Blind as a...

17 August 2015

Bats are blind - right? So how is it that a bat came flying right at me while I was wearing my yellow jacket? Maybe sonar doesn't work on yellow. What do you think?

~mom

A Great Swimming Spot..

13 August 2015

Here are some of the places I have swum this summer:

• Kits Pool
• Hillcrest
• Pool at Rockridge
• Lake at Rockridge
• Second Beach Pool

So far, my favourite swimming spot has been Second Beach Pool.  Here is why:

• You get to ride your bike to get there
• The lane is nice and long - 50m
• There are very few people swimming in the lanes - today I had an entire lane to myself!

I'm working on perfecting my breast stroke...

~mom

Between Gods

11 August 2015

by Allison Pick

This book is a memoir. It's like an autobiography in that it is a story about the author's life written by the author herself. However, while an autobiography is a story about the author's whole life, a memoir tells the story about one part of the author's life. Allison Pick writes about the time in her life when she goes through the process of becoming a Jew. 

Why I Read This Book

I loved Allison Pick's previous novel: Far To Go which is a story about Jewish children during World War II who were sent by their families on trains to England to save them from the persecution elsewhere in Europe. I knew Far To Go had ties to the author's own life as her Jewish ancestors had fled Europe and had hidden their Jewishness (is that a word??) for decades. I hoped that Between Gods would shed a little more light on her family's history and offer further insight to Far To Go.

 

What I Thought About This Book

Allison Pick writes very beautifully. However, I did not find Between Gods very compelling. Allison's father was Jewish but her mother was not. Therefore, Allison, although it seems she should be half Jewish, isn't actually Jewish at all. Allison describes being pulled so strongly by her Jewish heritage that she wants to convert to Judaism. She doesn't feel any pull from her mother's background at all. 

My feeling about the whole thing is this. 

Parts of Allison's family went through some horrendous experiences during World War II.  Allison is alive because her grandparents fled Europe and came to Canada, renouncing their Jewish heritage, and becoming Christian.  Allison, while researching and writing Far To Go, was deeply affected by the hollocaust stories within her own family as well as others' accounts (who wouldn't be?).  Because of her Jewish roots, I believe she felt a personal connection to hollocaust victims.  I believe she also suffered some survivor guilt.  I also believe that she didn't feel connected to her mother's Christian heritage because it wasn't as interesting or compelling.  During a lot of the book, I didn't relate to Allison at all.  I felt that she was over-dramatizing her situation - especially in the parts where she tries to convince her father (who IS Jewish but is a practicing Christian) to return to his Jewish roots.

What saved the book for me and kept me reading were the snippets of the other parts of her life during the time she converted to Judaism: her wedding, her miscarriage, her first child's birth.  I also appreciated her descriptions of depression.  That said, I wouldn't read this book to figure out how to get out of a depression because this book seems to imply that you will no longer be depressed if you convert to Judaism.  That doesn't make much sense to me..

~mom

Kobe's Dog Log: The Forest

9 August 2015

If I imagine heaven, it would be this: a wooded area filled with dogs and people of all sizes. There would be lots of areas to sniff and explore. There would be treats and cookies to eat. I could run untethered. Today I went to a place that was almost heaven. 

After a miserable car ride, I wasn't too pleased to find myself in an unfamiliar place with a leash around my neck. A walk? Now? I was not enthused. But within minutes, we were in this amazing place called a Forest. 

The Forest had a walking path. Clearly, many dogs come to the Forest: I smelled them EVERYWHERE! The best part: I was allowed to sniff and sniff. They had brought water for me so all that sniffing didn't make me too thirsty!

Along the path we saw:

- bikes: big bikes; small bikes; bikes for one; bikes for two; fast bikes; slow bikes

- people: big people; tiny-just-learning-to-walk people; people in groups; people by themselves

- runners: fast runners; slow runners; in-between runners

- dogs: big dogs; small dogs; mostly all calm dogs

I was supposed to sit whenever a dog walked by. This was hard for me. I was so excited - I wanted to play with every dog I saw. A couple of labradoodles that were just my size stopped to play. I behaved myself: I sniffed but held myself back from jumping all over them. I'm learning that jumping on dogs will tighten my leash and result in the end of play time. The best part of meeting these dogs was the Owner. She was soo nice. She had a dog treat just for me! I was so excited I could hardly sit like she asked.

Speaking of treats: I got a lot of treats on this walk. That made me happy. It's so much easier to remember to listen when there are so many possibilities for treats! I was asked to sit a lot: when people walked by; when people biked by; when dogs walked by; when bikes rode by.

I have only one complaint: the leash. If I hadn't been on a leash, I could have run and run and run. Still. Today was almost heaven..

~Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: Car Ride

9 August 2015

Something new happened today.  I was led outside to the car.  There, in the back was my crate!  I was confused.  What is going on?

