I was sitting on my porch this morning drinking my first and only cup of coffee, pondering life and its attendant tragedies, when I was momentarily distracted by Taser, my German shepherd puppy. As I watched it occurred to me that there are things that can make a day seem brighter like.......
Watching your puppy chase a butterfly.
Watching the big dogs chase your puppy that is chasing a butterfly.
Watching your puppy distracted by a flying crow.
Watching the big dogs distracted by your puppy distracted by a flying crow.
It's the little things that count......
Cross posted at MadMikesAmerica....
This post is dedicated to my dear friend Nancy....I hope little Taser can make her day just a wee bit brighter....
AS happy as I am that you and Taser are enjoying your Sunday, my daughter just brought our first grandchild home today. Sofie. It is a good day today.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful Truth! Congratulations to you and you family. You are right. It is a good day today.
ReplyDeleteTiny moments of connection and disconnection...
ReplyDelete"...every hour is saved from that eternal silence, something more, a bringer of new things..." spoke Ulysses through Tennyson's pen
Alsatians, they say, are marked by a willingness to learn and an eagerness to have a purpose---much like humans.
There was once that Alsatian guide dog I met at the Wulfshead, a genetically modified one with greatly enhanced intelligence. Like many, he feared that his mistress would cease to need him... but that is another story.
Alsatians, I have found, have a loyal nature and bond well with people they know.
And this offers me an excellent opportunity to reminisce. With your permission. True strory -
ReplyDeleteYes, I once owned Gypsy Rose Lee's dog. A cross between an Irish setter and a cocker spaniel, about midway in size with the same red fur of a setter. She was the only dog I ever had.
What a neurotic dog! The reason I got ahold of her (I don't remember how old I was: still a little kid in grade school) was because an artist friend of my father's, Julio de Diego, married Gypsy Rose Lee. She needed a husband fast and in those days having a child out of wedlock could ruin a show business career, even if the star was a stripper. And Julio - a painter, jewelry maker, etc. - volunteered. The kid was Otto Preminger's son.
I know the marriage was rocky because Julio, who was a good friend, would appear at our house on 8th Street in New York in the middle of the night to complain, waking us all up. Suzie, the dog, as I said, was extremely neurotic, piddling all over the place whenever a visitor dropped by. Anointing many a pants leg of a startled distinguished visitor in this manner. Lunging into other female dogs out on the street.
This went on several months until one day I came home from school to discover Suzie was gone. I was heart broken, of course, furious at my parents - for maybe a day or two. But Suzie was the only dog I ever owned. Though since then I have owned a cat. And many tropical fish in a hundred gallon tank. But that's another story.
Thanks though for allowing me the opportunity to tell you about Suzie. No, I never met Gypsie Rose Lee. She never came over to the house. Though her husband, Julio, one of many, came over all the time.
If any of you are interested, by the way, a show of some of my father's work will open tomorrow at the Cervantes Institute on 49th Street. It will also include some of Julio's and Jose de Creeft's work. As well as other Spanish artist. The theme being Spanish Artists Living in New York between 1930 and 1960.
De Creeft was a great sculptor, who did the Alice in Wonderland memorial in Central Park and 70th Street. My father's work will be represented by three of the portraits he did of American writers as "how they see theselves:" Steinbeck, Carl Van Doren, and Richard Wright, plus a sketch of Arthur Miller. These have never been shown before. The show runs to January 10.
http://www.lqart.org/portsfold/writports.html
wait, you still have butterflies around? where do you live? I've not seen a butterfly in weeks now :)
ReplyDeleteLib: I haven't seen a butterfly in months either.
ReplyDeleteQuinty: I have a 125 gallon with lots of fish. I have had tropicals most of my life.
To the Bartender: Everything you have heard about Alsations is true. They are extremely loyal to their families and their intelligence is unmatched in the dog world, at least in my experience.
ReplyDeleteMadMike -
ReplyDeleteIs your tank narrow and tall? Mine is broad and squat, the kind you get in earthquake country. So that when a "big one" comes along it wont tip over. Though tall, narrow tanks are prettier to look at.
Is your tank salt water or fresh water? Mine, currently, is down in the basement. Didn't set up again upon arriving in Providence. I saw some butterflies just a two or three weeks ago. In this day and age it may be normal to become edgy when a species stops appearing in your yard. We - around here - have heard a lot about the disappearance of honey bees. How they are vanishing due to unknown reasons, a mite or environmental degradation. Chemicals or something like that. Fortunately, swarms of bees hovered about the flowers in our yard this year. That was cheering. And the butterflies were welcome too. Amazing how one never tires of seeing such common beauty.
I misspoke earlier, as I did in fact see a butterfly, the one my puppy was chasing. That lone individual must have "gone rogue." No doubt it will soon be writing a book and again there will be long lines in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteMy tank is 6 feet long by two feet wide and about three feet high. I am having a problem with hair algae, despite any number of light adjustments, and am considering breaking it down and starting again as a cichlid tank, without live plants. That, however, would be unfortunate for the current population as cichlids don't like anyone but other cichlids. As a result I have been putting off the remake.
Having once been a cichlid man myself I can understand your concern.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the butterfly alert was alarmist.
Go in peace...friends all....I do miss the bees and the frogs...
ReplyDelete