Well, I'm writing again. Joined a local writers group and have 'assignments' using writing prompts. So a story is forming. Very loose and already full of loose ends which will have to be tied up but must admit it is good to be writing again. It won't be like before when I would sit down first thing in the morning with a cuppa and punch out 1000 words. Life just doesn't work like that anymore, other commitments, different schedule - but I am starting to carry a small notebook and a pen on our afternoon walks as that's when the best ideas come.
It's fun.
No pressure.
Like the guitar. Have started over. Somewhere I read that one should use a mirror to help with placement of the left hand. That however has turned out rather awkwardly as I became dependent upon it and couldn't find the notes without it. So have put the mirror away and am retraining without it. It's muscle memory. Finding the exact positioning of the fingers near the frets; too far away and the note buzzes, too close and it's dead. Really difficult. Odd too as a song came on and I grabbed my air guitar and I STILL hold it the opposite way to the way a guitar is to be played. Thought as I had no bad habits to break I may as well learn to play with the left hand fretting and the right strumming. But my air guitar is exactly the opposite; right hand fretting and left plucking. Oh well.
Still drawing too. Have one I rather like up on the easel and another on the floor waiting for the final touches. Two people keep insisting I apply to have a show at Art Post Uki. Thought no no no, as I don't do Opening Nights - get quite anxious and claustrophobic at other people's opening nights. It's such a small space and it's always packed. How would I cope if it was mine and I couldn't run away as I usually do? That is if my work was accepted in the first place. One makes an application which goes away to be independently evaluated by artists not associated with APU.
Actually got on their website to have a look for an entry form. I could have an opening night where I wasn't there - but it all seems so childish and precious - and a bit pretentious - to not attend my own opening night.
The idea of showing my work? No worries! Either people like it, don't like it, or don't care either way. That's fine. Because as conceited as it sounds, most of my work I like. Sure I recognize the failings of them but they speak from and to me so I'm fond of them.
Time to walk Mikaela.
My birthday yesterday and my birthday wish was to take Mikaela to the beach. A grand day. She is such a good and funny dog. She runs and grins and leaps and bounces, crashes into me or cuts me off while running. But whatever she does she doesn't run away and comes when she's called. That's with no dogs on the beach. Not sure she would be so amenable if there was a white fluffy within chase distance. Hopefully we'll never find out. Find if we go on a weekday there are hardly any dogs!
Anyway, 63 years old and life is god.
Showing posts with label Mikaela. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mikaela. Show all posts
Friday, November 30, 2018
Saturday, December 9, 2017
Post 23 of 92
11:33am. No, I haven't stopped, quite.
Successfully did yoga with Mikaela in the room. Thought she'd be all over me, licking my face in downward dog or some such thing but as we'd taken her to the Uki Farmers Market this morning, she was all in.
It's quite remarkable how the energy levels of greyhounds fluctuate. She can be as hyper and goofy as a puppy, rabbit running up and down the fence or spinning in tongue flapping circles on the rug while the next minute she's be stretched out on the floor asleep. Greyhounds are couch - or in her case - chair potatoes.
Mikaela is an endearing and irresistible advertisement for greyhound adoption. A fellow student at the life drawing class will adopt a greyhound next year after she returns from abroad and that is directly due to her meeting and falling in love with Mikaela. Everywhere she goes she's admired, patted even hugged. And she absorbs it all with gentle dignity.
And she smells good. Mikaela has a subtle perfume on her head that is quite delicious. Yes, her beds and leashes will eventually get that doggy odour if they aren't washed - but she herself never smells like a dog.
Maybe it's because she's part cat and that's why she's so easy for me to love. I love her in a way that I've never loved another dog. Have always been a cat person. I still am but now I am a dog person too or at least a greyhound person.
11:41am.
Successfully did yoga with Mikaela in the room. Thought she'd be all over me, licking my face in downward dog or some such thing but as we'd taken her to the Uki Farmers Market this morning, she was all in.
It's quite remarkable how the energy levels of greyhounds fluctuate. She can be as hyper and goofy as a puppy, rabbit running up and down the fence or spinning in tongue flapping circles on the rug while the next minute she's be stretched out on the floor asleep. Greyhounds are couch - or in her case - chair potatoes.
Mikaela is an endearing and irresistible advertisement for greyhound adoption. A fellow student at the life drawing class will adopt a greyhound next year after she returns from abroad and that is directly due to her meeting and falling in love with Mikaela. Everywhere she goes she's admired, patted even hugged. And she absorbs it all with gentle dignity.
And she smells good. Mikaela has a subtle perfume on her head that is quite delicious. Yes, her beds and leashes will eventually get that doggy odour if they aren't washed - but she herself never smells like a dog.
