i (heart) odd-toed ungulates

The Birthday Boy Gets His Own Blog!

Don't worry, there's a post coming with a birthday hat and meatloaf cake, but in order to see it, you'll have to start following Oscar-dog himself - now proud owner of his very own patch of interweb! With excitment, Oscar ate my muffin launched today (and will likely change often for a while, as I tinker and fuss with a very demanding art director persistently nudging me in the elbow). Who knows where this will go, but it seemed appropriate at this point for dog lovers to have their own channel for "all Oscar, all the time", and for my science and art friends to get a relief from my periodic canine insanity (refer to the first line of this post for reference to said insanity). Whatever the case, I'm guessing it'll be a great ride. Happy Birthday, my boy - this one's for you.

*The above photo - header image for the new blog - was taken by the talented Kimberly Wang of Eardog Productions. 

Eardog Shoots Oscar-dog

My incredible friend Kimberly has a fantastic eye for photography - and a tremendous love for dogs (this is, in fact, precisely how we became such fast friends). The talent and one-woman whirlwind behind Eardog Productions, Kimberly is never without camera in hand, and Oscar and I were fortunate enough to find ourselves the subjects of her artistry this winter. While out and about on a flurrying late December afternoon, just days before the new year turned, Kimberly and I took turns pointing our lenses at the handsome red beast - my images can be found here, along with canine sketches from the day - and Kimberly's handiwork is above. I simply adore the way she's captured Oscar, and it's a treat indeed to have such lovely photos of the 2 of us... Thank you, dear Kim! More of Kimberly's beautiful work can be found on her brand new portfolio site: www.eardog.com. (and if you'd like to know who designed that handsome Eardog logo, look no further...)

Another Year Gone, to the Dogs

With not 48 hours left in the great upheaval that was our 2011, Oscar and I joined some very special friends (of the 2 and 4-legged variety) for one final walk through Vermont woods before we returned to MA to ring in a bright, shiny new year. There was just enough thin, splotchy snow to declare winter, but the light, and the leaves, and the smell of streamwater made it feel more like November than the near start of January. Just cold enough for flurries, Oscar and packmates Theo and Fern were in obvious agreement about the necessity of outerwear, though the Christmas-colored coordination between the 3 was completely unplanned. Hiking eventually gave way to hot cocoa and warm conversation, and for the dogs - heaven in the form of a nap...

And just like that, an entire year was put to rest.

Here's to a very Happy New Year, for every and all. And going forward - a little reminder that optimism, joy, and an open heart will always be the best guides... 

All I Want for Christmas This Year

... Is an awful lot like what I wanted last year. This morning - 365 days later - was not at all the same as last year, in some very, very big ways... but just like last year, this sweetest holiday pulled through for me. Life continues to be spectacularly lovely, despite ugliness and unpleasant realities. Christmastime will always fill me with a special brand of glittering, evergreen peace and tinsel-draped joy - in my mind, there is no other way. And of the things under my control, once again, I am not, in any way, for want. So much gratefulness for that...

Dear friends, family, and followers, old and new:
Many thanks for being some of the most influential sources behind the brightness that has carried me through this wild, intense, forever course-altering year. May you each enjoy a thoroughly happy, healthy, and hopeful holiday ~ my love to you all.

Sleeping Dogs

Oscar is a doll when he sleeps. Just look at him. I call the middle pose "the lima bean".
It's been a little while... but I'm awake again, and in new ways. It may be 60 degrees outside but it's nearly December - an epic year is drawing to a close, and looking ahead, there's a world of good work to be done...

A Harvest of Greens & Gold

Vermont is certainly not for want of more rain lately, and yet, chilly drizzle through the rapidly dimishing autumn foliage seemed utterly appropriate when Oscar and I trundled out for a walk this past Saturday. As the summer's bounty of leafy, green vegetation (cultivated and wildgrown) draws to a close, lush emerald carpets of moss have sprung up in the fields where tall grasses used to reign; bright, jaunty mushrooms bloom in place of daisies and buttercups; and fruit trees still cling to golding orbs of tart little fruit, even as their branches grow more leafless by the hour. Oscar is a big fan of apples - he usually waits for me to take a bite before his interest peaks, but as soon as the snack-source is confirmed, he'll sit patiently for a taste of his own, and even race after the cores I chuck to the side. Silly pupper.

Irene Hits Home

No matter where you were on the East Coast this weekend, you were introduced to Irene... After a quick walk with her around our local Cambridge hood on Sunday, damp from spitting rain, Oscar, unnerved, decided he had had enough of this nasty tropical guest and chose to use me as an umbrella. It was truly a spooky day to be outside.

The only storm in history to prompt NYC to completely shut down the MTA, Irene may have been downgraded from ominous initial warnings, but she bullishly hit land on Saturday and made her way up the seacoast, battering cities and towns, through Sunday evening. Farther inland, my beloved home state of Vermont was hammered... with rain... Enraged rivers swelled in mere hours, spilling through backyards and across roads; downtowns were submerged, paved highways deteriorated in washouts, and tragically, multiple, irreplacable, century-old historic covered bridges were destroyed when roiling muddy-brown waters tore away their foundations and swallowed them on the move. In this clip, the Mt. Tabor Historical Society's Millbrook House succumbs to the torrent... aided by a backhoe, it crumbles and slips downstream under a bridge. Raw spectacle and wrenching loss... it just hurts to watch. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore (a native Vermonter) gave an emotional report.  

The Burlington Free Press is calling Irene "the state's worst natural disaster since the epic flood of 1927," and coverage of VT's state of emergency, and continued flood-warnings, made the homepage of the NYTimes online this morning. I'm so thankful for the safety of family and friends, but my heart goes out to all those who felt the damages of this calamatous event.
 
The images below are from the BurlingtonFreePress.com, and the Vermont Flooding 2011 facebook page (though I've run them through a filter...). Original photo credits are as follows, clockwise from top left: Paul Egan, Len Emery, Glenn Russell, Bess Watson, Glenn Russell, and Brody Stevens. And I can't possibly agree with that bottom right sentiment more...

Splendid Summer Speaks for Itself

All of a Sudden... Summer

The rains have finally moved on, the temps have been rising, and in textbook fashion, all that water and sun have fueled a brilliant burst of green here in the Northeast. Lush park and lawn grass is a welcome old friend, but the mercury rising above 75 or so puts me into siesta mode rather quickly - and for a breed developed on the velds of Africa, Oscar is a mighty wimp when it comes to the heat. The poor beast's operating speed shifts down about 3 gears, and often stalls completely... it looks a lot like a nosedive: he buckles down in the front then flings his rear end and great barrel chest over into a satisfying flop onto one side - sprawling stretches and majestic rolling from side to side often ensue... Depending on how much time one has for a dog walk on any given day, this is either quite adorable, or crazy frustrating (because once his 95lbs are down, they're DOWN, and all prompts to get up are met with irritated grumbling). But regardless of our strolling snail's pace and unplanned pit stops, O-Town and I can't help but revel in the return of open windows, daylight well past supper time, and balmy evenings spent socializing on front porches, cool beverages in hand... Summer, it appears, is on.
 

A Sweet Tooth Turns Six

When you're Oscar dog, and it's your birthday, you might just be entitled to an ice cream cone for breakfast. Sometimes you have to wear a party hat, sometimes you get a meatloaf-cake brunch, but when the sun is shining and you're out on the town, ice cream makes for a rare and extravagant celebratory treat (and oh how you enjoy it... for all of 30 seconds). Happy Birthday, my sweet boy - rainbow sprinkles look great on you...