It’s finally warming up a little, so the dogs have been spending more time in the garden. Tessa likes to find a sunny spot, either outside or in ‘her’ chair, in front of the french doors. Delilah prefers bug hunting, or eating dandelions.
Photos here on Flicker, or in the slide show below.
I’m a voracious and somewhat undisciplined reader. First off, I tend to have two or three books on the go at any one time. I’ll read bits and pieces of one, skim through another that I’ve read before, start another and decide it’s not my cup of tea. I’m a firm believer in the ‘one chapter and you’re out’ rule of reading – if the author doesn’t catch my interest within the first chapter, I move on to something else. I don’t see the point of forcing myself to read a book I’m bored by, and since I’m no longer reading for course credits, I just don’t do it.
I’m also a genre crosser – I don’t read exclusively of any one sort of literature. Science fiction, fantasy, current fiction, alternative press, old dog stories – it’s all grist for the mill. So, if you’re expecting any sort of coherence from this list, you’re going to leave disappointed.
This list is of books I’ve either just finished, am in the middle of, or am planning to read. If you have a book suggestion for me, please let me know in the comments section.
1. Dumb-Bell of Brookfield and Other Great Dog Stories, John Taintor Foote
I first encountered a dusty, mildewed copy of this book in my uncle’s extensive library, and I’ve loved it ever since. While some of the human characters might seem like caricatures to modern day readers (The Harvard sport, the African American handyman, the Claudette Colbert-esque leading lady), the dogs all ring true. I first fell in love with ‘Bulldogs’ because of Allegheny, a story of a ‘Bull Terrier pup’ out of two fighting parents. I re read this one every few years, in this case to take the after taste of “The Dogs of Bedlam Farm” out of my mouth.
2. The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, Jon Katz
I finished this book, the first by Jon Katz I’d ever read, before Luisa’s wonderful summation of his stupidity appeared on her blog. Even for a non herding person such as myself, this book disturbed me. Mr Katz is one of those inept ‘do as I say, not as I do’ trainers who seems to take pride in detailing his own ineptitude, and at times seems to expect praise for the myriad ways he let down the dogs in his care. In particular, I was baffled by his insistence that he had to clear out half his flock because ‘real farmers’ wouldn’t like him keeping more stock than he ‘needed’ (real farmers, in my experience, have more important things to worry about than what the wanna be farmer up the road is doing with his play flock – things like trying to stave off bankruptcy).
3. Coldheart Canyon, Clive Barker
Well, this was a disappointment. I love Clive Barker, and rate a few of his books (Abarat, Imajica, Weaveworld) among some of the best horror -slash- fantasy writing I’ve ever read. This book, however, felt like a mishmash of plot stories, with orgiastic ghosts, demonic tile mosaics (don’t ask) and vengeful Theda Bara esque ageless vamps. Oh, and angels, too. Maybe. Just too much going on, in too many different ways. Not his best work, by a long shot, but I’ll send this book to anyone who wants to take a crack at it, and who will post their own review in their blog. Fuzzy? You game?
4. The French Bulldog, Muriel Lee
I got my copy of this book months ago, but didn’t sit down to read it until just recently – and I am so pleased that I did! Muriel has drawn on a pool of amazing talent to write (dare I say it?) the best over all guide to the breed I’ve ever read.
Her collaborators include James Grebe, Michael Rosser, Penny Rankin-Parsons, and numerous other breed specialists, all of who have helped to make this work a thorough and exhausting source of knowledge for both novice and experienced French Bulldog enthusiasts. After years of recommending Steve Eltinge’s “The French Bulldog”, it’s a relief to have an alternative to his (now out of print and ridiculously over priced on the secondary market) book. Well done, Muriel and company!
5. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007, edited by David Eggers
One of the literary highlights for me every year is picking up a copy of David Eggers wonderful Anthology, Best American Nonrequired Reading. This year’s copy just arrived last week, and I’m already through it. I’ll let this review sum up BANR –
“The premise is simple – San Francisco high school students scour through literary magazines, independent publications, and on-line journals for articles, stories, vignettes, and memoirs that they consider the best. They share their findings with each other and with their editor, Dave Eggers, until they’ve parsed it down to a few pieces to publish in this NonRequired Reading volume.”
A gem, as always.
