Dogs, Monkeys, Groundhogs

This weekend’s plans:
1. Dog Beach (Knut went yesterday, met three baby Cavaliers. I stayed home because he was a little bit grumpy. Darn it!). Will attempt to wade with Colin. Colin has previously shown no interest in swimming. I’m hoping peer pressure is the answer.

2. Awesome party at Cynthia and Steffi’s. Here’s the text from the invitation:

"God vs. the Monkeys -
We're having a party! For no particular reason, although it happens to fall on the same date that the Scopes "Monkey" Trial came to a close in 1925. To honor this this original showdown between the Creationists and the Evolutionists, we'll be serving up some brass monkeys and -- for those who remain faithful to Genesis -- some sour apple cocktails. Also feel free to BYOB (the B standing, of course, for Bonobos and Bibles, though Beer is okay too).

So come over next Friday to reconnect with your inner primate and nourish your jungle roots. We don't know exactly how the night will turn out, but we imagine it will look something like this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKXqqjhnOhM"

Looking forward to that! My favorite part of their parties is Knut sitting and being admired by super cute lesbians because he’s strong enough to open the hatch to the roof. It’s far too adorable.

3. Road trip to Woodstock. To Woodstock, IL not the 1969 Music Festival. I do not expect The Who to be there. Although that would be awesome! Woodstock is where they filmed Groundhog Day. It’s also the hometown of the creator of Dick Tracey. I’ve heard there’s a little Dick Tracey museum. We basically just feel like getting out of the city.

I don’t know what we’ll do on Sunday yet. Probably early preparations for the Norwegians who will be coming on Thursday. Right! I almost forgot to ask to borrow sheets and pillows from my folks!

Birthday for a Thoughtful Rabbit!

Today is my birthday and while I was expecting a quiet day, I have been showered with attention and some really awesome presents! Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate it.

I did go to work today (and I can’t complain! People have been lovely. And the banana and blueberry muffins I baked were much appreciated), but I’ve decided to treat myself to a mental memory vacation for the day.

Got on your comfortable shoes? Camera? Your Jet Pack? Let’s go!

We wake up…

In Disneyland!! Not just regular Disneyland, but Disneyland Paris!

Don’t worry; we walked through a beautiful open air French market to get there, so you’ve got your croissant and café au lait. First we’ll enter this beautiful castle and climb our way down to the grotto beneath it. A fierce dragon lurks there who snorts smoke and flickering his scaly eyelids. But he never eats birthday people, so we should be safe. This time. We’ll make sure to ride the Haunted Mansion many times to figure out the creepy murderous Black Widow story line. After that, we’ll ride Peter Pan and Small World. When our feet start to hurt, we’ll curl up in Skull Rock, knowing that the American Parks no longer have that attraction.

That’s enough fresh air for a little while, how about some intellectual stimulation?

Off we go to London to the British Museum.

Of course, we’ll look at the Sutton Hoo treasure and the Teddy Bear collection, but the main stop is the Egyptian collection. Take a gander at these mummified cats! What did you think of the National Geographic reconstruction of Tutankhamen’s face? Hadn’t other reconstructions suggested that the ancient Egyptians had more African features? Wait! Is that a bunny on that mummy case?

I’m embarrassed to say, that strange sweet smell from the mummy room has made me hungry.

Time for Lunch… at Sola Strand Hotel in Norway!

I can’t eat the smoked salmon myself, but I’m sure you’ll like it. That there is fenalaar, which is preserved leg of lamb, very tasty. This is flatbrod, try putting some fenalaar on that with a little of the egg? Nice? I’m going to fill up on beef tenderloin and shrimp, but make sure to leave room for dessert. There are jellies and apple cake and caramel pudding. Make sure you get plenty of the mixed berries and cream. They grow them all locally. Whew. I am stuffed. I think I need a lay down, but where should we go?

What better place for a siesta than Spain?

This Moorish castle towers over Malaga, birthplace of Salvador Dali. The roomy accommodations here include plenty of benches, lots of shady vine covered verandas, and romantic nooks. What do you say we stretch out in the garden and enjoy the sunshine? Good thing we brought our Panama

I always feel like a little shopping after a nice lunch. Let’s head to Krakow!

This charming shopping street features Polish milled silk velvet scarves, paintings by students, beautiful silver work, blown glass Christmas ornaments, and most importantly amber. Find amber in shades you never imagined existed. Amber cut into cameos. Amber with insects. Who would guess fossilized tree sap would be so beautiful and such a pleasure to wear?

There is one odd thing about Krakow. See those cute young guys in black over there? Look, but don’t touch! They’re all priests.

Whew! It’s been a great trip, but I’m about ready to drop. I think it’s time to head home to my most favorite place of all.

Thanks for coming along!

Happy Annual Bunny Day to you!!

Art En Masse, Mass Art

I have mixed feelings about public art. No, I should be more specific. I enthusiastically endorse some public art and think others are lame.

These photos are ones Knut, Colin, and I took in the Skokie Sculpture Park. This park runs in between a busy street and a canal. I had driven past it hundreds of times, but never walked through it. Knut is partial to the gigantic head, purely because it reminds him of the film The Wicker Man. Note the similarly of poses between Knut and a famous still of Christopher Lee. I have no idea what it is Colin is posing on. It looks like a combination mining drill and underwater mine to me. I’m actually hiding behind it holding up Colin’s rear end. Most of the sculptures are fairly unremarkable, with a few real stand outs. Curiously, the majority are in shades of brown or olive. You’d think since these are seen mostly from the road, they’d prefer bright colors.

When a piece is perfect for a place, the people who live around it embrace it as a friend, and usually give it a nickname. It frequently takes only a short time for this to happen.

