Whitney Houston

Twenty-five or twenty-six years ago, I sat around a table in the family violence center’s shelter with a group of women who taught me to French braid my hair.  While we braided, we sang along to Whitney Houston’s song “The Greatest Love of All.”  I remember us all singing “You can’t take away my dignity.”  It seemed like such an appropriate song for all women and especially for this group of women who had been beaten down, but weren’t ready to give up.  I was the director of the Family Violence Prevention Center of Greene County.  It was when the shelter was in a lovely old house on West Second Street.  My office had a door that opened into the living room for families staying there.  That day, in the summer, the women were gathered in the dining room discussing their plans for the day.

When I could, I sat in on the meeting and shared my plans for the day.  It was a great way to model that we all have to plan our time and we are all accountable for establishing goals.  After the goal setting, someone turned on the radio and the group continued in a friendly discussion.   They decided to French braid their hair looking at my head of long hair and offered to help me.  Within a very short period of time, I learned to French braid my own hair.  What a wonderful gift.  And then, Whitney Houston came on singing and we all joined in. It was such a lovely moment of companionship and sisterhood.   

Hearing about Whitney Houston’s death brought these memories back to me.  Whitney was a brilliant star in our universe.  And like Judy Garland’s bright star, she was troubled with addictions that dimmed her star and led to her death.  There are so many women who aren’t stars who suffer the same addictions.  May we fill our hearts with hope that they will conquer their demons.  

A young dog and the dog walk

Two weeks ago during agility class Magnum was running on the dog walk at full height, which is about 4 to 5 feet off the ground.  He is at an age where he still doesn’t pay attention to his hind legs.  Running on a dog walk isn’t all that easy because it is about 12 inches wide, so a dog really has to pay attention.  Young dogs like their handlers right next to them so that they can see them.  If not, the dog may turn its head to find the handler and in doing it lose their balance.  I was right next to Magnum, but he still got one of his back legs off the walk and couldn’t get back on the walk.  I stopped and helped him and he finished the dog walk.  But after he wouldn’t go on the dog walk again.  He displayed a number of avoidance behaviors.  So, we decided it best to not ask him again and wait until the following week.  Previously Magnum had fallen off the dog walk, but that didn’t faze him.  It was the inability to get his foot either back on the walk or touching the floor.

Magnum was the only dog in his class of 8 puppies (all older than him) to walk over the dog walk initially without luring him (using a food treat).  It’s his personality to be curious about the equipment and unafraid to try new things.  So I was a little concerned about the dog walk.

My instructor had told us about how Linda M., one of the current best agility handlers in the US and whose style of handling is emulated by most of us, trains her dogs on the dog walk.  She uses a very low dog walk to give her dogs’ confidence to race over at top speed.  At Linda’s level of performance a half a second is important.  So, I decided that perhaps lowering the dog walk for Magnum would be helpful.

I have an old full size wooden dog walk (dog walks are big and take a lot of space in the yard).  Alan cut the legs of it so that it is about two feet off the ground.  Later on if I want it high, he’ll put new legs on it.  Magnum had no fear and is having great fun running across it.

At class the following week, the instructor moved the dog walk, so the A-frame was in its place.  He went over the A-frame fine, but then didn’t want to again.  We used food treats and after a couple of times going over, he was fine.  We started off on the dog walk with food treats and he did it fine.  Then he started racing over and passing up the treats.  So, it appears, at least for now, he has worked out the fear of the dog walk.

Last night, December 22^nd, I finished the stocking I was knitting for my grandson, Ajax.  It was a complex pattern with four colors.  I had trouble with it and went back to the knitting store for help.  The staff person told me I was knitting left handed – and I am not left-handed.  She said it used to be the way many people were taught and thought to be elegant.  A friend who is an experienced knitter said I was not a left-handed knitter, but I knitted in the continental style,which is considered more elegant.  I use my left hand as much as I use my right hand.  My grandmother taught me to knit when I was 6 years old.  I hope the stocking will be treasured by Ajax, as he grows older.  Anyway, its great to have it completed.

Christmas Stories

I have always loved Christmas stories.  I am an avid mystery reader, so I really enjoy Christmas mysteries.  I have a lot of Christmas books and read several each year and try to acquire one or two new books each year.  There is nothing I like better than a good old Christmas murder.  I am so bloodthirsty for a peaceful person.  I believe I love mysteries, in part, because justice almost always prevails at the end.  It doesn’t quite work out that way in real life.

I also love to watch Christmas/holiday movies.  It appears that there are many who are like me because the Hallmark channel has Christmas movies on every night in December.  Some of the movies are really good and some stretch the imagination and the writing isn’t great, but I still love them.  I cry during most of them, no matter how implausible the story.  Let’s face it; there are only so many variations on the classic themes.  There are numerous stories based on “A Christmas Carol”.  I love the stories that are take-offs of “Ground Hog Day”.  In those stories you have the unfortunate individual who has to repeat Christmas Eve until they get it right.  How about the Santa stories?  He has daughters, sons, corporations, wicked elves, or others who have to or want to take over his “business”.   Some of the best stories have dogs in them. Many of the stories have a love story.

