dog – Page 20

Jedi

I’ve seen this painting on a door many times but was never sure what it was supposed to represent. Regardless I love photographing the artwork in our neighborhood and finally one day had my camera with me as I walked past, only to discover I was unable to approach the entrance as it was guarded by the most fearsome hound. Only a Jedi could get past to approach the door, I thought to myself, and then I noticed the sign that said ‘Women’. And suddenly I understood, right here in our sleepy little neighborhood is a little enclave of female Jedi, fighting the good fight, while the rest of us go about our lives. Each time they vanquish a foe, another little lightsaber gets painted on the door.

Just so there’s no confusion, now when I walk past I say out loud how much I admire Obi-Wan Kenobi and how that Darth Vader is a real jerk (and upon hearing that the pup even let me move in for a nice close-up of the painting).

There’s more than a little truth to that.

I was eight years old when Star Wars came out. There was my life before Star Wars, and my life after. If there’s been a day since that I haven’t thought about something from that world, there haven’t been many. I don’t recall if I saw it more than once in the theaters, but it didn’t matter, it filled my imagination. All of it. Jedi, the Force, lightsabers, Wookiees, stormtroopers, X-wings, TIE Fighters, the Falcon, the Death Star. Han and Chewie. R2 and C-3PO. Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan and Vader.

Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan changed my life.

As I came of age, I enjoyed a good righteous anger and seeing people get what was coming to them, and wondered why in the gospels we were told to turn the other cheek if the other was struck, why we were to pray for our enemies. About vengeance not being ours to take. I didn’t see that in the national policy of our supposedly Christian country, or in many people I knew. These were central teachings, why were they ignored? What was I missing? And what was their point?

“There are alternatives to fighting.” You mystified me, Obi-Wan. I loved you and needed to understand you.

I was eleven when The Empire Strikes Back came out. Obi-Wan was gone (spoilers!) after sacrificing himself in the first movie, but now I had Yoda. A tiny little kid had a tiny little hero. There’s a scene where Yoda is teaching Luke to become a Jedi and Luke senses his friends are in trouble far away and rushes off to save them, before his training has completed. I had seen enough shows and movies on TV to know how the movie would play out, that Yoda would shake his head at his eager apprentice, with a knowing grin and maybe even a wink to the camera, and then Luke would go and save his friends.

He was the good guy. Right beats might.

Except it didn’t. Yoda was depressed when Luke left. Luke didn’t save his friends, they had to save him. Han got captured anyway.

What? WHAT?

For years Empire made me think about life more than any movie before or since. I knew Obi-Wan and Yoda were fictional characters but I thought often of what they did, and why. About not giving in to anger, even righteous anger that I felt was mine to hold, about how it would harden you. Forgiveness wasn’t just for the benefit of those you forgave, but for yourself. Anger, even righteous anger, maybe especially righteous anger, could destroy you, slowly, without you noticing. Forgive. Seventy times seven. And again.

Stand up for what’s right. Don’t give in to anger. Forgive, forgive, forgive.

I was a quiet kid who kept too much inside, tried too hard to figure things out on my own, and perhaps it’s a little ridiculous that two fictional characters would make it so much easier for me to take messages from the gospels that I loved and apply them in my own life, but so it was.

So it delighted me to no end to see in the new Star Wars movies, The Force Awakens and Rogue One, women and people of color in central roles, unapologetically strong. Representation is important. I love that more people can look up on the screen and see people that look like them, and want to be like them too.

Detective Samwise

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve begun production on a new TV series called Detective Samwise, a show in the long tradition of slightly silly murder mysteries. Detective Samwise is called in to investigate a string of cat burglaries, in which it turns out actual cats are being stolen. By coincidence our hero detective is himself a cat, so he goes undercover to catch the thief red-handed but finds more than he bargained for when he discovers a murder most foul! We are having some issues with the actress playing our murder victim, however, as while she’s quite good at laying still, she keeps swiveling her ears around so she can hear if craft services has started laying out snacks.