I was put into the crate and the door was closed.  Suddenly, it was pretty dark.  Then I started bouncing about.  I guess we must have been moving.  I wasn't too happy.  The people were talking about "Granville Island".  I don't know what "Granville Island" is - it seems like a long drive followed by a really, really slow drive.  Luckily, the door opened and Black Hair gave me some water. 

Unfortunately, the door closed again and we started driving again.  This time, I heard the words "Kits Beach" and "Vanier Park".  That seems to be a lot of slow driving too.  Yellow Hair seemed to be getting stressed.  I wasn't happy either.  I could bark, but I would get shushed and no-one comforted me.  I heard the word "home".  Hooray!

When the car door finally opened, though, I wasn't home - I was at a forest.  I wasn't very happy after being in the car for so long.  Car rides make me sick!

~ Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: I am Not a Chicken

8 August 2015

When I first came to this Red House, I was a bit timid. I was happy to hang in the kitchen. I didn't nip. I didn't bark. I was on my best behaviour. 

It seems like this Red House is more permanent than I first thought. I've spent a few days getting oriented. I've sniffed my way around the block, around the other block, even the long walk to the big field with all the dogs. I've figured out how things work. Like:

- Yellow Hair is the big boss

- Brown Hair Boy and Brown Hair Girl are puppies just like me

- I go for so may walks that I don't really need my pee-pad

I feel pretty assured about my place. I'm allowed in the living room in the evening. I've tried to go there during other times of the day. I will get called back to the kitchen but if I choose not to hear, I doubt I'll get in trouble. If Yellow Hair is around, though, I'll get put back in the kitchen and the gate will go up. Still. I'm pretty happy. 

Tonight, a new door opened. Everyone went through the door. There are steps going down. A dungeon, perhaps? I don't know WHAT there might be but I'll tell you this: I AM NOT GOING DOWN THERE! Not that I'm a chicken...

~Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: Walk after Walk after Walk!

7 August 2015

So.  It turns out this family I'm staying with loves to walk.  I walked with Brown Hair Boy.  I walked with Brown Hair Girl.  I walked with Black Hair.  I even got to walk with Yellow Hair.  Oh, boy!

Walking is exciting.  There are so many new smells!  It is hard to remember to keep walking instead of running ahead or sniffing side to side.

Here are some things I saw today:
- A broken water pipe (I wasn't allowed to play there.  Boo.)
- A family with a young child
- An older couple
- A lady in a wheelchair
- An injured bird (I wasn't allowed to play with him.)
- A dog (I was allowed to say hello which I did: very loudly but we weren't allowed to play)
- A big, noisy Truck (I didn't like that very much)

Mostly, I was very polite.  I sat quietly every time someone passed by.  Except the time a person was attached to a DOG.  That was just too exciting!

At some point with all that walking, we ended up at this large, grassy field.  Guess what was there?  DOGS!  They were playing ball.  They were running.  They were off the leash.  Boy, did I want to play with those dogs.  I didn't.  I got to sit in the grass and watch them.  Still.  It was super exciting!

I had a bit of trouble settling down after all the excitement today.  I fell asleep early enough but woke up suddenly and went straight for the door.  Yellow Hair took me outside.  I was confused.  It was dark.  There was a DOG outside.  I was disoriented.  Luckily, Yellow Hair stayed close by and took me back inside right away.  I was happy when she put me in my crate.  I curled up with my Rabbit and went to sleep.

~ Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: The Top Dog

8 August 2015

I've got it figured out.

Yellow Hair is DEFINITELY the Top Dog.  Everyone listens to what she says.  She's mostly calm, but she can be pretty stern with anyone who isn't listening.  I've watched.  In know.  Brown Haired Boy and Brown Haired Girl know she's Top Dog too.  I can tell.  I'm pretty smart that way...

Yellow Hair is nice but pretty firm.  I feel secure around her because I know what she expects of me.  I do what I can to make her happy.  When she's in the mood, she gives me lots of Love and Treats.  She is around most of the time.  That makes me happy.  Sometimes she is out of my sight.  But not too long. When she comes back, I'm super happy to see her again!

~ Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: A Big Job..

7 August 2015

I'll confess: I'm not a fan of doing my business in unfamiliar places.  I've been waiting for hours to go back home but it doesn't seem to be happening.  I've had lots of opportunities to go.  People keep taking me outside.  I've gone for a walk.  I've been in the yard.  I was even sprayed off with the hose at some point.  (I think that happened because I rolled around in some super-awesome dirt!)  But even though it was fun to be outside SOMEWHERE ELSE, I really didn't want to go.  So I held it.

I held and I held.

And I held.

