End of March Roundup

Who's got two thumbs and wrote two blog posts in the month of March? This gal!

Again, all I have in me is a list of things that have happened this month. I intend to write soon about swimming in the Masters Provincial Championships, but you know, promises, promises.


1. It's still Winter...kind of. 



Some of us are more fazed by it than others.

It helps if you have a warm nest next to the heating vent.

I'm now supposed to be going for "fitness walks" in order to strengthen my foot for physical therapy. Last weekend BoBo and I headed to Springbank for a wintery walk. It was cold but we made it 2 miles!

BoBo still doesn't really get selfies.

2. John and I tried out a new cafe in town - Edgar and Joe's Cafe -  located inside the Goodwill local headquarters, adjacent to an actual Goodwill store in the same building. It was a pleasant place to study with lots of space, natural light, and free wifi. We'll definitely be back. Also, if you're London: breakfast all day.

3. Another one of my Interlochen classmates is getting famous. Allie X (or, my classmate formerly known as Allie Hughes) lives in Toronto and also, now, L.A. She released a couple of singles and I think they're  pretty fun! You can listen to them here. I should dig up some old photos from us in our Halloween costumes in junior year of high school. 

4. The Triathlon Club had a girls' night a couple weeks ago. It was wild - WILD, I tell you! Actually it involved dinner at Mongolian Grill and then froyo. At the froyo place I found this board game: 

I regret so much that we didn't play it. Also, it turns out that all those ladies train so much that by 8:30 we were all too tired to do anything else so we went home to go to bed. In all seriousness, I love that there are so many fit and strong ladies in the TriClub. The executive board is almost all badass chicks.

5. We also had the Triathlon Club end of the year banquet last week. There were elections for next year's board, a fun side show, and pad thai! And, I won the (female) swimming award! I was so touched by this. My coach, Alex, has made an enormous difference in my swimming this. And so has my lane-mate, Dan. I've gotten faster just by trying to keep up with him!

6. Please enjoy these promotional videos for Calgary ("Hello Calgary!") and, separately, Ontario ("There's no place like this!"). "This is Ontario, Y'all!" That made me laugh so hard. I heard about the Calgary one on This American Life and it immediately made me think of the Ontario commercial. It also makes me think of the time Fort Wayne commissioned of those new town mottos. They came up with this: "Fort Wayne - Still Room for Dreams."

7. A few weeks ago I joined a group called Barley's Angels, a group for women who are beer enthusiasts. I attended a group event at Brewhaven where we made two different kinds of beer and learned about the beer making process. I loved it! As a music theorist with a composition background, I'm very accustomed to male-dominated environments and I often feel comfortable in them. But it was nice to have an all-women group that was led by a women who knows a lot about beer. There was no mansplaining to endure. My friend, Grace (below), introduced me to the group. Brewhaving also seems like a neat place. It's out of my price range to go there as an individual but as a group it was pretty great. It also convinced me that I would never want to make beer at home. WAY too many variables and it's too easy to contaminate something and screw it all up. But I enjoyed going through the process with their equipment and expertise!

Here's Grace stirring the malts in our brown bitter.

The tank from above. The grains are in those bags hanging from the side. The malt and syrop are in the center/strainer looking thing.

In one of the storage rooms they had this cool medieval print of a monk making beer.

We finished the day with a canning demo. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the canning day, but I'm going to pick up my beer soon. I'm looking forward to trying it!

 8. I'm one chapter away from a complete draft (though early draft) of my dissertation. Here's Rameau's signature. I think it looks a bit like a bird looking through a hoop, if you look at it just right.  I've been outlining it like mad and editing chapter 1. I'm still not sure if I can defend in the summer or the fall, but I it will become clear in a couple of months (or rather, it has to, if I'm going to defend in the summer).

The temperature highs are supposed to be above 30F all this week! Fingers crossed that Spring is actually coming!

Birthday Part 1: Pawlooza

It's almost my birthday! Since it's on a Monday this year, John and I are observing it this weekend with some fun activities. The first: Pawlooza, a dog festival with tons of activities and vendors for all things dog related. They have everything; an off leash play area with a pond, a lure course, agility demos and an agility course for guests to try, a bunch of open water and streams for dogs to play in and get a drink, and vendors with every pet related product you can think of. The festivities started at 10:30 and we tried to get there as close to the start as possible. But as soon as we parked, I realized that everyone else had the same idea. There were hundreds of people and their dogs there. 

From the start we could tell that Pawlooza was exceptionally well run. Parking attendants guided us to our spot, others directed us to the main festival grounds, and everything ran on time per their schedule of events. 

We started off with the lure course, since it already had a decent sized line and we wanted to get a chance for Bo to run before things got too busy. While in line, we ran into several other greyhounds. It amazes me how big they are! Bo is smaller than any greyhound we've met so far.

