?), no iPad/e-reader, no smartphone.

It's the last of these gizmos that caused me some WTFness at the camera store. See — it appears that my (Paul's) little Canon Powershot is both irreparable and irreplaceable. Why irreparable? Made to break, I guess? Why irreplaceable? Smartphones. Nobody (except me, it seems) is interested in cheap point-and-shoot cameras. Serious photographers spend multiple paycheques on serious cameras, but people like me (except me) take photos with their phone.

The Canon can still take pictures (note exhibit A, on the left), but its zoom and auto functions are gone ... "And it'll cost you more to have the thing repaired than to buy a new one," said the friendly guy at Lens & Shutter.

Only there aren't any new ones to buy.

Well, ok, not many. A product that used to come in hundreds of variations has dwindled down to a couple of models. I wrote down the name of one of them and gave Paul the paper when I got home.

"My birthday present!" I said. "But only if we sell our place."

Corks are becoming obsolete, but I think wine and dog treats are safe, Freddie.

Candelabra-cum-bird feeder: groovy

This scene reminds me of the trees and greenery bordering certain sections of the Canal du Midi in southern France, where Paul and I did a cycling trip several winters ago.

The trip was something of a celebration after our writing retreat in a cavernous 13th century house in the chilly Languedoc village of Labastide Esparbairenque — no internet, no phone/
TV/stereo/microwave, groceries from a little truck that passed through sporadically on its way to bigger places, barely any heat .... Yep, we were Luddites in good standing for six weeks!

It was ten-below this morning, the weather people claimed.

I used to have one of those "One Less Car" stickers on my bike, but I removed it. Yes, I dig bikes, and yes, I think lots more people could get around without a car than actually do ... but the sticker just seemed kind of in-yer-face obnoxious. That said, I hope there are many people out there who could buy these bikes ...

Red Flowers

Adding distance and duration to Freddie's stays ... The other "D" is distraction, our biggest challenge. You can be pretty certain from Freddie's pose that there were no blowing leaves or other dogs in the park just then.

Stay warm (or cool, or dry ... depending on where you are)!

Confessions Over Coffee

I found the lost photos! There's still, however, something wrong with my (Paul's) little camera, so Freddie and I are making a trip to Lens and Shutter this morning to see if anything can be done.

In the meantime, we'll leave you here in this very cozy café with some random Qs&As about yours truly. The questions were taken from this list of 100 important things to know about a fictional character you are creating — the kind of list I'd never use for my fiction writing (not that there's anything wrong with it; it's just not my kind of thing).

I picked questions that would generate short(ish) answers, and I'm sure my choice of questions says more about me than the actual answers do! In contrast to yesterday's post, this one contains only one teensy bit of fiction. Here we go ...

When and where were you born? December 20, 1965, in Montreal, Quebec

What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently? "Groovy"

What is your earliest memory? A nightmare involving a gorilla tiptoeing along our clothesline toward the house

Did you enjoy school? Grades 4 and 9 were transformative; the rest had its moments.

As a child, what were your favorite activities? Inventing/designing stuff, making stuff up, putting on a show

When and with whom was your first kiss? Micky Dolenz from the Monkees, when I was seriously underaged

Who has had the most influence on you? I think family members during childhood have the biggest influence on most people. After that, Leah and Paul.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? At one time I would have said publishing a book; now I think it's managing to develop and sustain relationships with people much wiser/nobler/kinder than I am. 

If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why? Aside from developing diabetes (duh), I'd be less focused on getting "A"s and devote more time/attention to learning and doing groovy things.

What are your political views? Green socialist

What are your views on sex? Whatever floats your boat (between consenting adults, bien sûr)

Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not? Only if I'm at the front of the room, doing most of the talking. Otherwise, the smaller the better for group size. I'm a garden-variety introvert and a (recovering) control freak.

Do you care what others think of you? Absolutely

What is your favourite colour? This blue


What is your favourite food? Dark chocolate

How do you deal with stress? Teeth-grinding, list-making, worrying, exercising

What, if anything, do you like to read? The Victorians, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf

What are your pet peeves? Punctuation errors

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Worry less and waste less time (I know: that's two things — but the second encompasses the first).

What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime? To be happy more than sad and to do more good than harm ... lofty goals, but worth aiming for, at least

~ RIP Nelson Mandela 1918 - 2013 ~

This connection has 22 seconds.