What most of the stories have in common is the element of change and redemption.  There is the belief that the holiday season works magic and people change for the better.  I do believe it is possible and many folks at least are more generous to those less fortunate during the holidays.  Many non-profit organizations receive most of there contributions during the holiday season.  The food banks, shelters, and holiday gift programs are featured in our newspapers and on radio and TV to encourage us to give.  In the YS Newspaper, they featured a gift tree at the YS Library on the front page.  Families in need write down what they would like and the library staff hang papers on the tree with items that are appropriate.  Alan and I give a lot of money to non-profits during the year.  But, when I saw the article, I had to go to the library and take a card for a child.  It just feels so good to do something for someone who might not receive a gift if not for you.  I selected a child who wants the crayola crayon machine.  I’ve seen it advertised on TV, during the Christmas shows, and thought that Alan would have wanted one if he were a kid.  How exciting to get to purchase it for a child.  Alan did confirm he would have liked it.

While I am watching the tearjerker Christmas shows, I am knitting a stocking for my grandson and am surrounded by my dogs and cats.  It really is a cozy time.  And, if I am lucky, Alan bakes cookies, which I get to sample.

It' Coming on Christmas

In the Village of Yellow Springs, we’ve had a holiday event for many years – the Christmas Tree Festival.  I’ve attended it not every year, but started about 32 years ago with my son.  The Yellow Springs High School has a school Christmas tree forest.  Students work for approximately six weeks in the summer planting trees and watering them.  When my son was in high school, he participated in the school forest planting trees and tending them.  At that time the students were paid minimal wage for their work.

The Friday night before the festival, the high school students sleep overnight at the forest, which is adjacent to Glen Helen Nature Preserve.  The students sleep in a tepee and of course have chaperones.  It is almost always cold.

The Saturday of the festival, the students make hot chocolate and have homemade bake goods to serve to families that attend the festival to pick out and chop down their own tree.  Students act as guides for the families, walking them to the tree field to select their tree and will even help cut down the tree. 

There is a tractor with a wagon to take families who find it difficult to walk to the field and to bring back trees.  One year after foot surgery, Alan and I attended and the students were very sweet helping me to get on the wagon, cutting down the tree and bringing us back.

This year my son, his wife, and my grandson Ajax attended the festival with us.  Our friend DP, a photographer, was there to document the festival and take photographs for publicizing Greene County.  He used our family for some of the photos, so I hope to have some lovely photos of all of us with Ajax (about a month and a half old).  It was a great way to begin the holiday season.  We found a lovely imperfect tree about 6 feet tall, just right for us.

Magnum is 7 months old and is a little bigger than Shadow.  I am taking him to the Vets to day to weigh him.  He continues to be somewhat shy with strangers and I think this is his personality.  I continue to take him places to socialize him.  He is the first Springer I’ve had that was shy.  He has a lovely sweet personality and is such a good and bright dog.  Last night in agility class we were practicing the weaves.  At this time he just runs through them.  He’s the only dog in the class that can be left in a stay.  I put him in front of the weaves, walked to the end and said okay.  He ran around the weaves and came to me.  So I put him back in a stay and went to the end and said, “weave” and he raced through them.  He has already learned the word weave!  He knew the difference between “okay” and “weave”. 

Harvest

Riding my bike early last week, I noticed there were still some soybean and corn crops that hadn’t been harvested.  I noticed the same thing driving my car into Yellow Springs.  The 3 large farms around me had already done their harvesting.  I believe they share harvesters. Several weeks ago, when a lot of harvesting was occurring, while riding my bike, I noticed the 3 farmers talking together in one of the fields being harvested.  I was dying to stop and join in the conversation, but thought my presence wouldn’t be welcomed.  One day I saw the young farmer in the harvester, his father driving the large truck with grain, and his 15 year old helping with a smaller vehicle.  How wonderful to see three generations farming the land.

I really enjoy watching the crops harvested and seeing the amazing equipment they use.  With corn, it is an enormous harvester that has numerous prongs at the front to cut off the corn.  The cornstalk is fed into the harvester and corn comes out through a tube into a smaller container at the back.  Once the container is filled it is emptied into a Mac truck and then driven to the farm to be put in a big silo for drying.  This time of year around crop farms, you hear the sound of the dryers blasting.

Saturday Alan and I were riding our bikes and I saw a field on the next road over (on my bike route) being harvested.  This farmer had a big truck riding next to the harvester and the corn was being blown through a large tube into the truck.  So both truck and harvester were moving right next to each other and drivers really had to pay attention.  It was pretty neat.

I heard on NPR that 80% of American farmers use no till.  The two older farmers near me don’t use no till.  The younger farmer (mid to late 30’s) and a graduate of OSU Agriculture School does us no till.