In My Dreams I Run With You

I love it when Ellie sleeps on her side in a running position, sometimes her legs churn and she makes “whoop whoop whoop” noises as though she’s running in her dreams. She does it more now, either from old age or the medicines she takes. I used to think that sleep separated us but it occurred to me recently that perhaps instead we’re continuing on together in her dreams, running without old age to slow her down, and the treats that come from my pockets are pizzas and pot roasts.

Will Block Driveway for Treats

Generally she’s very well behaved, but when it comes to food …

Me & the Pup

I was up earlier than normal for a Saturday so Ellie and I headed out for our walk in the beautiful light of a sunny spring morning. At Irving Park I took a self-portrait with her even if one of us is only represented in shadow. The dog park is on the other side of the tree, and when we leave it to head south into the neighborhood we head out to my left and her right, down one of four streets of her choosing. She gave me a nice long walk on this morning, a lovely start to the weekend.

Don’t Fence Me In

I took this picture last summer of Ellie resting on the hardwood outside on our bedroom. We were having a heat wave and have a portable air conditioner in the bedroom and would make her stay in there during the savagely hot days, especially as she’s gotten older she pants heavily on hot or even warm days. But as you can see she doesn’t like being cooped up in there, more than anything she wants to be with her people and be at the door to greet me when I come home. Generally the weather here doesn’t get too hot but the last couple of summers have been hot and we hit 91 yesterday on May 22nd. May 22nd!

I have an appointment in a couple of weeks for an estimate on getting central air installed, which if feasible will make both of us quite happy during those days we need it. I love the smell of fresh air, and the cats like the open windows, but there are days where AC would be nice.

An Early Start

A couple of weeks ago I woke up early (for a Saturday) so Ellie and I got an early start to our walk. It was a lovely spring morning and since I take the new camera a lot on our walks now, I took a couple of pictures of her at the dog park before we spent the next hour walking the neighborhood.

Fall Comes to the Door of Hope

In early December, I wanted to photograph this maple in fall color in Irving Park with the Door of Hope church as a backdrop. Even though it is just a few steps from the dog park, I had to bribe Ellie with treats to even get her this far, as she was ready to head into the neighborhood. That’s not Ellie walking across the leaves in the first picture, she was by my side, fortunately another dog filled in as my model. We’ve had many great memories in this little park, the pup and I.

Root for the Underdog

I don’t know how much of it is her advancing age and how much the warming weather, but I’ve noticed Ellie’s breathing has been a little more labored lately on her walks. For all that she still gave me a couple of long walks last weekend, but I wasn’t surprised this morning that even though she went as far south as normal after visiting the dog park, she only went a couple of blocks east before wanting to head back north towards home. I thought she was tired out but as we prepared to take the last turn towards home she indicated she wanted to continue going north. The next block she turned east towards home but kept wanting to go east and east and east until I made her turn north to avoid a busy street. We doubled back along Klickitat Street before heading to the park once more, then she was ready to head home, after a full hour and a half walk.

It was still breezy this morning after high winds much of yesterday and my sinuses were bothering me a bit, but what a lovely way to spend the morning, me and the pup!

I took this picture of her on Klickitat, the section of the street we walk on that takes us to the park is closed to vehicle traffic except for people with driveways on the street, and this little post blocks vehicles from entering. Someone put a sticker on the post that says “Root for the Underdog” so I made Ellie pose for a quick picture. The new camera is working a treat for quick pictures like this, just a snapshot to remind me of our walks, it is so lightweight that I take it with me a lot even though I only occasionally take pictures.

Spring Finally Arrives

As much as I love the rain, even I was ready for a sunny day after an unusually wet winter. Although Ellie loves the colder weather, she was up for a long walk on this beautiful spring morning, wanting to go farther and farther each time we reached another corner. I was only too happy to oblige and we didn’t return home for an hour and a half, pretty remarkable for our aging pup.