Tuesday evening

Perhaps a bit out of order. But it all adds up nicely.

1. A late afternoon walk just now on the fire trail with my sweet Desie who chased sticks and pinecones and played with other dogs and romped around on her own usually with a too large and cumbersome stick in her mouth and mostly stayed close by and ran ahead and came running back when I called her.

2. A late morning hike at Fort Cronkite with Shanan and Heather and Goose and Desie on Thanksgiving and the fun we had trekking up and then down the hill and all the time watching the dogs doubling back and forth and up and down ahead of us and sometimes off trail and then finding their way back to us.

3. This morning’s yoga-pilates class with my teacher Maryam and all the determination and hard work and bridges and downward facing dogs and how much fun it is after class to talk with my fellow student Jason who is a senior majoring in Landscape Architecture and who plays a game of pick up basketball before our class begins about how hard the class is but oh so good for us.

4. Too much pressure and worry this semester and especially right now because my students are struggling with their work and there are only two weeks left until their portfolios with 15-17 pages of excellent writing are due.

5. Much appreciation for my dear friend Emily for understanding when I told her I was out of sorts because I did not have a book I was in love with [in the middle of a crowd at Berkeley Bowl where she was shopping with her father-in-law on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving] and for delivering within an hour two books that she loved for me to read.

Tuesday late morning

Thinking about things:

Goose Dog in colour

A borrowed photo from Shanan

I had to post this photo of sweet sweet GooseDog.

I love this dog.

He is looking straight into the camera.

You can see the love and devotion and a bit of tolerance and impatience in those eyes of his.

He is waiting dutifully for his beloved Shanan to get on with things.

Goose with his everyday allegiance and good manners.

He is a good dog.

Friday morning in Berkeley

Thinking about things:

11 vues de la flèche de la cathédrale by Gerard Michel [not Berkeley]

It's foggy this Friday morning in Berkeley. Goose is asleep in his circle bed by my dresser. He is a good boy. Desie has just finished chewing her bone and is stretched out on her l.l.bean bed that I moved over to the center of my room so she could have a place close to me. [Her circle bed over by the brown chair is empty for the time being.] Desie is quite inconstant about chewing her bone. She seems to discover it anew every once in a while, spend an amount of time working on it, and then push it away. Chewing her bone is not a part of her quotidian endeavors as it was for my dear Isidore. He chewed regularly--perhaps to fend off his worries about things. Desie is napping now, a bit of let up after a eventful Thursday night.

To begin with, Desie was a naughty girl on our walk last evening. In the courtyard at the Clark Kerr campus, she ran off during our off leash training. She had been such a good girl up until then: running back to me on command [and with a determined look and playful gait]. But, as in the past, she became distracted and chose to disregard my call and instead, ate many many many tiny tree berries before I could get to her.

When I did get to her, I insisted on a few moments of reflection: I told Desie [who was in a sit] that she must never never eat berries because they can make her sick. She had a hard time with such principled talk. She would not look at me: a sign of submission of sorts, I know, but too, this is a stubborn girl when it comes to repentance. We walked home with Desie on leash. I was despondent. I worried that the berries could be poisonous. And, Shanan was due at our house in a little while to deliver Goose Dog for the weekend.

When we got home at around 7:00, I fed Desie her usual dinner and she waited close by [in a down] while I prepared my salad. Desie always gets carrots during this salad making time. And she did. But, uncharacteristically, she got up and walked over to me, leaned in a bit, and threw up a massive amount of stuff. On the little rug by the sink. Poor girl. When she was done, she leaned in even more for some comforting. I comforted her.

Only minutes later, after I had hosed down the rug in the driveway, Shanan and Goose arrived. And of course, lots of hugs [people] and pats [people and dogs] and running around in the yard [dogs] for a fine family reunion. Then a brief visit in the living room with talk about Shanan's trip to D.C in the morning, his job, my teaching adventures and Brandon and everyone in Evanston. As for Desie and Goose, to our surprise, lots of rolling around and growling playfully on the rug. Usually, Goose will have nothing to do with Desie. Her attempts to get him to romp with her are steadfastly ignored. [I do hope they will play together a bit over the next few days.] After Shanan left, Goose and Desie and I snuggled for a short while before we headed upstairs for bed.