This is Freddie. He's just been doing some agility practice on top of this wall, and now he has his eyes on a scrap of paper scuttling across the pavement. He won't jump down until he gets the release command, but when he does ...

"Huh? What paper?"

This is Birgit. She's an exchange student from Gothenburg University. Her favourite fur jacket (which matches her hair — and her boots) is Autumn/Spring wear in Sweden, so she's pleased to be wearing it in December. She's shading her eyes against the surprising afternoon light and hoping the next B-Line to come along will be less crowded than the one she's just missed.

Josh and Zaineb. He thinks it's ironic that her supposedly traditional parents are less fazed by her hair colour than he fears his own family will be. They're going for the Big Meeting right now. She's holding onto her bag for dear life. The travel agent could probably replace her ticket if necessary, but with time so tight ...

Conjunction Junction

"I'll be there in five minutes. I'm almost at Broadway."

"Of course it sounds English. I'm English. What's your point?"

"If you want to be important, you must want to be nice." Or ... ?

This is Maricris, texting her aunt in Manila to tell her how cold it is and to find out how the volunteer relief efforts for typhoon Haiyan are going.

 This is Freddie, back home with his favourite pal.

Separation Anxiety, Then and Now

Aw, crap. Something is wrong with my camera AND with my iPhoto, and one or both of those problems has resulted in the vaporization of all photos taken since yesterday afternoon, including some lovely shots from our latest real-estate exile, which we spent in a photogenic café over on Granville St. (Phoscao), and a photo of a fantastic "bicycle RV" that Freddie and I spotted on our morning walk.

Oh, well ... hardly a crisis. It's not as if I don't have oodles of other photos on my computer. Including this one, taken about one year ago, near La Paz, Mexico, where Paul and I spent our last pre-Freddie writing retreat. Beautiful land/sea-scape, non? 

And yet ... the whole two months we were away, I couldn't help eyeing my calendar and noting the remaining weeks/days before our return to Winter ... not with the usual holiday-sense of dwindling time but rather with excited anticipation.

Since the previous June, we'd been paying regular visits to our new family member, who was completing several months of public access training in Washington State. We visited him one last time en route to Mexico. The weather in the Seattle area was disgusting — torrential rain, temperatures hovering just a micrometer above zero. Mexico should have felt like the promised land. And it did — almost. For although I had this vista to contemplate from my work desk, morning after morning ...

I spent just as much time staring at this photo (among others), taken in the dingy but pet-friendly Westwynd Motel in Gig Harbor, WA.

I hate wishing away time — even time spent doing tedious, unpleasant things. I try hard not to do it. But I couldn't help myself: one month to Freddie ... two weeks to Freddie ... five days to Freddie ... twelve hours ... three, two, one ...

In all the furry frenzy, we failed to get any shots of the exact reunion moment, but Freddie's trainer, Shari, posted a few good ones in her blog entry for that day.

This picture below was taken a few days after our return to Vancouver and the start of our life with the Little Doctor.

Since that February reunion, Freddie and I have rarely been apart. He came to work with me during the summer teaching term. He's been to shops and restaurants. He rides public transit and generally hangs out wherever I am in the apartment. This togetherness has been an intentional part of the service dog - handler bonding process ... and it's been a great success. Freddie is extremely attached and attentive to me.

A bit too much, I fear. Yes ... for his own sake and mine (and Paul's!), he needs to be able to hang out alone sometimes. And, to be honest, this is a part of his training that we've crapped out on. Monday evening I went out for dinner with my friend Andrea and left Freddie with Paul. For me, it was a welcome respite from leash-handling, treat-dispensing, behaviour-monitoring etc. etc. For Freddie? Well, he was fine because he was with Paul. But he scratched at the door after I left and moped around a bit ... and generally did a solid job of increasing my anxiety about leaving him alone-alone.

We know what we need to do: start small (i.e. leave together for very short periods) and work up from there. We just need to do it. And now that I've 'fessed up to this problem here, feel free to badger me for progress reports.

Hoping the photo situation will be remedied soon. In the meantime, check out this post, or this one, or this one. They're feeling lonely and abandoned!

Fotography, Filosophy, Chicken Liver Kommunion, and Kudos to My Teaching Students

Bonjour! As you'll soon figure out from the sunset fun below, these shots are from yesterday's walks, not today's ...