6. Pushcart Prize XXXII: Best of the Small Presses, 2008 Edition
Another anthology, this one of short stories published by small presses (as opposed to the O’Henry prizes, which tend to draw from the same pool of periodicals). There is always a moment of amazement hidden within this great anthology – the feeling of discovering a new writer, on the brink of becoming great. There are also stories by established writers, waiting to give us fresh insights into what keeps them topical. My personal favorite was ‘Unassigned Territory’, by Stephanie Powell Watts. I still have half of this book to go, and am reading it in small chunks, the better and longer to savour it.
7. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
Like everyone else who reads, I thoroughly enjoyed Khaled Hosseini’s wonderful book ‘The Kite Runner’. I’m only a few pages into his new book, but already I’m as enraptured as I was by Kite Runner. He captures his characters and their environments with incredible deftness and a sparsity of prose that’s simply beautiful.
8. The Principles of Uncertainty, By Maira Kalman
This is an odd but lovely little book, composed of paintings that don’t illustrate the text, but in fact are the text. It’s a beautiful take on the traditional mange style of graphic novels. I’ve gotten through half of it, some of which left me simply baffled, but all of which I found lovely.
9. The House of Meetings, by Martin Amis
The premise of this book – gruff, amoral Red Army veteran looks back on the time he spent in a Russian gulag and the damage it did to his life and that of his gentler, more delicate brother Lev – is simple enough, but the prose is dense and chewy, and my brain has been too jammed full of stuff to do this book justice. I started it last fall, enjoyed it, then tossed it aside when I got caught up in other things. I’m starting it again now, and liking it even more than I did then.
10. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Michael Chabon
Oh, how do I love this book. I loved it the first time I read it, and I’ve just picked it up for a second go. I often do this, because I’m a greedy first reader – I gulp down the words, rushing through to the conclusion. A second reading lets me savour the words, as I am with this book. The premise – a temporary Jewish settlement is established on the Alaska panhandle for two million displaced Jews of World War 2. Fantasy? Yes, but only if you ignore the fact that Franklin Roosevelt proposed just such a solution. From there, the book segues into a Yiddish come Alaskan murder mystery. It might indeed be flawed in places, but over all this is just a great book.
11. The World Without Us, Alan Weisman
I haven’t started this one yet, but it’s on my to read list, and the premise is intriguing – if we all of us disappeared from the planet tomorrow, how long would it take for all traces of humanity to disappear? According to Weisman, the answer is ‘not long at all’. National Geographic took this concept and has turned it into a TV series, ‘Population Zero ‘. I can’t get it yet in Canada, but it looks interesting.
12. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah
Another book waiting its turn on the bedside table, this story of a child soldier stolen from his Sierra Leone village at age twelve is on just about every top ten list of 2007. I have been waiting for a stretch of time when I have no other books on the go, so that I can do it justice.
13. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
I’m looking forward to this book the way that some people look forward to Christmas. Based on Gaiman’s short story, the release of this book is an event for any fan of his fiction, and I’ve already pre ordered my copy (plus a few to give as gifts!). Too bad it won’t be here until some time in September… in the meantime, rabid fans can read about the books progress, and see galleys of the cover art by Dave Mckean, over on Neil Gaiman’s blog.
…
I cannot believe how crappy our weather has been. Yesterday tossed a total white out blizzard at us. It dumped a good foot and change of snow on us – and this just after a thaw had finally started to clear out some of the snow we’d accumulated over the winter.
From snow to mud and back to snowdrifts, in just over 48 hours. Here are some photos –
The view to our pond, from our back deck
The side pasture
Left to right – the deck, the small fenced dog run area, and the pool, with the pond and woods in the background
Old Photos Upload
I’ve been uploading some old(er) photos that I found on my PC. These are mostly from 2006, and are photos of Tessa and a whole series of photos of Penelope and her siblings – Sushi, Norman and Peter.
There are some great photographs in that set, a few of which are among my all time favorites. Penelope was a photogenic baby!
Some samples below, or see Tessa’s set here, and Penelope’s set here.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve pretty much stopped uploading to our Mega Gallery, and am using Flickr instead. I plan on migrating the site to a new host within the next six months, and the Mega Gallery is the most daunting part of that. The less photos I have to move, the better.
Tessa, at the T Dot Toronto French Bulldog Meet Up
French Bulldog puppy pile
Penelope was the cutest French Bulldog puppy EVER
Fat Fat Journey
Well, the good news is we’re pretty sure Journey is pregnant. The bad news is, not so much Paris. Next week we’ll do xrays to find out for sure, but in the meantime here’s a few photos of Miss Fatty Fat Journey.