[A few words for further thinking about things:

I am pleased Goose has his very own circle bed from home for sleeping in at my house. Especially since Shanan, who thinks my notions about dog beds are crazy [good crazy] and wanted not to abide by my request for him to transport Goose's bed to Berkeley for the weekend, remembered to bring his bed over last night. I think it is important that each dog have his/her own home base bed. I am very sure such accommodations provide for much needed security and a hint of dog joy.

Just yesterday afternoon, I mentioned to a dear friend how much I still miss Isidore. I think Izzy is on my mind more so than usual because my dear friends Ina and Ron put down their beloved 12 year old dog Corky on Wednesday. He was a good dog. They loved him very much. I have been talking with them about such difficult to do acts. And remembering how it was with Isidore.

And just now, Desie moved to her circle bed over by the brown chair. And Goose has gone downstairs. I think he is sitting by the window so he can watch for Shanan.]

Sunday morning

Saturday's remembrances:

Coffee and schoolhouse cookies in the kitchen sometime around noon with my son Shanan; looking over a few photos and a radio program from Shanan's KZSC 88.1 FM days; Goosedog and Desie close by chewing carrots but mostly nudging us to hurry up and take them for a walk; lovely views of the bay on our drive to Tilden by way of Claremont Avenue; a long hike--a loop from and to Gillespie Camp; sunshine and warm warm air; our dogs running ahead on the trail, up and down the embankments, around corners and then back to us when we called them; sometimes conversations about the beauty of it all: lupine and poppies and poison oak and abounding trees; shimmering vistas with layers of greens and browns and blues; Goose and Desie on leash while we stepped aside two times so horses [and their riders] could pass us on the trail; Goose barking and barking at these large creatures; up up a long and steep [and sometimes muddy] hill to a newly restored area where we rinsed our shoes [and Desie's paws] and all of us drank some water; then up a short hill to our car. Muddy dogs [with poison oak perhaps] in the back seat. Bath time for Goose and Desie at home in our yard. 1st draft towel dry by Shanan. Final draft towel dry by me.

Family is good.

Family photo: Shanan and Goose on the trail

2008

Monday Morning

Thinking about things.

Saturday was such a lovely day. Blue skies and lots of warm sunshine. Visits with friends and family [and sweet sweet dogs]. A couple of naps between conversations, a nice dinner at the kitchen table with my sweet son Shanan, and a quite a bit of reminiscing about times past--most especially our many walks with Goose and then Goose and Isidore at the beach, on trails all over the bay area and in SF [and sometimes Berkeley] neighborhoods as well. [We looked at flickr photos from 2003 on. These photos just automatically render details of memories of events that need remembering.] Isidore was such a sweetie. He loved his fire trail and leaping up and down hills. He was a happy boy. It was good to spend time remembering. A very nice Saturday spent with my sweet family.

Sunday was quite lovely as well. Lots of warm sunshine and blue blue skies. Visits with dear dear friends [Nancy and Alan [and their sweet dogs] and then Joan] on the porch. And then Luporini. She brought groceries from Berkeley Bowl [mixed berry scones and 2 boxes of school house cookies for special visitors and, of course, lettuce for my salads.] Catching up with Luporini about all things. And even writing a bit. Both of us. [Picture me propped up in my bed with my laptop and Luporini tucked into my brown and white comfortable chair by my bed--wearing my socks, a sweatshirt and covered with a blanket--writing about her times past--in particular when she first worked for the phone company].

Monday is here. Day 4. My recovery is going well. Cloudy skies and wind and rain. No sitting on the porch today. But lots of opportunities for exercising and building strength. [Dr. Chang called this morning to advise: one crutch for support and frequent extension and rotation and isometric exercises for strength.] Visits with dear friends and phone chats with family in the afternoon. And beginning a new book.

Sunday again

Photos from Shanan. He is looking after Desie. Goose is helping out as well:

Here's what I think Goose and Desie have concluded about their current situation: Goose thinks it’s been long enough and he’s tired of it. But he loves Shanan and will endure as long as necessary. [thank you Goose!] Desie says she is trying to be a good girl and she knows she asks a lot of Shanan and Goose. She hope she brings some joy to the two of them!