After supper, all 4 Red House people took me for a walk.  So many people!  I was excited to sniff absolutely everything.  It was a bit of a pain in the neck.  Literally.  I was trying to get ahead like always but I was being held back.  If I started wheezing too much, I would be called back with a "here" and a "sit".  Still.  So many smells - who can blame a dog for being excited?

The highlight of the walk was meeting some new dogs.  There were 2.  A smaller dog with short, wiry hair and a flat snout.  A bigger, shaggy-looking dog.  The small dog was calm.  But the big dog was as excited as I was.  No wonder.  Even though he looks big, he's only 16 months - just 1 year older than me!  We started play-wrestling.  The people seemed worried about us.  We didn't get   to play long before we were pulled apart.  I heard the words "it's play but he's really big".  I don't know what that means, but the next thing I know, play time was over and we headed for home.

After play time, I couldn't hold it any longer.  I found a nice spot on the boulevard and did my business.  My people seemed pretty happy with me.  When we got home, I got lots of love.  I was pretty tuckered out after that.  I was allowed to sleep in the living room.  Yellow Hair eventually lifted me up and put me in my crate.  The curtains were closed and I settled in for a comfy night.  Lots of weird things are happening and my world is pretty confusing right now.  But at least I'm having fun and that makes me pretty happy.

~Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: A New Place

7 August 2015

The door opened.  Holy cow!  I couldn't contain myself.  I took 2 steps and - oops - I leaked a bit..  I took another 3 steps and then really let it rip.  It was a loooong car ride and I reaaallly needed to go...

There were all sorts of new faces inside of this Red House.  I was nervous and excited.  My Suzy seemed to be talking to Yellow Hair a lot.  My Keith brought in all my stuff from home.  My crate.  My blanket.  My leash.  My food.  My treats.  My pee pad.  What is going on here?  I used my pee pad.  That made me feel a bit better.  Still nervous.  But better.

My Joseph kept me busy.  I showed off all my best tricks:
- Sit
- Shake a paw
- High 5
- Lay down
- Crawl

I'm so happy to do everything my Joseph tells me to to do.  But then something funny happened.  Everyone went to the door.  The door opened and everyone went out.  Everyone.  Except me.  These new people held me back!!  What is going on??

I was led into the kitchen.  A plastic gate went up to keep me inside.  There were 4 people keeping me company: Yellow Hair, Black Hair, Brown Hair Boy, and Brown Hair Girl.  They all played with me.  They asked me to sit.  To lay down.  To crawl.  High 5.  They even asked me to Go Around.  Whatever THAT means!  All I know is there was a treat inside the hand.  The hand went behind the back and I followed.  Eventually, they gave me a treat.

I am having fun so far.  I get a bit nervous from time to time.  When that happens, I go into my crate.  When I do that, people leave me alone.  That makes me happy.  My blanket made an appearance in the kitchen.  I was so happy to see it!  I chewed it and re-arranged it just the way I like it.  I'm still not sure what's going on, but so far, it's not too bad.

~Kobe

Kobe's Dog Log: Where Am I?

7 August 2015

I went for a nice, long car-ride today.  It was different than my normal car-rides because:
- my crate came
- my blanket came
- ALL my toys came
- a big bin of rags, supplies, and food came
- the WHOLE family came
- along with a whole pile of luggage

We stopped at a Red House with Yellow Stairs.  Boy, was I excited.  And nervous.  Where am I?

~Kobe

A Day at Rockridge

6 August 2015

So we just got back from 4 days of Family Camp at Rockridge Canyon.  This is how my typical day at Rockridge looked:

7:00am - Running Club
I started most days with a run.  A quick 3km up to the dam at the end of the lake and back again for a total of 6km.  The fun part is counting all the deer...
 
8:30am - Breakfast Buffet
Omelet station, pancakes, eggs, potato casserole: every morning brought a new surprise in the buffet line.  My favourite treat was the cinnamon bun on the last day.  YUM!
 
9:30am - Family Fun Activity
I attended 2 family fun activities: the pool Olympics and the beach activities.  Highlights included watching the Cat do the lily-pad adventure, the Huffer working hard on the in-and-out race, and the Old Man jousting.  My favourite part was pool volleyball which consisted of trying to throw as many beach balls, pool toys, and noodles to the other team's side of the net as possible.  We won.  By a lot. 

11:00am - Relaxation Time
After the family fun activity, there was time to dry off as necessary, catch up with friends, relax a bit, plan the afternoon activities, and get ready for lunch.

12:00noon - Lunch
Every day brought a new lunch: pasta feast, Greek fiesta, and chicken burgers.  My favourite lunch was the chicken burgers because of the chipotle sauce.  The soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies were the best lunch dessert..