We also saw a greyhound run the lure course ahead of us (that's him below). He didn't seem to be running full out and he was still flying! I was nervous for Bo to run the lure course because I didn't want her to get hurt; I also thought she just might not get what she was supposed to do. Fortunately, she only spent a few seconds wandering around before she spotted the lure and she was on the move. And she was beautiful! I think it put her in a great mood for the rest of the day. She loved getting to run again like that.

Then we headed into the vendor area to explore.

We met up with our friends, Samantha and Adam, and their dog, Donna. We explored the festival together for the better part of the morning.

We saw little dogs.

[Sidenote: I was impressed with these chinese cresteds in their Seuss shirts, since they pretty much already look like characters out of a Dr. Seuss book.]

And we saw big dogs. I saw more great danes and bull mastiffs today than I have in my whole life. 

And these big fluffy ones were really friendly while we were in the falafel line.

What with all the ponds and streams, Bo had plenty of opportunities to swim. She welcomed it in the hot weather. I still can't believe how she takes to water. She's like a fish in a dog costume!

Greyhounds only have about 15% body fat, and they're not natural swimmers. Maybe it was the heat, but Bo was all about the water. I'm all the more excited to taker her to the beach for the first time.

We took breaks from swimming time to walk around and look at all the booths.

We watched some dogs participate in the dock diving contest.

Some dogs balked at the end of the dock, but this german shepherd followed the ball all the way into the lake. The guy in the kayak was there to help dogs know where to go after jumping in, and to retrieve tennis balls that went unclaimed by the dogs.

Then Bo was back in the water, making friends.

And just splashing around.

We had such a nice time at this festival. Everything about it was so well organized - even the port-potties were cleaner than usual and came with actual sinks. The whole festival is run by volunteers and 100% of the entry fee ($10 per vehicle) goes to rescue charities. Pawlooza has events all around the U.S. and Canada, so they may have a festival near you! I know Bo will be happy to return next year.

Bo's First Week

As of today, Bo has been with us for one week. And what a week it's been! Everything is new. Everything is startling. Everything is worth licking to see if it tastes good. 

She watched TV for the first time and found it puzzling. That's her standing directly in front of the TV.

We heard that greyhounds will stare at themselves in the mirror for long periods of time. Bo doesn't just stare - she thinks there's another dog, and it's the only time she seems remotely excited. The other night she was standing in the kitchen, making a soft growing sound and looking intently near the oven. John and I both panicked, thinking she saw a mouse (something I always dread but that's never happened). Then we realized she was looking at her reflection in the oven door. Sigh. 

We've met up with another greyhound family in town for a joint walk and she seemed ok with that. Based on her reaction to her reflection, I thought she'd be stoked, but she was just relaxed. 

She's taken to the car well, since the car usually means a trip to the park. Even when we took her to the vet for an initial visit, we sandwiched the vet with walks in the park and a trip to PetSmart.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to mind strangers asking to pet her, or other dogs, big or small. 

We also went to Gibbons Park, where she walked into the river like was nothing at all. I'm so happy she likes the water! And now I CANNOT WAIT to take her to Lake Huron! It's nice and shallow there so I think she'll like it.

The first few days, she basically refused to eat. The vet suggested some wet food to mix with her food and she's been snarfing that up, so I think we're in the clear food-wise. She also LOVES a Kong frozen with pumpkin inside, baked sweet potatoes, and peanut butter...All foods I also enjoy. The Kong makes a great treat delivery device, and it keeps her occupied, so we love it, too.

Every day brings a new, small success that shows us she really does have a personality, and that she's gradually coming out of her shell. It's hard to imagine, but she likely spent an average of 20 hours per day in a crate with little interaction, and without a ton of affection. From her behavior and her willingness to be handled, we don't think she was abused. Just left alone a lot. She's started to behave like other greys we've heard of, in that she's started to "steal" things. For instance: in this picture, she's laying on top of an old SEM conference bag. She took it from the handle of the front door and brought it back to her living room cushion. She doesn't shred it, doesn't chew on it or destroy it. Just likes to take it. It's like she's going to build a nest out of soft, found items.

Today she also exhibited a little more normal dog behavior: she retrieved her mole toy (bottom right of the photo above). Greyhounds aren't big into fetch, as a rule, but she actually played fetch with me for a few minutes before getting too confused. Fetch with Bo isn't like fetch with a retriever or terrier. John says it's more like fetch with an old man - she walks so slowly it's almost like she's ashamed. We've read that this is typical of greyhounds, since they aren't raised with a concept of "play."