Friday Morning

I am home and very happy to be here. I came home late yesterday morning post surgery [which went very very well]. My sweet son Shanan [along with Desie and Goose in the back seat of his car to greet me with lots of kisses and wags] picked me up and brought me home. Once home, Shanan stayed and helped out/took care of me. As for me, lots of naps and tiny snacks and an unexpected visit to Dr. Chang's office to have my bandage repaired/changed. But all went well.

I am very happy.

Today I will rest and rest.

Thursday morning in Berkeley

3/5 of my Evanston Family

[click to view larger image]

1/5 of my Evanston Family

[click to view larger image]

Back home

Sitting at my desk with my coffee and lots of memories from my trip to see my Evanston family.

Images of little girls giggling; art projects; yogurt snacks [with special k, honey and berries for Jordan and apples for Skylar]; reading books [Where the sidewalks Ends and Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, to name just two, and doing math problems [ 2+0 and 4+4, for example]; ichatting with Shanan; solving dog and cat puzzles from Martha; reading a biology book with Dylan [even though he didn't want to talk to me]; "hanging out" with everyone, as they put it; snowflakes falling outside.

And more images of the ride home from the airport with Shanan and Desie and Goose [my Berkeley family] last night.
Lots of hugs and wags and catching up about Brandon and his family.

2/4 of my Berkeley Family [at Crissy Field while I was away]

[click to view larger image]

It is quiet this morning.

Sunshine abounds.
Desie is in her bed--she is a bit confused about my comings and goings and her place here with me.
She is a reserved happy girl on this morning.

Thinking about family.
And how lovely love and affection can be.

An excerpt from one of last year's Valentines

which seems appropriate to put right here.

Sunday September 25th 2010

Still Life with Onions

Paul Cézanne (1895)

A lovely day in San Francisco with my sweet son Shanan and Goose Dog and Desie to celebrate Shanan's birthday:

1. 8:30 arrival at Shanan's [albeit a bit late due to car key problems that have been resolved by retiring old key with [more definitive] new key]
2. coffee [and luna bar for me]; carrots for Goose and Desie
3. 9:30 vist to the deYoung to see Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay
4. visit to the Museum Store for cards and postcards and magnets [during which time Shanan showed great patience and understanding]
5. [very sweet] sweets at the deYoung Cafe: chocolate croissant & lemon bar [along with a few sips of coffee]
6. lovely walk [and running around] at the Presidio with Goose and Desie
7. back at Shanan's for traditional angel food cake [that had not been frosted] with dollops of whipped cream and two strawberries on top and a small scoop of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream on the side [more carrots for Goose and Desie]
8. brushing Desie's and Goose's teeth with dog flavored toothpaste
9. 1:15 [about] time to go home for me and Desie
10. farewell hugs for all

Upon arrival home:

1. lots of college writing papers to read on a Sunday afternoon in Berkeley
2. a nice talk on the phone with my sweet son Brandon
3. walk with my sweet dog Desie in the late late afternoon

Friday

A list:

1. Desie is feeling better.
2. She is such a sweet girl.
3. We are going to be home most of today cleaning up and doing a bit of reading of logs for CW.
4. My sweet son Brandon is coming tonight.
5. He will stay with my sweet son Shanan in S.F.
6. Tomorrow, Brandon and Shanan are going to to the Cal game: Cal vs UCD.
7. [Just so you know, Brandon went to UCD for undergrad and Berkeley for grad school]
8. I am going to the game with my dear friend Liz: she has season tickets in honor of her husband Herb.
9. Goose will stay with Desie during the game.
10. After the game, Brandon and Shanan and I will have dinner at La Mediterranee.
11. Brandon will stay with me overnight.
12. And then, I will take him to the airport for an early morning flight back to Evanston.

All of this is going to be so wonderful!

Saturday morning visit with Desie

Shanan and Goose and I visited Desie yesterday. Everyone got along very well.

Saturday Morning

Another bit of joy arrived yesterday.

Goose was wearing this red travel ribbon when I picked him up at Shanan's.

Upon our arrival home, he and I had a fine neighborhood walk [Piedmont to Derby Street and over to Domingo and then down Webster Street] and a short romp in the yard.

Goose did wake me up a few times last night. He asked [nudged] to get up on my bed. At 4:30 I let him jump up. He leaned in and slept next to me until 6:00.

