Dog Heroine

[robinmckinley]

 
Well, the car is running.  And the hellhounds are eating.*   And when I got to my Wednesday bell practise tonight I hadn’t forgotten everything after an entire week away.  (You don’t have bell practise in church towers during their Holy Week.)  Indeed we had a packed-out crowd-of mostly beginners.  So I got to be one of the Big Grown Up People Who

Comments

[anonymous]

Glad to hear the car is functional and the dogs are eating*. The training always sounds so interesting, although getting through it must be time consuming. The results will be worth it, I'm sure, and as you say Chaos and Darkness (and does that make you Charon or Ares?) seem to enjoy DOING things with you

[robinmckinley]

But on the bells and music topic, a month or so ago I told you about the "Diatonisch" in the Chopin-Godowski etudes sounding like bells, well I came across another piece recently, that I had forgotten about and meant to tell you. It is Elizabethan music, by Byrd and named, appropriately enough, The Bells. A rather nice version is played by Charivari Agreable in the album (I still call them albums anyway) The Queen's Goodnight.

************** I will look for this, thank you! I like Byrd.

You're a translator and you still have to go to an OFFICE? How unfair is that??

[anonymous]

That's because I have two jobs. At first the translator gig was too unreliable. Until your work becomes known and you get your private clients who will come to you always you never have a reliable paycheck. So I have a job as an administrator / secretary / receptionist / general dogsbody / advice aunty in residence at an alternative health center. But as the translation got more successful I realised that you could go for days without talking to and seeing anybody, so I kept the other job for the reliable paycheck and the social aspects. Especially now with the use of email you never go out as a translator and for anybody with slight depressive tendencies that can be A BAD THING. I view it as balancing out two aspects of my personality: the social, friendly, talkative individual (which I am and can be just NOT ALL THE TIME) and the analytical, puzzle-solving former scientist who felt her brain was rotting away (your brain can't rot when translating and it makes very good use of my information unearthing skills). So my office hours are

[robinmckinley]

Ah. Yes. You'd told us about the spa before, I'd forgotten. I understand what you mean about needing to get out of the house; aside from the fact that I'm a bell junkie, bell ringing does that for me. It's the thing I do that Demands Other People. I too can just hole up and it's not really a good idea.

[ajl_r]

Yay for Southdowner (who is also a wiki-ite, talk about magic-ing extra time out of another time/space continuum). I'm extremely impressed by everyone with the empathy, patience, and love needed to socialise another species into being able to live happily and constructively with humans.

And...you may remember a while ago I mentioned friends who were deep in the developing relationship with their border collie pup (this was the one who snacks on slugs - puppy, not friends)? Apparently, when they had the dog behaviourist in to give them a bit of help, at one stage the female friend was fretting over the fact that it was only her partner who was seen as alpha (he works from home and had more time with the pup). Behavourist said that, having observed them all, the situation was even worse (!) than friend had thought - female friend was not only not alpha but was apparently seen by pup as 'flock'! Just as well it all got sorted out and pup is now much happier (so is female friend).

Books and Dogs and Houses oh my

[bunnyjadwiga]

I don't know if you've ever encountered the 1950s-1960s books of Gladys Taber, who lived in Connecticut and wrote for Women's Day (or was it Ladies' Home Journal)? Anyway, she's another one of those writers in which nothing happens (nonfiction, though). But there seems to be a great deal of things going on-- specifically involving Cocker Spaniels, the occasional Irish Setter, and her gardens. I don't know if you would like her writing, but it did occur to me.

The house dogs take their turn being kennel dogs, as we have decided five are all we can have in the house at night. The beds aren't big enough. It is a good thing you aren't raising Danes. Duke is big enough for a whole house by himself. And one thing about cockers, you can have more of them. I won't argue about the Irish. when Daphne runs through the house, everything falls down

Re: Books and Dogs and Houses oh my

[robinmckinley]

LOL! Her name is sure familiar--very likely I read her when I was a kid. I read a lot of grown ups' books about animals (G Durrell et al) when I could find them.

[southdowner]

*** I am declaring another Heroine for the Day ***

Thank you (rather embarrassed!) Curtsies to right, turns to left and falls over several dogs who are underfoot investigating novel behaviour (part of their job description)...

*** And if you trip over any of the domestic fauna you don’t hurt yourself because you land in a lovely silken pile of critter fur. Okay, I made that up. ***

How lovely!!! I am now officially living in a Robin McKinley fantasy!!! I am very, very honoured, in fact it's made my day :)))
I've just clipped both my rescue shaggy dogs, and unfortunately it's more like madly spreading fluff with free attached snaggly bits which they gathered as they gambolled through hedges and mud wallows in the local park :)

[ssshunt]

Sigh. This was all just--goodness. Thank you.