Painting the cat

Here's a watercolour (sold) I did of my cat Simone. She died very young (8) last fall and we were broken hearted. If you follow this blog you know we brought home a new
Siamese cat, Fiona, two weeks later. I haven't painted her picture yet.

Doggers have the day

Living in a multicultural city, in a multicultural neighbourhood can be
dicey conversationally on a day that's a holiday because of
one religion -- like today for instance. I love how doggers
approach the problem. They don't. As a dogger myself (someone
who lives with and walks with) a dog, I can tell you a few things.
We are not usually easily offended by dogs. Very few of us resent
being called the dog's "Mommy" or "Daddy," and those who do
are more uptight than the average dogger. We usually know each
other, not by our proper names -- unless we are already friends, but
by the dog's name. So I would be Zoey's Mom to a dogger I meet
occasionally -- because people can customarily remember the
dogs they've met, but not necessarily the owners. And on a day like
today there is one thing we know about each other -- that we're
doggers having a walk on a beautiful spring day, in one of the most
delightful parks in the world. So the day is about the dogs, about the
sugary snow, about the woodpecker we saw in a tall tree chirping
like an angry squirrel. I rarely run into an mean dogger, or a violent
dog. But in every kind of weather I meet and walk with people
of all backgrounds who smile at me in understanding because we
share one thing -- we love our dogs. The cats would like me to
add -- "and our cats." I agree.
For the best dog walking parks in Toronto, and a list of people
who take care of cats and dogs go to:
http://www.torontodogs.com/parks.htm
Zoey asked me to tell you that she thinks the best dog trainers
are Diana and Astrid Fischer. If you want a dog as lovely
and well behaved as Zoey check out their website at:
http://www.englishnanniesfordogs.com/

The first image is of Zoey the dog après walk, resting with the
cats (Timbah on the left and Fiona on the right) in their kitty
train. The second picture is of the cats in their kitty train.
Timbah and Steven started the whole train concept because
Timbah loves boxes and hockey skate laces. Steven tied the
laces onto a sturdy orange box, and voilà --a train. Then a couple
of summers ago I was painting a wonderful little girl named
Madeline, and she felt it was unfair not to have two boxes for
the two cats -- so we attached a second box for our
former Siamese, Simone, and the train was born. Fiona has
not yet learned to ride in the train, but she does love boxes
and hockey laces (much to Timbah's chagrin).

Have a dogger day.

Sunday is for reading

Reading is one of my critical pleasures and I've just finished reading the best novel I've read in a long time.
Coffee and the Saturday Globe are essential Saturday and Sunday morning pleasures, and on Sunday I like to get in at least an hour of straight reading. Libby Creelman's The Darren Effect, is a Canadian novel missing the requisite incest and sheer despair. True she
deals with grief and loss, but also gives us love and redemption. It's set on the east coast and is amazing in its honest depiction of feeling, and how women think. Most novels about women seem to miss the point for me. Creelman is that rare bird, an exquisite writer of moving prose. Now I'm reading The Dissident, by Nell Freudenberger -- a New York Times, Notable Book. It's
about Yuan Zhao, a Chinese performance artist, who accepts an artist in residence position at a private girl's school in
Los Angeles. I think it's going to be good. I know that if Fiona could read, she
would. Meanwhile she just likes being a fashion model.

Have a great reading day.