August 28th is also the birthday of one of the first dogs in my life, Alfie the poodle. For some reason I remember that. Odd. Peace out, Alfie, you had a less than charmed life, and had I been older, I would have done things differently. In the 1970's it wasn't common to neuter pets, and Alfie was a dog who marked. Everything. And tried to breed with everything, too. He was treated ok but was relegated to our kitchen with an elaborate gate system. And there he lived. He got yelled at a lot, and once my mom got poodle #2, and tiny toy poodle named Andy, things got bad for Alfie. He took possession of the little one and wouldn't let others near it. He peed even more. Let's just say that the theory of positive reinforcement training was not part of my parents' belief system. I loved Alfie and would take him for walks, but was too young to really see that he had a less than optimal life. Heck -- at that point I had a less than optimal life, too! Live and learn. I was the one who had to take his shaking, epileptic and sad self to the Reading Animal Clinic to put him to sleep when he was about 10 and I was 17. Very sad memory. Perhaps Toby is payback for Alfie...who knows. The above picture is of Alfie, painted by my dad when he took an adult education class. He was a handsome dog.
Also, this is the last official day of my 2015 summer vacation. From now on my posts will be made more quickly, with less coffee, and the speedy morning routine will be in place for the birdies. Sigh. I was going to go to school but my back is really sore (got a spine injection yesterday) and I don't see it happening. I love summer, but treasure it as a temporary thing that I am lucky to have. All my non-teacher friends are tied to the year long work except for short vacations, and frankly, I don't know how they do it. Everyone should have time to live outside the work-a-day world, to learn who they really are outside of the hustle and bustle. I wonder if the work week was shorter, say 30 hours, would there be more employment opportunities for people, and increased consumerism as people have more time to spend and develop their lives? Food for thought.
I am determined to complete the first poppy today and also get going on the back of the skull. It is starting to come together in my mind, for real, and I am seeing it. Although tomorrow it might change, as I've seen it "done" many times before! Such is life and art.
What will you make today?