Grumpy

photo by Jonathan Maus of bikeportland.org
Here I am AGAIN, in bed, but this time with either the flu or a wicked bad cold. Probably caught this one on the plane. Sore throat, headache, stuffed to the nines. I’m a little better than I was, but after a previous sick day and my trip to Boston, I could not miss another day of teaching so I taught on Thursday until my voice just plain gave out and I crashed.

I feel bad for ol’ Maudie. She insists on being on the floor by the bed until she gets so bored she has to go rip up a cardboard box from recycling or bark at the tarmac. The she comes back and lies down again with her eyes open. The papillons seem to just luxuriate in it. They all come hustling up to take their place on the bedscape, turn on the alarm (in case anyone should even think of coming near the house) and nestle in.

This weekend was forecast to be sunny and warm, the notice of which melted my edges a bit. It would’ve been the weekend to get back on the bike and really go riding, but as it is, the day is sharp and overcast. And tomorrow?

So I lie here and read about handmade bicycles, remembering that I missed the North American Handmade Bicycle Show for Rachel’s Bas Mitzvah in Boston last weekend. Seems I missed more than just the bikes. LA was there and ended up buying the BIS bike (by Naked). This brought on talk about his shop in Austin: a cycling shop for commuters. Sounds like he wants to impact the city transportation plan to make it more like Portland’s: i.e. Bike Friendly.

Of course when you read about this on the bikeportland.org site you get a cascade of comments about his devious self serving vanity…We love successful people…but only if they truly become like the gods….wait…not even the gods were perfect, were they…

It’s like people’s response to art..many times they are so afraid they are being tricked that they just become cynical and diss the whole lot. Then they can be safe behind a mask of I know better You won’t fool me with your tricks mr smartynose

LA is an amazing man in enough respects to have earned his stature. He is probably the premier athlete of our time, he survived a sure death sentence signed by cancer AND he has given enormous amounts of attention and money to the LIVESTRONG foundation…Now he wants to activate Austin TX (his hometown to become more bike friendly…

He’s just Got to have an ulterior motive….Well, he won’t fool ME, they cried in unison. (It’s ironic..the person who commented about his vanity has a picture of herself as an avatar which shows up alongside comments…)

Full House

That's a puppy picture of Maya, one of my favorite of K’s papillons. She is having puppies any day now. There’s a good chance they were conceived on the same day that Sonny won HIT…AND the dad is a NICE dog…a Kirby grandson…(if I remember correctly.) Kirby was the papillon who won Best in Show at Westminster…was it 1999? Lovely dog.

I have my hands full training Maudie for Novice and moving Flynn and Sonny into Open, plus the therapy work that we are just starting. There is no room right now for another. There just isn’t. Tempting and delicious as this litter may be…I will just have to imagine that maybe the great grandmother of my next puppy will be in it.

Tempting…but 3 is my limit. We have 4, but Gus is M’s dog. Still when he hangs out with us, or needs me, I can feel the pack pulling at the seams; there is plenty love, but only so much time, and my relationship with each one individually deserves its due.

I went on the walk tonight, after a week of not walking because of this darn cold. It felt great. And I LOVE watching the paps zip along in the plaid coats I made them. They look so fetching!

February

Starting to feel better after a week. The weather has been wildly uncommitted: snow, rain, sun, rain, and snow. In any case, getting out has been a gamble. With my trip to Boston upcoming, I ‘m trying to mend and stay that way. So no walks, certainly no rides and a lot of time in bed.

We lost our DSL connection for 2 days, the 2 days I was most sick, so not only was I unavailable to my students on the day I missed class, but I suffered internet withdrawal. A craving for sweets, irritability, restlessness, gloom. Add to that bitter soup 24 hours of talking to tech support while sitting on the cold dusty floor in M’s studio where the modem lives, 36 hours of waiting for the techs, the discovery, after 24 hours of working with the tech, that moving the modem to another room DOES affect connectibility, and you get one soggy supper.

But I did manage to get into my studio and start some new work. A surge of energy and I started 3 new pieces. Working always grounds and calms me. And this morning, a day without obligation, I stood with a hot cocoa and all the dogs around me before the big bay window and watched the snow fill the air. Even if most of it melted when it hit the ground, enough was falling and dusting the trees to make in the world a ghostly and elegant peace. So it was a good day.