I like the sense of movement in the power lines to the left. Lines and light: photography classes must talk about such things. I'd like to take such a class sometime — maybe re-learn all about f-stops and depth of field and other mysteries I sort of understood when I was a teenage shutterbug with a Pentax K-1000 and a collection of psychedelic filters.

This is obviously not a good picture in terms of composition and lighting ... or, I dunno; maybe the lighting looks a little godly — which would be appropriate, since this pose of Freddie's — head up, mouth open to take his treat — always make me feel like a priest giving Communion. Only in this case the Host is made of dehydrated chicken liver.

Uhrmm .... moving right along ... Goldilocks Bakery at Broadway and Fir does a booming business. I ordered one of their cakes once for someone's birthday. It was ok. Not quite just right.

Through the Looking-Glass

Very strange. The scene behind me doesn't look at all as it should. Where are the cars and the dumpsters and the Szechuan restaurant?

Freddie in a down-stay at the post office while I filled out mail forwarding materials. Yep ... things are gettin' serious, it seems.

"Down ... Stay ... Now look adorable. Good boy!"

With every showing, every open house, every little step toward our new place in "Nofo" (North of Fourth, as we've dubbed it ;-)), our Pine Street home feels, well, a little less homey, more provisional.

Maybe the feeling isn't entirely to do with moving; maybe it's a getting old(er) thing ... recognizing that any physical space we occupy is ultimately temporary, provisional, ephemeral ...

(Filosophy by Freddie)

Lines and light ...

... light and lines.

Sunset Flowers

Can you see her head? Second lit window from the left, down near the bottom. She's sitting at her desk, and hers is the last classroom with the lights still on. Back when I taught elementary school (1989-2001), this was almost never me. Even without slashings of already skimpy budgets, it's a non-stop marathon of a career (the term hardly captures the diversity of abilities required) ... but wonderful, too. I'm very happy I did it ... and happy now to be doing other (closely related) things. :) To my wonderful former students who've entered the marathon themselves — Angela, Mhegan, Regan, others? — you have my deepest admiration!

Back in our provisional home, Freddie has decided he's a lapdog ... or maybe a cat. Isn't this what cats do when one is trying to work at the computer?

Today's Homework: Enjoy where you are and don't work too hard!

Oh, that marvelous, maddening muzzle!

As Winnie the Pooh would say, it's rather a blustery day today. Freddie's favourite kind of day. Mine? Not so much — for precisely the reasons Freddie loves such days. Smells coursing through the air, madly off in all directions, each one an irresistible temptation .... and then there are all those scuttling leaves and scraps to chase. Polite leash walking? What's that?

A wise person would have gone straight to the dog park and set him free. I foolishly attempted several blocks of "Close!" and "With me!"

These clouds were racing across the sky. Freddie watched them for a while, assessing their catchability.

These grasses were shimmering and swaying like something from a Vidal Sassoon commercial.

Mohinder! This phenomenon was first brought to my attention by my sister-in-law, Kelly, in her "Stalking John Cusack" guest post. This is the first instance I've actually come across. Oh, and speaking of guest posts, Freddie and I are anxiously awaiting entries from some people-puppy pairings we cornered and browbeat a while back. If we haven't come after you yet, but you have a dog (or access to a dog) and would like to do a guest post, please get in touch. We love having guests!

Diamonds in the Rough

Entranceway to the posh and prohibitively (pour moi) pricey Shaughnessy Tennis Club

Paul and I (with a certain canine ball-boy) whack the ball around in the neighbouring public courts and watch the BMWs and Jags cruise in and out of the parking lot.

These are what I would call "towering clouds." Not my metaphor, but I don't know from whom I stole it.

Great Ball o' Fire

Now, this is a groovy scene, if I do say so myself. The building in the foreground is a telescope shop — hence the mural featuring various vapours, stars, and other celestial bodies. In the background we have a glass building reflecting both a burst of sunlight and another fleet of those swift-moving clouds. I tried to get Freddie to appreciate it .... 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," his eyes said. "Very nice. Now can we please go to the park??"

It's looking to be a busy week ahead for us here at WWF, but we shall do our best to keep posting!

Vacancies and Vestiges

Empty Nests

Morning After

Shoeless

Waterfront Lease

This last shot doesn't really correspond to the post title, but it was taken in our apartment, which we're hoping will fit the bill sooner rather than later ...

Join Freddie's Occupy the Sofa Movement today!