Super fat, or with child? You be the judge.
Mr. Bumby – a True Gentleman
I meant to write about this earlier, but time and a bad email filing system got the better of me, and I do apologize for the lateness of this tribute.
Mr. Bumby, beloved baby boy of David and Theresa of Chicago, passed away last summer.
It took his mom Theresa a while to be able to write the email I’ve quoted from below, because when are hearts have been torn in two, words tend to fail us.
I’ll let Theresa herself tell you more about Mr. Bumby –
We lost the battle – in such a massive and heartbreaking way. August 16th, 2007 – our beloved Mr. Bumby was peacefully and respectfully escorted to the rest he so needed and deserved. He never gave up in spirit, but the physical failed him on all fronts. We all tried so hard – Mr. Bumby, David, I and the team of veterinary specialists we worked with – to no avail.
You’ve no idea how much we loved that man and how much happiness he brought to our lives. Not just ours alone – but to all of our friends and family – and I’m pretty sure he made our neighborhood a better place too. He was such an ambassador of good will, at all times, and had such a loving personality – that’s just who he was from day one, I think. The influx of cards and flowers and well wishes we received after his passing was astounding – and I think that alone speaks volumes, coming at a time when just the ‘common courtesy’ isn’t that common in most peoples’ daily routines. Dealing with his illness and having to make the decision on when it was time to say goodbye were the most painful situations I’ve been through. And I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. There’s not been a day since August when at least a few tears haven’t managed to sneak up on me at some point – but there’s no bitterness to them, mostly it’s just love and longing.
He is so very much missed.
I do apologize for taking so long to deliver the news; I hope you understand. I needed to let you know, and more importantly, I needed to thank you for the amazing contribution to the quality and happiness of our lives. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that I’d be a lesser person if I hadn’t had the pleasure of Mr. Bumby’s company – not to mention Maurice (aka the cow puppy).
I don’t know what I can add to such a tribute, except to say this – I can’t begin to say how much it means to me to know that he was loved so much by his people.
Every time we send a puppy out into the world, to a new home we can only hope we’ve done the best possible job in choosing, we are taking a leap of faith.
Learning of their deaths is always sad, since for the most part, my last memories of them are of their puppyhood. I can remember them only as they were in the time they were with me, so it’s sometimes hard for me to imagine them as adults, let alone as seniors.
I know Bumby had a wonderful life, which is as much as we can ever hope for our pups.
Hey, check out who made it as the very FIRST Frenchie LOL on Ihasahotdog (LOL Cats – aka ICanHasCheezburger.Com – for dogs).
It’s Mz IzzyBella, now known as Weezie (or DevilDog, to the poor poor puggies who have to put up with her.
Like I said, I can see why she doesn’t make it onto all the fashionable birthday party guest lists. And we thought Paris Hilton was a Diva!
Holy Cows!
Looks like this has been a banner month for cows going nuts all over Ontario!
First I have my own run in with off roadin’, garden crashing, snowbank scaling cows, and now this –
Police shot and killed a steer that escaped from an overturned truck this morning, saying they had no choice because the animal was charging at people.“It charged at one of the officers, right at him, and he had no choice,” Provincial police Sgt. Dave Woodford said.He explained that the animal had actually hit and thrown four other people in a residential neighbourhood of Mississauga. No one was seriously injured.
“These things are big animals and they’re just like bulls. When they charge at you, they’re going to throw you,” he said.
The steer escaped from a cattle truck, along with two cows and a bull. The truck overturned at about 6:40 a.m., snarling traffic on the Queen Elizabeth Way near Highway 427.
Two of the animals ended up in the backyard of a home on Brentano Boulevard.
Initially, the animals were peaceful, calmly munching away at the shrubs in the garden.
“They were rubbing up against my father’s shed. They were fine in the backyard. I guess when they tried to get them out of the backyard, that’s when they got really restless,” said resident Teresa Nimer-Boutros.
The steer got spooked when handlers tried to corral it and force it into a replacement truck. One of a number of portable iron gates used to guide the animals into the truck fell, scaring the steer. He knocked over the driver of the truck who was helping in the effort.
The rest of the story is here.
Poor cow. You kind of have to feel sorry for it, although if you think about what was likely facing them at the end of their journey, being shot by a policeman after a nice run through a garden and few mouthfuls of hedge probably seems like a better way to go out.
