I've been home ill since right after Christmas and tonight was my first attempt at re-entry into the outside world. Not to be too dramatic, but it was like seeing life anew. I loved that there were still Christmas lights up and snapped a picture with my iphone. The iphone camera is a gift. It is portable and allows for spontaneity and imperfection. I take quick pics that I would not think to snap with my SLR. I find that most tend to be of light and action -- they are "of the moment," "on the fly" full of blur and motion. I love these pics for what they represent and what they capture. The two others here are one I took on a raining evening while out Christmas shopping and of my friend Joan shoveling our friend Jane out of the snowbank on the icy night we spun off the road in her tracker. I know you can barely see her here, but it captures the cold and ice and snow in a way a clear, crisp shot might not. Snapping these pics frees me up from my perfectionism, it allows me to have fun and offers me the joy of discovery.
Alfie and Jesus Revisited
I have to admit I had a lot of fun posting the picture I took of Alfie and my Sparkling Jesus bank the other night. A friend and fellow writer commented "this is how we take our madness and make it work for us" and I think he might be right. It was a fun and silly pic, but it kind of stuck with me and I started playing around with it in Photoshop. I'm still working on it, but here's what I've come up with so far. Maybe it's because I have a degree in Religion, maybe it's because I love Dogs, maybe it's because I have a tattoo on my lower back that reads "Living Souls" in Hebrew referring to a passage in Genesis pertaining to animals, maybe it's because I am a little mad, but I am kind of drawn to this image of Jesus and Dog and I think I'll continue to explore it.
Dog's Eye View
Every since the cold weather arrived, the pugs have enjoyed curling up by the stove in the entryway to the house. Now rather than simply napping they have set up camp. Waffles has a laundry basket full of toys that she tips over and strategically places around the perimeter and Alfie has taken to joining her. I have been ill since Christmas and I have to admit the cold temps haven't been helping me feel any better, so today I decided to join them and lounged around on the floor enjoying the heat and their happy pug snorts.
While down on the floor, I was able to catch this pic of my mother coming inside. This is Alfie standing guard and monitoring whose coming in the door. It was neat to snap a pic from the dog's eye view.
Alfie Finds Jesus
I brought my Sparkling Jesus piggy bank inside from the car to take a photo for my last post and Alfie and Waffles went crazy. Every time I head for the door it is a matter of intense excitement for these two. So, when I brought Jesus in and placed him on the bench in the entryway, the two just had to check him out to see what this is all about. Here, is a picture of Alfie discovering Jesus.
Drafting a New Collage
I've had an idea for this collage for awhile, but have been too busy to start it. In fact, it's been awhile since I started a new collage of any sort. Being home sick, but feeling slightly better, I had the opportunity this evening to start working on this one. It is far from finished, just the beginning -- well, maybe a little more than that. I started to add details such as the pug's shoes and ballet slippers. I wanted this piece to feel festive, joyful, spontaneous and also a little romantic. It also seems to me a bit old-fashioned. Some of the dogs remind me of the romantic lovers you see coming back after World War II and kissing in the streets. I'm trying something new here as well, adding the computer-drawn pugs from my New Year's sketch to the photographic elements. I think it really works here.
Funny, how often I have run into the idea of dogs dancing lately. My friend, Jon Katz, wrote a wonderful book of short stories called Dancing Dogs and during one of the give-a-ways I ran recently a woman told me all about the dancing work she does with her dogs. I originally started my sketch of the celebrating New Year's pugs as fighting dogs, but they looked to celebratory to me so I transformed them into dancers. The Akita in this collage is my brother John's dog. I remember snapping the picture of her standing on her rear legs and resting her arms on his and thinking they looked like they were dancing. Then, I began to realize just how many pictures I had with other dogs who also seemed to be striking a pose, such as the poodle I snapped out on a "doggie spa day."
I added the children (both my niece Catherine, actually) because at the heart I think my work is always a commentary on the relationship and interplay between children and animals, only here the dogs take center stage. I love how "the girl" in the red is reaching out to twirl the ball, just as if she belonged there. I have more I want to do with this piece, but I thought I'd share it as it progresses.
Off to the Big Apple
I'm headed to NYC and won't be returning until Sunday. I may try blogging from my iphone, but have not done so since the new site is up, so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this pic of Waffles in front of my magenta Christmas Tree (and no, this still isn't our Christmas Card, but almost!) Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks to all of you who are supporting the blog and my work.
Calendar Girl
A while back my photo of the Lincoln Barn in Bethel, Vt. made it into a juried exhibit at The Darkroom Gallery in Essex, Vt. The gallery recently asked if they could use the photo in their 2013 calendar. Today, I found out that the calendars are out and available for sale for $12.99. They feature images from a year's worth of gallery exhibits at The Darkroom Gallery and are an excellent way to support a small, but vibrant and vital Vermont art gallery.
Remembering May
On this hot May day, a week before Vader’s death, the sun breathes strong upon our necks like a welcome lover. We bask in its whispered promises. Tori, my four year-old niece, and I are headed off into our shared world of wonder and imagination. We are taking Vader with us. He is failing. He has lost the use of his back legs and now his front. He can no longer use his doggie cart and a sore has appeared on his front leg. We place him in a doggie stroller and push him to the small grassy island of flowers across from the house. We lift Vader out and place him in a secret pocket carved amidst the flowers.
“Vader is going to have to go to heaven soon,” I tell Tori.
“When?” she asks.
“In about a week,” I say. Vader labors in the heat, but I want him to have a moment outside. I prop his head up on the stuffed yellow dog he has loved since he was a baby.