One of my favorite TV shows used to be Agricountry on Saturday mornings at 6:00 AM.  It ended when Ed Johnson, the host, died several years ago.  Ed focused on the best farming practices and I heard a lot about no till farming.  I’ve had to bite my tongue not to talk with these older farmers about it.  I’m sure they don’t need advice from me a nonfarmer.   But no till farming uses less fuel because the tractor doesn’t go over the land as much, keeps soil and nutrients from washing away, saves time, and allows the farmer to get into the field earlier while it is still wet.

So with the fields harvested, my bike ride becomes more difficult.  In the fall and winter there is a strong south westerly wind that cuts across the open fields, making the ride much harder.    I hope to continue my rides until there is snow or ice on the road.  

Odds and Ends Before Thanksgiving!

Following up on The Way - Alan has started researching walks/journeys in England.  For these walks, your luggage is sent ahead to your next stop and you stay mostly in double rooms with your own facilities.  The walks are rated by difficulty.  One that seems to interest us is fairly easy with the longest walk per day a little over 8 miles.  It’s a 12-day castle journey. It goes along the coast and through several nature preserves.  This sounds like a good one for us to start, then we’ll see if we want something more difficult and longer.

Magnum is an AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy!  Okay, it is not that difficult.  He attended 8 classes (after completing 8 classes of puppy socialization and obedience), I submitted a plan for exercising him, and he passed the test.  He has rock solid sits and downs (the best in his class).  He is well socialized with his classmates.  He does get a little bored in class (he’s just 6 months old!) and tries to tug with his leash.  In agility we tug when he gets bored and he doesn’t understand that he can’t do it in obedience.  I try to keep him busy with doing tricks, but there’s only so much I can do.

For the first time in years, I have completely cleaned out my refrigerator!  Not to say that I didn’t get rid of old stuff before, but hadn’t removed everything and washed the drawers, shelves, and inside of the refrigerator.  Oh my gosh do we have a lot of condiments – and very unusual ones.  It’s the result of two cooks and one who doesn’t check out what we have.  In just one side shelf we had 2 kinds of chili garlic sauces, 2 pure horseradishes, wasabi, capers, green curry paste, 2 sweet and sour sauces, and 2 kinds of hot mustard.

In the nut drawer (meat drawer in non-vegetarian households) were 3 kinds of pecans, walnuts, two kinds of almonds, pine nuts, sesame seeds, 2 kinds of flax seeds, 2 kinds of shredded coconut, thick Canadian bacon (Alan’s), and organic pumpkin seeds.  Now you get the picture of my refrigerator.  It is fully stocked before shopping day.  Why do we have so much stuff and I go to other houses and their refrigerators are almost empty.  Don’t get me started on how many vegetables are in the refrigerator.  I am not sure I can pronounce all of them.  How will I fit the turkey in the refrigerator for Thanksgiving? 

I had a dream last night and in it, my Veterinarian told me Shadow had “puppy behaviors”.  Not sure what it means, but in the dream it seemed very logical.  So today I am calling her puppy Shadow!  Happy Thanksgiving!

The Way

I just saw the movie “The Way”, written and directed by Emilio Estevez, which stars his father, Martin Sheen.  It was an interesting movie about a father, Tom (Martin Sheen) who goes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to bring home the body of his only child who died on his pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James).  Father and son hadn’t gotten along for a number of years.  The son (Emilio Estevez) said their differences were the difference between the life we live and the life we choose.  The father decides to make the journey of the Camino De Santiago and sprinkles his son’s ashes along the journey at various sites.  The movie provided unexpected experiences that are learned about what it is to be a citizen of the world.  This movie probably won’t be in big box movie theaters.  I saw it at The Little Art.

I have wanted to take a walking journey for some time.   Alan and I have walked parts of the Appalachian Trail, but never for more than two days at a time.  The Camino De Santiago, starting at St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain is about 500 miles.  The walking is not difficult because most stages are fairly flat, but the difficulty is walking continuously for 10, 20, 30 or more days.  

In the movie, people walked for all different reasons and this is what I have read.  Some walk for religious reasons, family, health, and to contemplate their life,

Alan will investigate various walking journeys we can take, perhaps to build ourselves up for The Way of Saint James.  We need to do it in the next few years while we have health and stamina.  Alan likes the idea of walking around England because there are various places to stay so you don’t have to carry bedding with you.  Part of the challenge of the journey is the back pack you carry and its weight.

We have backpacked on Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior for 4 days 3 nights and it was a challenge to make the pack light enough for me to carry.  I weighed every item and got rid of items that were too heavy.  On that trip we also carried all of our food and water.  We prepared for it by taking several daylong hikes ahead of time and carried our packs.

The hardest part of a long trip will be leaving my dogs.  Magnum is finishing up his second obedience class and his third agility class.  He’s doing better with meeting strangers.  He is shy with some and not with others, which is probably okay.   He is great with other dogs and very sweet with people.

Go see the movie “The Way” and get inspired.