You can’t go past the Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago without seeing office workers eating their lunch on it or children sliding down the slanted base. Now there are plenty of benches around and kids can play on just about anything in my experience, but they are just drawn to the huge sculpture. Apparently, it was controversial when it was first put up which proves how many critics really don’t have much of a grip on public consciousness.

Similarly, The Bean was instantly embraced. It was only unveiled in 2004, but people love it. They make special trips to walk up to it, touch it, and generally experience it. Once when we were up admiring it, the men who clean it were working on a patch. They cheerfully advised us the best place to stand to see all of its reflective kaleidoscopic charms. There’s a pretty good contrast between The Bean and these huge glass block structure down the block that house animated screens of people’s faces. The faces have become part of the background, except in the hottest part of the summer when they spit water and the path between them is flooded. Then children and childish bloggers rip off their shoes and go for a refreshing skip through the puddles. You can tell The Bean is truly beloved because it has a nickname. It’s actually called “Cloud Gate.” When the artist initially complained about the nickname, I heard an artistic acquaintance say that everyone should have to call it the real name because it belongs to the artist. Possibly I’m of a more Andy Warhol frame of mind, but I feel that when a piece of art is public (indeed, we citizens of Chicago bought the thing and pay to maintain it), its identity becomes intertwined with the city. And if the city feels it should be called The Bean, the identity of the art becomes The Bean. Such a show of public affection is a high compliment.

Fortunately, the artist has learned to stop worrying and love The Bean.

Birthday Ba!

Today is Colin’s birthday!

I can’t believe he’s already 4 years old. He still acts like a puppy in pretty much all respects. He still gets overstimulated whenever we go to my parents’ house. He still plays with toys. He’s still overcome with delight whenever we come home. He is the sweetest little doggie.
Both of the dogs we had growing up were rescued basset hounds, so we never knew when they were born. Colin was the very first puppy for me, so I suppose he’ll always be a little bit special.
His gifts include a nice walk (probably to the beach so we can play with the beloved pink ball) and one of these disgusting cakes we make him. This is the one from his first birthday. I believe it was two layers of toast, a peanut butter filling, and the whole thing was frosted with liver pate. His name was written with icing made from boullion and flour.
He loved it.
He kept an eye on us as he wolfed it down as quickly as possible. He isn’t usually territorial about food, so he clearly adored it.

Happy Birthday, Ba!

Photoshop Pup

A few years ago Knut had to give a little speech at the end of the year teachers party. He decided to give a humorous speech about our little dog and how he’s changed our lives. I made up a few fake photos and included some real ones to go with his speech

We got Colin as a puppy. We got our pick of the litter and somehow he was just the cutest one. Although his mother took some convincing to let him go.

We really love him. I can’t explain why, but we just feel compelled to spoil him and share all of our food.

As you can see, he has a very sweet nature.

Although sometimes he manages to disappear without a trace.

(note: real photo)

It’s nice owning a breed with real history behind it. There’s a reason they’re called Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Look! He has a King-shaped birthmark.

Knut probably managed something more clever, but that was the gist of things. Weirdly, every time we met Knut’s colleagues, some one looked for the Elvis shaped spot on the dog. And that was one I purposefully made to look fake!

Everything I Know about Photography I Learned from my Dog

Meet my muse, Colin. He’s a 3 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. My husband and never took so many photos before we got this dog.

As soon as we were married, I moved to Norway and I desperately wanted a dog. Since we only have a one bedroom; a small dog. We read the want ads for a year. We called the local shelter. Everything. No doggy for us. All they ever had were German Shepherd mixes or border collies, neither of which would have been very happy in our tiny home. Not a tiny dog who needed a home in the whole county.

I got to the point where we’d go into a pet store and I’d feel the little collars. I can begin to understand women who are desperate to have children but can’t.

Eventually after a year, we decided to buy one. My parents gave me $200 for my birthday as a dog payment. Knut called various breeders and nothing seemed quite right until one evening when a woman called. She said she remembered talking to him several months earlier and her dog was due to have puppies. Did we want one? Yes! We could have the pick of the litter.

Lucy gave birth to an amazing nine puppies, all of whom survived. Lucy did have a major calcium defficiency from nursing all those babies. I suspect Colin as a major culprit since he was the biggest and fattest of all the babies.

Knut picked him out at 3 weeks when they were barely the size of large hamsters and we regularly visited him until 10 weeks, when we got to take him home. It was just great to see him grow up.

Colin has posed for more photos than anyone else I know. He’s the one who taught us directional lighting. He showed us how to take fast motion shots. He encouraged us to take films. I know hardly anything about photography that hasn’t involved him.

Dog Flowers

Quite a while ago, one of my co-workers forwarded me some really darling photos of an Asian woman holding a bouquet of flowers shaped like a little dog.

They were adorable!

So I figured I had a challenge.

I decided my mother had to have one for Valentine's day. I bought one bouquet of butter colored mums and one mixed bouquet from the supermarket and went home to experiment.

Okay, these are not easy to make! I needed to sort through all the mums to find ones that are not only the right shape, but lie correctly together. I ended up wiring them together with pipecleaners (which turned out to be a good choice. They didn't bruise the stems and allowed little spaces between them). The nose and mouth are bits of Fimo molded into shape and attached to 1" long wires, which were them stuck into the hearts of the flowers. I surrounded the mum dog with the mixed bouquet and tied a ribbon around the neck of the vase.

Mom loved it and kept referring to it as "Colin." Colin is my little spaniel.

Amazingly, the dog part outlived the rest of the flowers! This last photo is taken two weeks after Valentine's and he still looks good.

Spending $7 to make something that looked like it came from an

expensive florist is pretty nifty. :)