Tori, decked out in her fairy wings, leans in planting an angel’s kiss on his head. “We’re going to miss him,” she says matter-of-factly. “Why does he have to go?”
“He’s old,” I tell her. And, tired I see now.
“Oh, poor Vader,” she says. She doesn’t cry. Instead, she kneels in the grass beside him. I snap their photo – stealing a cherished moment out of time’s clenched fist.
Now, on this December evening, near the end of the year, I search my hard drive for photos to place in the annual scrapbook for Vader’s breeder. I stumble upon this picture of child and dog, angel and fairy. To look at him now I see his withered body, the glassy eyes already staring beyond this world, I feel a twinge of pain because I can see how ready he was to go, how little of him remained here. I know I kept him longer than many would, unsure how to end this life. But, I also see him through love’s eyes and I remember his soft breath, his ceaseless cravings for fish fillets, the way he’d raise his head and stare directly in my eyes as I bathed his weary body. Back then I saw his tender soul and wondered who am I to choose his fate? In a week he made his journey. We miss him as Tori predicted. It is December now, but in the end, I choose to remember May – the sun, the fairy, my dog and me setting off on a grand adventure.
I smile now because I know a secret– in an ocean of time that rolls endlessly forward, exist tiny islands outside the daily flow. A small triangle of grass standing at an intersection of town roads becomes a garden hideaway, a magical world where a sweet young girl and a precious dog revel in the sun and the whispered promises of life.
These are not our Christmas cards...
These Are Not Our Christmas Cards…
‘Tis the season to be jolly, but anyone whose ever tried to get two very active pugs to sit still for a Christmas card may realize just how difficult that is. I thought I had things pretty under control – I had purchased some great Christmas props – a shiny red bucket with jingle bells, pretty red Christmas dresses. I didn’t anticipate, however, how difficult it would be to fit two pugs in said bucket or how frightened Alfie would be of it.
Little Waffles is becoming a consummate poser. If I take her outside for pictures, she will eventually sit and pose pretty while Alfie stands guard, literally! She goes to the fence and stands there, body alert, looking out, barking at anything that goes by. Usually she is doing this in whatever silly hat or dress I put her in, which might be comical if it wasn’t so frustrating. “Just one picture, Alfie?” I beg.
She has yet to acquiesce. Instead, we usually play a game of chase – me chasing Alfie, that is, something equivalent to trying to catch a slicked pig. Alfie has no waist, no handles, no place to grab on and she manages always to stay just out of reach. Eventually, I am able to catch her; this time placing her in the bucket where she manages to stay because she is so scared. Now, I place Waffles in the bucket, who in turn becomes frightened when she realizes how little space there is and grows concerned that Alfie might show her own displeasure by biting her. Still, the two manage to sit still long enough for a couple of cute shots.
Still, this is not our Christmas card.
We go inside and we try the process again, this time in front of the stove. This time the two manage to sit side by side in the bucket as opposed to on top if each other, but little Waffles looked like she’d like to jump ship. The two grow warm in their heavy dresses in front of the stove and by the time we finish both are eager for their water bowl. This time my nephew holds out dog treats to get their attention. It takes all their willpower not to jump ship, but we capture the eager expression in their eyes.
Still, this is not our Christmas card.
I take off the pugs’ dresses and put on their candy pink sweaters with green trim. I place the two in front of my magenta Christmas tree and try to snap away, but once again need to bring in reinforcements. Waffles sits in a wicker basket but Alfie refuses to get close to her. Both look up at the promised treat. Waffles bends her head so far back only her bulging eyes become visible. The look is not traditional, but in true pug fashion it is comical.
This is our Christmas card. Only I can’t share it with you yet. You, like everyone else, will have to be patient and wait. It is the season of Christmas secrets and surprises.
Writing Prompt: To Be Remembered
One of my students writes a lot about people whom she has known – old teachers, co-workers, and people from her hometown. She writes with compassion, but she also writes truthfully and sometimes the memories she recalls aren’t all that flattering. Recently, she had the chance to do some research through old yearbook to learn more about an old and unpleasant acquaintance from childhood. She was fortunate to have run into someone who had in her possession a yearbook with the woman's photo. I wondered how many people cared about this woman, who frankly was not at all likeable from my student’s portrait. How many had formed a lasting impression of her? And, yet the impression left on my student was strong enough for her to write and conduct research on this woman many years later. What if that’s the only impression left of her? I thought. It should make us more careful of our actions because we never know what the impact will be or the impression we will leave.
That was Thursday.
Friday evening I attended an art reception at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, N.H. Two of my photographic collages, Nymph and Truths, are on display and for sale in their holiday show. While browsing around the displays, I saw a couple I knew. The wife I had interviewed for several business and art-related events over the years and the husband, a well known graphic designer, was one of the first interviews I had ever done. I had written another article about him years later, but the first one was my favorite. I remember chatting with him forever and learning so much. He was warm and friendly and his demeanor and build came to remind me years later of a mentor and counselor of mine who had played a very important role in my life. So when I saw the couple at the show I ran over to introduce myself. I barely had to say anything and the husband was already saying “You interviewed me over 20 years ago, you had a little dog that meant everything to you.” He touched his heart as he said everything.
“Yes,” I said, “Buffy, (my first dog)” surprised that he remembered that all these years later. Surprised and touched. If there is one impression I wouldn’t mind leaving people with it is this; there are far worse things and few better to be remembered as than a girl who loved her dog.
Writing Prompt: How would you like to be remembered? What kind of impression do you hope you give?