I'm not ill or off on a sunny vacation. Nope - just very busy. I have accomplished an enormous amount in the last week. I submitted the first draft a patient handbook regarding my surgery. I also developed several new indoor cycling classes and wrote one up for publication on ICA. There has been a lot of SAQA work to do as well, including getting our spring retreat organized. I am happy to report that I am keeping up with the homework in Jane Dunnewold's class. The workload gets a little heavier each week so I don't know how long it will be before I miss a deadline. A couple of weeks ago I started taking an online course with Fenzi Academy. It is very well done but we get new assignments every few days, not once a week. It has been fun to have a reason to work with Tock. He is a very smart dog and I haven't challenged his brain enough. I have been collecting items that I wanted to share on the blog. This week Jane Dunnewold's essay was about large and/or obsessive work. The next day I stumbled on John Grade's work (open the gallery on the linked page). Wow! It definitely appeals to my interest in repeated elements but he uses them in a different way.
I came across it on the collection Jane Dunnewold curates (Creative Civilization) on Scoop.it. As she said in her notes, you will be reminded to:
1. Do what you love. 2. Keep doing it even if only your dad thinks it's good. And if you dad doesn't think it's good, keep doing it anyway. 3. See possibility. 4. When community embraces you, embrace it back. 5. Use plenty of tape. There has been a lot more activity around here. My Spoonflower fabric order arrived so I can now start work on the final version of the Ivory Tower piece. I have a sweater to show which has been finished for over a week, as well as a completed UFO and a new knitting project. More tomorrow.
Among the weird things you will find us doing - taking a completely unremarkable and uninteresting photo of the youngest so a few people will get an idea about the new colour coming in on his tail.
I was unexpectedly kept in hospital overnight. Thank goodness for my iPad. I have been able to stay in touch with friends and do some work. But I don't have much of anything to contribute to the blog. Here are some random shots from the photo library in the iPad. They aren't great - I only use its camera if a better one isn't handy. And I store downloads from other sites in the same place.
Enjoy. These made me happy when I scrolled through them while waiting for the nurse to bring me a sleeping pill.
I had a serious art quilt related post queued up to publish today but I couldn't resist something a little more light-hearted. What's wrong with this picture? The answer is in the title of the video. Tock belongs to a trainer. I teach other people how to avoid behaviours like this or manage them when they occur.
What did I do when Tock discovered the doorstop and started to bark at it? I laughed and grabbed my iPad and hoped he would continue long enough for me to capture it in a video. Did I interrupt the behaviour? Nope. Did I reinforce him when he broke off? Nope. This blog post is therefore an official 'I told you so' reminder for myself the next time I complain about Tock barking or playing with something he shouldn't.
Four dogs live here - two Bearded Collies and two Cairn Terriers. We have had as many as eight dogs at a time and that's too many. Four seems just right. There is a range of ages and play styles so each dog can get what it needs from the others. We truly enjoy watching the interactions, especially when we add a puppy to the bunch. It is practically impossible to get video footage of Gage (5 years) and Tock (6 months) at play but here is a short segment. Gage has always self-entertained by dragging toys on a rope. He often wedges the rope in a crack to create his own game of tug of war. In this video he is playing with the feeling of resistance created by the back steps. Tock now has his own set of toys to drag. He learned to play from Gage - we didn't intervene except to provide the toys since Gage will not share his favourite string.
