Wet nose wisdom: Lessons from my dogs

I herded the dogs into the car for the short drive to a park not far from my home. In this city of beautiful parks, this one is not. It is a ribbon of land along the Fraser river, not more than 200 metres wide, bordered by light industry on one side, and log booms on the other.

But it has an off-leash area the size of a football field, and a three kilometre off-leash trail along an ugly slough. There is a scummy pond to swim in. To Tika and Henry, it is paradise.

As we walked along the trail, I stopped whenever the dogs paused to sniff, or cool off in the slough, and I looked around me more closely. There is beauty in this unappealing park.

(Do you see the snail in the yellow blossoms above?)

An old apple tree survives here. (Can you spot the snail here too?)

A spotted towhee watched me carefully. He may have been guarding a nest.

Even skunk cabbage has a kind of elegance.

My happy dogs had put me in the mood to see the loveliness. The lesson is, whether I look for ugliness or beauty, I'll find it. So look for the beauty.

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Sundance

Yesterday afternoon as I travelled through my neighbourhood with the dogs, it may have looked like I was walking. But oh, no, I:

Tiptoed through the tulips:

Belly danced through the bluebells:

Rumbad through the Rhodos:

Did the bossa nova in the bleeding heart:

Arabesqued past the azaleas:

Do-si-doed around the dogwood tree:

And fox-trotted through flowers I don't know the names of (do you?):

I even discoed through the dandilions:

Because when flowers are singing in the spring sunshine, my soul has to dance.

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My mean streak

I rushed in the front door.

"Hi Honey, how was your day! Guess what, I have exciting news! I have tickets for a lecture tonight."

"Tickets? As in two?

"Yes, we are so lucky. They are sold out but my friend Sue is sick and she gave them to me."

"Um, for tonight?"

"Yup. We will have to hurry, it's at University of the Fraser Valley, and it starts in an hour and a half. It will take almost that long to get there."

"Um, a lecture you said?

"Yes, about the archaeology of the Old Crow site in the Yukon. Dr. Harlan Smith is speaking! I can't wait!"

"You didn't tell me about this lecture Sweetie, I wish you had called."

"Sorry, my cell phone was dead. But you know how much I love archaeolgy, so I knew you would be excited to share this with me. It will be so INTERESTING. And afterword there is an open question session we have to stay for. I want to ask Dr. Smith to explain his statistical sampling algorythm."

My Beloved looked stricken.  I decided to end his misery.

"APRIL FOOL'S!!!! Go turn on the Canucks game, I'll bring us a couple of beers."
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