Maybe it's because she's part cat and that's why she's so easy for me to love. I love her in a way that I've never loved another dog. Have always been a cat person. I still am but now I am a dog person too or at least a greyhound person.
11:41am.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Post 11 of 92
9:08pm. Nearly forgot. Easy to do. Thunderstorms coming. What a loaded sentence that is. Thunderstorms. And I hear a plane passing overhead. Between storm cells. What a view they must have, in the night with flashes of light before and behind.
But the greatest view would be of the ... is it sprites? those flashes of light seen from space of electrical discharges above thunderstorms? What a view that would be.
And just a note before I close (it's already 9:11). Mikaela might just be the greatest dog that ever lived. I am a cat person first and foremost. A bird person second. A horse person third and a dog person last of all. Mikaela might change all that. This morning, with some cheap dental tools I got from somewhere years ago, I chipped off some plaque from her teeth. Her teeth are pretty good, especially for a greyhound, but there is a bit of plaque. Mikaela stood like a statue while I chipped away. I didn't do much. Why make a problem where there isn't one? Even so, her beautiful manners are breathtaking.
As is her love. She is the most loving dog I have ever met. Loving without slavishness, if that makes sense. She doesn't throw herself upside down at your feet and whine. She isn't needy in that way. There's a quiet dignity in her affection; a laying of her head in my lap or against my chest. Giving and receiving. She affects me more than any dog I have ever known. And that is in less than two weeks. 9:22pm
But the greatest view would be of the ... is it sprites? those flashes of light seen from space of electrical discharges above thunderstorms? What a view that would be.
And just a note before I close (it's already 9:11). Mikaela might just be the greatest dog that ever lived. I am a cat person first and foremost. A bird person second. A horse person third and a dog person last of all. Mikaela might change all that. This morning, with some cheap dental tools I got from somewhere years ago, I chipped off some plaque from her teeth. Her teeth are pretty good, especially for a greyhound, but there is a bit of plaque. Mikaela stood like a statue while I chipped away. I didn't do much. Why make a problem where there isn't one? Even so, her beautiful manners are breathtaking.
As is her love. She is the most loving dog I have ever met. Loving without slavishness, if that makes sense. She doesn't throw herself upside down at your feet and whine. She isn't needy in that way. There's a quiet dignity in her affection; a laying of her head in my lap or against my chest. Giving and receiving. She affects me more than any dog I have ever known. And that is in less than two weeks. 9:22pm
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Day 5 of 92
2:43pm Just got the computer back from the computer hospital where it has, happily, been fixed. Also explains why I have missed blogging for a few days.
But the big news is we have adopted a rescue Greyhound, Mikaela (previously known as April). In about 16 minutes she will have been with us for 24 hours. She is a 4 year old white chested but mostly black girl who raced 6 times, came third once, and didn't like to chase. Thankfully as she is going pretty well with the cats. She has shown interest in playing with them but they aren't confident with her yet.
She is a dream girl; affectionate, intelligent, housebroken, polite, walks well on the lead and for having had her entire life disrupted twice in 3 months, handling it quite well. We took her to M'bah, did some errands...she wasn't quite sure about the trip. Kept going to South Tweed and Pet Barn to buy her another bed. By that time she was sad, thinking perhaps life was going to throw her another curve ball.
When we got home and opened the car door, her tail was whipping from side to side and she'd grown about half a foot.
One of the most impressive things about her is how quickly she learns. We have a large easy chair in the bedroom that I covered with a throw. It was to be her bed. She thought our bed could be her bed too. I pushed her off once, took her around to the chair once, put her on it and told her to stay. She didn't but when the lights went out she jumped into the chair and spent the night there.
Good Dog!
2:50pm
But the big news is we have adopted a rescue Greyhound, Mikaela (previously known as April). In about 16 minutes she will have been with us for 24 hours. She is a 4 year old white chested but mostly black girl who raced 6 times, came third once, and didn't like to chase. Thankfully as she is going pretty well with the cats. She has shown interest in playing with them but they aren't confident with her yet.
She is a dream girl; affectionate, intelligent, housebroken, polite, walks well on the lead and for having had her entire life disrupted twice in 3 months, handling it quite well. We took her to M'bah, did some errands...she wasn't quite sure about the trip. Kept going to South Tweed and Pet Barn to buy her another bed. By that time she was sad, thinking perhaps life was going to throw her another curve ball.
When we got home and opened the car door, her tail was whipping from side to side and she'd grown about half a foot.
One of the most impressive things about her is how quickly she learns. We have a large easy chair in the bedroom that I covered with a throw. It was to be her bed. She thought our bed could be her bed too. I pushed her off once, took her around to the chair once, put her on it and told her to stay. She didn't but when the lights went out she jumped into the chair and spent the night there.
Good Dog!
2:50pm
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