It is very nice to have him around. Thanks Shanan.

Wednesday morning video

Shanan sent over this video last night. After he and I talked about getting a new dog for me. Such joy to watch his sweet dog Goose chew a carrot. Simple joy. And affection on everyone's part.

Do take a look. It's called Cute Chewer:



I will teach my last class for the summer today. My students and I will present literary texts that we admire and hope to/will teach in the fall. I will offer up Sherman Alexi's: "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me." I always teach this short autobiographical narrative on the first meeting of my College Writing class. And on the first evening gathering of my Salon class. Alexi's writing is bold [ideas and positioning], simple [in its construction on a sentence level] and thoughtful [lessons everywhere about noticing, and then understanding, how we fit into our worlds]. Here is a paragraph about paragraphs from this text that does all of this at once:

I can remember picking up my father's books before I could read. The words themselves were mostly foreign, but I still remember the exact moment when I first understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph. I didn't have the vocabulary to say "paragraph," but I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words. The words inside a paragraph worked together for a common purpose. They had some specific reason for being inside the same fence. This knowledge delighted me. I began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs. Our reservation was a small paragraph within the United States. My family's house was a paragraph, distinct from the other paragraphs of the LeBrets to the north, the Fords to our south and the Tribal School to the west. Inside our house, each family member existed as a separate paragraph but still had genetics and common experiences to link us. Now, using this logic, I can see my changed family as an essay of seven paragraphs: mother, father, older brother, the deceased sister, my younger twin sisters and our adopted little brother.



Simple joys today.

Sherman J. Alexie, Jr., a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA. Take a look at his web page.

Sunday

Arboleda

by Carlos Gutierrez Torrejon*

It's Sunday. And Goose and I will be around the house and in the yard mostly. I will do lots of reading of my students' logs about Rosenblatt and planning for our classes next week. And then, in the late late afternoon, I hope to take Goose for a walk on the fire trail. Maybe it will be the kind of beautiful up there on the trail that Carlos Gutierrez Torrejon depicts in his paintings of Cadiz, Espana. *[on flickr]

Goose and I had a busy busy day yesterday. First my friend Oshinomi [who I have known since the second grade] came by at around noon. We visited in kitchen [as is our tradition] with Goose close by. We had coffee and Meyer Lemon wafers that my dear friend Luporini brought by the day before when she visited us. [Luporini and I had coffee and lemon treats in the kitchen [as is our tradition, as well]. Then my friend Arlyn came by at 2:00. [She used to live across the street from me. Back when when Shanan was born.] We talked in the kitchen [as we used to do] for a while and then we went for a lovely walk in the neighborhood with GooseDog. [No coffee and lemon treats for us, just water.] We walked, by way of Belrose, to the top of Derby Street. Then over to Domingo so I could get a pound of coffee at Peet's. From there, we walked to The Uplands, went up the stairs to Hillcrest, and meandered our way down to Claremont, over to College Avenue, and finally, up Webster Street. Home. [I love love walking with GooseDog and a friend.] After Arlyn left, I straightened up the kitchen. [This wonderful and beautiful kitchen of mine.]

Oh yes, right after we got home, I spoke with Karen, the breeder in South Dakota, about the puppy named Ian. She and I talked about him and two other dogs, Angel and Atom. Angel is exceptionally smart and has freckles. Atom has freckles, too. Thousands of them. He has already been trained, which is good. I am thinking about getting one of these sweet sweet and cute puppies. I am worried about not having Isidore..and having another dog. [More about this later.]

Lots to think about and lots to do today.

In the kitchen GooseDog

Saturday Morning

Goose is going to spend the weekend with me.

Shanan is bringing him over at 7:00.

This is a photo of Goose in San Francisco.

Update: GooseDog arrived this morning and right now, happily, he is lying right next to me, wagging whenever I talk to him. "Hi GooseDog"....wag. "What are you doing?"....wag...It is great fun for me to have this sweet dog visiting.

Saturday Morning

Just so you know, I will be spending today and tomorrow preparing my lectures and materials for my Literature and Writing class that begins Monday. I will need to read through the literary and theoretical texts I will be teaching and decide on the sequence of lessons and activities for the firsts weeks of class. But at the end of the day, I will have a nice walk with Goose Dog. He is visiting me for the weekend.