Lots of things still freak her out, like cars, any kind of sharp sound like a hammer on a neighbor's roof, or my pitch pipe. It's sort of like we adopted an alien, or a robot dog whose mind was wiped. John says it's like she was in solitary confinement and now she's forced to be around people again - an apt analogy, since she was alone a lot, and we've been watching Orange is the New Black. But still, every day she lets us see a new part of her, and she lets us know a little bit more that she's cool with us. 

Dogs

Ever since I can remember, the dog has been a big part of our family. Supposedly I learned to walk by holding onto the lab we had at the time, Shibby, though he died before I was old enough to remember him. 

When we moved to Indiana, we got a coon hound mix named Oliver North from the ASPCA. It was the late 80s and Oliver North was in the news at the time. We called him Ollie for short, and I'm pretty sure I learned to spell his name as soon as I could write my own.

In some ways, Ollie was my brother's dog, but he depended more on me for entertainment after my brother left for college. 

For the first few years he liked to sleep under my bed, but I would also force him into bed with me by putting him on his leash. 

Ollie passed away from old age the summer before I started high school. That Christmas, we got Luke, another lab.

I won't go into detail, but we had to put Luke down while he was still in his prime. His situation was so difficult for us that I sort of thought my parents might never get another dog. 

But then my voice teacher, Joe, found Molly in his rough neighborhood one night while I was a senior in high school, and gave her to my parents. She's pretty much the easiest dog in the world to care for, but she could still use some company during the day. They adopted Toby from the shelter the following spring so that he and Molly could be companions. Unfortunately their honeymoon period is long passed, but they get along well enough. 

John and I have wanted to get a dog for years, but the timing never seemed right. We knew we wanted a rescue of some kind, but we also wanted a breed that would complement our lifestyle: we exercise, eat, and then write for several hours a day, plus we live in an apartment; we're home a lot, but not all the time; we take long car trips. 

And then we looked into retired greyhounds: large but lazy dogs bred to run very fast for short intervals and then rest quietly in their crates for hours at a time. After we got back from the wedding, we went out to the GRA to pick our dog, as I've said before. And last week, we got to pick her up. 

Meet Boudica ("CTW Royal Gait"), aka, The Royal Bo.

She's here. It's been challenging so far because she's clearly never lived in a house before, never walked up or down stairs before, never heard or seen a car or a bus before (except for the truck that drove her and 20 other dogs to Canada). For the first day or two she almost never looked us right in the eyes. She's still very much in a period of adapting to our life and our home. But she's a sweetheart. And she's our dog. 

Pride London

Last weekend John and I participated in our first Pride festival, Pride London, starting with the interfaith service. 

The service was led by a pastor from a local United Church of Canada congregation and mostly focused on reconciliation and hope. It was moving and lovely, a great start to the day. I'd really like for my church to participate in Pride next year, and it was interesting to get a sense of what we could participate in, and what other church groups were present. 

After the service, we met up with our friends to march with General Population in the parade. We saw lots of other groups getting ready to march. For example: 

The New Democratic Party (below in the orange) and the liberals were both present. I assume both parties participate every year, but they were especially vocal as we're about to have a "by-election." From what I can tell, it's an election for some Ministers of Parliament (MP) in our area. It's sort of like an election for a representative to your local state house or senate, and it seems to be happening only in the West part of London where we live. 

Anyways, back to the parade, we saw the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. 

And our group was right behind ARF - Animal Rescue Foundation Ontario. We saw lots of dogs who were excited for Pride! 

John and I marched with a sort of mix of people from UWO's Women's Studies department, our local Graduate Teaching Assistant Union, and Gen Pop, which I've mentioned before. 

Several people present overlapped with all three categories - students, TAs, and fans of Gen Pop.

John and I walked with bookmarks with info about UWO Women's Studies degrees and handed them out along the route.

The "Keep London Queer" banner didn't fare so well in the breeze, but it looked great. In this photo you can see the roller derby girls, the Violent Femmes, waiting to move behind us. 

The dogs from ARF made their way out, bedecked with floral collars. I can't wait to dress our greyhound in a rainbow bandana next year!

I took a picture and cheered for the church groups I saw, including Metropolitan United Church. All but one church group were from the United Church of Canada, the other being Unitarian. It would be great if my Anglican church could participate next year!

We marched behind a pick up truck that played a special Pride playlist to keep us energized for the parade. Anders and Matthew held the Gen Pop banner.

Several people commented on how buried the parade mostly was inside the neighborhood along Queens Ave. Not surprising in conservative London, really. I was pretty impressed with how many people were out to watch the parade, as well as the size of the parade itself. 

We only encountered a handful of conservative Christian protestors. Counter-protestors tried to cover up their signs with rainbow flags.

They quietly held their signs. And this man was peaceful enough to take a photo with some of our group. 

As we exited the park we saw a car painted to celebrate Druids for Pride. It takes all kinds to celebrate Pride.