1:30pm - Free Time
Each afternoon, all activities are open.  That means: pool, beach, blob, boats, zip-line, canoes, disc golf, and more.  The trick is to run down to the boats first thing to sign up.  I ended up riding all the boats: the wake-surf boat, the water-ski boat, the banana-boat, and the party barge.  I wasn't brave enough to wake-surf but I did try the water skiing and it was super!  I got up on my 2nd try and stayed up after my 3rd try.  Each day, I tried to get a bit of pool time.  I loved swimming a few laps.  I worked hard on my breaststroke technique.

4:30pm - Relaxation Time
At 4:30pm, the activities close.  Usually, I took this time to take a leisurely shower and get ready for supper.  It was also a good time to catch up with friends and compare stories about our afternoon adventures.

5:30pm - Dinner
Each night, we had a gourmet dinner: turkey dinner with mashed potato and stuffing; ribs (sooo good!); chicken & rice with mushroom sauce; roast beef and Yorkshire puddings.  After dinner, there was dessert.  The best ones were the flourless chocolate cake with blueberry sauce and the rustic apple pie.  An honorable mention goes to the strawberry shortcake.

6:45pm - Club
Club starts with lots of singing.  Fun songs.  With a band.  Familiar songs like "Brown-eyed girl", "Twist-and-shout", "Livin' on a Prayer", "Sweet Caroline", "Let it Be", "Sweet Home Alabama".  The words are on the screen for anyone who doesn't know them.  After singing, the kids go outside to have some fun while the adults (and teens) stay for the talking portion of club.  Some guy named Chris would tell these super-funny stories.  Then he would get a little more serious and read from the Bible.  He would spend 5-10 minutes talking about the Bible and then the kids would be called in for more singing.  Afterwards, there would be some announcements which would typically get interrupted  by Mr. Tool and Captain Clean.  More on them later...

9:00pm - Evening Activity
The evening activity would be some sort of party: a Hawaiian beach party, a Mexican fiesta, a country-western night.  Along with dancing, there would be some sort of yummy food: hot dogs, fruit kebabs, cotton candy, nachos.  My favourite evening activity was the hay ride.  We saw lots of deer and the sunset was beautiful.

A little bit more about Mr. Tool and Captain Clean...

So Mr. Tool and Captain Clean claim to be superheros.  While they look like a duo, they actually claim to be a "three-o".  The third member of the crew is Mr. Mittens: a 300lb super-cat who was once dropped into a bucket of radioactive slime.  Mr. Mittens, however, was lost and no-where to be found.  Each of the evening activities was an attempt to lure Mr. Mittens home again.

Over the days, we slowly learned the Mr. Tool and Captain Clean are actually stay-at-home dads who are not so clean and not so handy.  In the end, it appears they might not even have superhero powers.  That doesn't stop the kids at Rockridge from squealing with delight every time they make an appearance which proves the following: kids love people in spandex suits!


Next time at Rockridge

If we ever go back to family camp, I would like to do the following:

1. Try wake surfing
I wasn't brave enough the first time but after water skiing, I realize the wake surfing boat travels much, much slower and I'm sure I could do it..

2. Use the longer skis for water-skiing
I was worried about going fast so I used the shorter skis and went slower.  However, the short skis are really tough to stay balanced on when you are a big adult.  Next time, I'll try the longer skis.  I'm sure they'll still work even if the boat isn't whipping around too fast!

3. Walk to the top of the zip-line each day
You never know.  One day, I might even get enough courage to try.

4. Try the ropes course again
I SUCKED big time the first time.  But I'm sure I could do better!

5. Do more dancing
I tried square dancing and it looked more like pentagon dancing because I kept losing my partner.  It was fun anyhow.  And I COULD have done the Macarena...


~mom

Fear

3 August 2015

So this is fear.

First, things start to tremble a little bit. The fingers, the hands. Then the legs start getting rubbery. Your heart starts beating so hard that it seems to be trying to escape out of your chest. At this point, you are in full panic mode. You start gasping for air as you start breathing harder and faster. And them everything freezes and you can't move. Tears start slipping down your cheeks and you think to yourself - funny.. I'm not sad about anything..

After it is all over, there is no feeling of pride in having conquered a fear. There is only a deep gratitude that it's over and an overwhelming sence of humiliation. Because deep inside, you know you haven't conquered a fear: you have only survived it. It will be there, waiting for you, ready to consume you the next time you dare again..

There are people in this world who are "thrill seekers". I know what they are looking for. I have it in great excess. If I could bottle up a little piece of what I feel, there would be no need for people to bungee-jump, sky-dive, or any other of the ways people like to hurtle their bodies through space at great speeds and heights - they could simply take a little bit of my fear and be satisfied and I could be a gazillionaire who isn't paralyzed by stupid stuff. 

~mom

When it's Hot

1 August 2015

It's really hot today. Here are somethings that work really well in the heat:

- swimming

- boating

- lounging in the sun

Here are things that dont work so well in the heat:

- vigorous exercise

- sleeping

~mom