"Earth take away
Make away sorrow,
Bury the lark's bones
Under the turf.
Bury my grief.

Black crow tear away
Rend away sorrow,
Talon and beak
Pluck out the heart
And the nerves of pain,
Tear away grief."

from Spell Against Sorrow

      Kathleen Raine

 

A house with Helen and I, two dogs and a cat

still seems empty.

 

It is a wintry day in Calgary and in

a peaceful albeit snowy backyard

Shaun is enjoying a quiet moment.

 

Did someone say " Release the Kraken "

 

 

 

The Clash of the Titans begins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And ends, with no one actually bitten

 

 

"I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light."

 

The Peace of Wild Things

Wendell Berry

 

Wendolene 1999-Oct.14, 2012

In May 2006 we wanted to adopt a couple

of adult dogs who could get along. At the Humane

Society we found Angel and Curly soon named Shaun

and Wendolene ( from Wallace and Gromit ) who had come from the

same home and had to remain together. Wendolene had a deformed

front leg with one claw and teeth so rotten you could smell her

breath across the room. She immediately jumped in Helen's

lap.

Despite this, she was indomitable, ruling not only Shaun

but all of us with a loving but iron will. Although arthritis

had slowed her down and a recent diagnosis of Cushing

Syndrome weakened her, she still could rob the spaniel

puppy Whateley that we got from Animal Services few weeks ago 

to be a companion to Shaun. I remember her proudly sitting

in the living room with her good paw on his kong. While we knew

time was limited we had hoped for more time together but

Wendlone passed away Sunday Oct. 14, 2012

Adoption Photos Above

Xmas 2009 Wendolene is slowing down but

she refuses to be pulled in the wagon which

is donated to a child. As normal Shaun is

along for the ride but Wendolene calls the

shots.

She loved treats, naps and walks.

On one of the first if not the first walk we proudly

took with our new dogs we saw two young men

walking a Weimaraner and another dog of equal size

down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road

Wendolene ( under ten pounds at the time ) immediately

slipped her new pink collar and raced across the street

to give battle while Shaun frantically struggled to join her.

Life had just gotten more interesting.

In later years many walks ended the same way.

A recent trip to the Research Park pond

You will always be remembered, 
always be missed 
always be loved.

Goodbye Little Girl

"I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door."

              by J. R. R. Tolkien

"The snow came down last night like moths

Burned on the moon; it fell till dawn,

Covered the town with simple cloths."

                      from   First Snow in Alsace

                                Richard Wilbur

We are poised now between fall and winter 

slipping between the two with the same ease

with which we chose between a jacket for a 

walk or a winter coat. Thursday I wore my parka for

a lunch time walk to the pond in the Research

Park.

As always there were ducks.

The following quote comes from a poem

I found on my favorite poetry website

Poetry Daily a new poem every day

there are also great articles.

 

"Snow has sentimentalized the world,
left it sugar-coated, a baked Alaska
conjured from the palest of vanilla ice creams,
the purest of swan's egg whites,
its mushy, too-sweet-to-be-wholesome look
topped with a confection of candied trees—
bare-branched candelabras—holly waxing
eloquent with berries in a citric winter dusk. "

 

from Snow

                                   Dennis O'Driscoll

“If you take away all the prairie dogs, there will be no one to cry for the rain.” 

Terry Tempest Williams

Since we have cancelled our fall trip to the cabin to

deal with some issues here I have decided to look

at some of the photos from our trip in July. On our

way to visit some friends we stopped at Oyen. We 

did not visit the town we only stopped at the visitor

center.  This a beautiful old thresher.

This is a Richardson's Ground Squirrel this is the most common

ground squirrel found in Alberta. Erroneously referred to as gophers

and much maligned in agricultural areas they still persist even 

occupying areas within the city and sadly, dead gophers beside the

highway are a sure sign of Spring in Alberta. 

Pearl Crescent

"Men learn from other men what they know of themselves,

of the world in which they must live. and of the world in 

which they would like to live."

                                                                       Dangerous Visions

                                                                             Harlan Ellison

 

"There were no prayers said. But stillness
Of the heart's passions -- that was praise
Enough; and the mind's cession
Of its kingdom. I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread."

 

             from The Moor

                  R.S. Thomas

 

Snow last night, mostly gone now

in the city and 0 degrees I am glad

I brought in a few of the late roses.

 

 

 

A last gift, Morden Fireglow Roses

 

"it's necessary to be quiet in the hands of the marvelous"

 

                   from Essay on Poetics 

                                A.R. Ammons