This is because my sweet son Shanan showed up for a visit yesterday morning with his dog Goose---and he left him with me for the weekend. [Shanan is very generous, you know. To share his dog with me, even though he would miss him, is what is so remarkable.]

Last evening Goose and I went for a lovely [and spirited] walk over to the trail near top of Derby Street. [It is so so wonderful to take a walk with a dog in the evening light.] I had brought treats for beckoning him and so I let Goose off leash as much as I could--which made for lots of running and leaping on his part. There was also Goose's disappearing in people's yards and behind buildings at the Clark Kerr Campus and then, when I called him, his reappearing [sometimes after some time] and sprinting to get his treat. And too, as is the norm for this particular dog, there were the many devourings of various fruits [mostly plums] and other things I cannot mention here. [I must admit, I was not able to entice him away from such deeds with the meager treats I had brought.]

We walked home by way of Tanglewood Road, Garber and then down Russell Street. For this part of our journey, I kept Goose on leash. Almost home, when we turned south on to Piedmont, Goose finally seemed as though he had had his fill of romping about out-of-doors: he was panting, slobbering and walking slowly, a bit behind me, in fact. [Good. Goose is tired out. And me, too.] On the porch at home, I [wire] brushed him to get rid of all the stickers that had attached themselves to his thick [and beautiful] fur. And then I gave him a rub-down rub with a towel to get the trail dust off of him as well. Once inside, it was dinner time for the both of us.

I hope for much the same today when we go out for our walk in the evening.

Goose and Isidore at Point Pinole

Okay
Originally uploaded by shanan

Last evening, Shanan sent me this video he took at Point Pinole on the day I wrote about in yesterday's blog. This is what he wrote to me: "This is one of my favorite walks too. Watch Isidore leap at the very end of the video."

Point Pinole

A bit of nostalgia on this early Sunday afternoon.

Or as others might put it, a wistful affection for the past.

I took this top photo of the shoreline at Point Pinole

last year when Shanan and I walked along the trail

with our sweet dogs Goose and Isidore.

I wish I were out there on the trail again on this day
with Isidore and Goose and Shanan.

Shanan took this bottom photo of me and Goose and Isidore on that day.

**

Saturday afternoon

Time to take Goose home.

I will miss having him close by all the time.

Friday morning

Goose Dog asleep in Isidore's bed.





After Isidore passed away, for a long time, Goose would not get in Isidore's bed, as he had in the past during his visits with me while Shanan was away. Recently, though, Goose has been spending time in Isidore's bed. At night, Goose starts out in his own bed, but in the early morning, he moves to Isidore's. [Just so you know,at about 5 am, he nudges me for permission to get up on my bed. Of course, I let him because we like to snuggle close close together. It feels good--for both of us.] In the morning, while I work at my desk in my bedroom, Goose has taken to napping in Isidore's bed. I think this change in Goose's bed preferences [and thus his behavior during his stay with me] has come about because my sweet Isidore sent a message to Goose [and me] saying it is OK to enjoy each other--to show each other affection and love without feeling we are betraying Isidore. Does this make sense--that loving a dog like Isidore can exist while loving another dog like Goose.]

Shanan agrees with the message from Isidore theory. As he said in a note to me, "I think that Izzy sent him a message, too. He saw that you needed Goose to be close by to take care of you." Goose is, indeed, taking care of me--filling my days with affection.

Goose Dog and I are having a wonderful time together while Shanan is away. I think Goose misses Shanan, though. But I also think he enjoys having my company throughout the day. He follows me from room to room and has learned our daily routines. Right now, he downstairs waiting for me to come down and feed him his lunch. For me, missing Isidore is now accompanied by lovely walks and talks with Goose Dog, especially our late afternoon walks in the neighborhood and beyond, and our frequent hugs and belly rubs and leans.

Goose, like my sweet Isidore, is teaching me about love and the giving and receiving of affection--about lloving him [unresservdly/not set apart] even though I know he will leave me when Shanan returns--about enjoying Goose's love for me and my love for him while he is here.

I love Goose Dog. He will stay with me for one more week. Then he moves back to San Francisco.

This is Isidore in his bed. I miss him.