Monday, April 26, 2010

Alice Visits Dallas

I'm glad Alice is home after four days in Dallas. Everything feels right with the world again. Balanced.
While she was away, I made the the acquaintance of two fuzzy kittens who thought I would be a new mother to them. They followed me everywhere. Wanted to find milk, maybe? Good luck! I'm a male dog!!!
Alice told me about the dogs she saw in Dallas. All were at the Meadows Museum. A pop-eyed black spaniel sitting on a lady's skirt in a tapestry made for a Spanish King - a king unable to keep Napoleon out of Spain. Exit said King to Rome, says Alice.
She looked a long time at the picture of Michol and the pets under his charge. They all look at bit too stiff. Something is wrong. What? It's not just they are all much too stiff. It seems they are worried they are not truly loved. Not truly cared for by anyone but each other. They are holding on to each other quietly. Furtively.
Downstairs at the Meadows, a book about economics from the 1600s caught Alice's eyes. She also stared at one about instructions to a Mr. Ugarte headed off northwest of Mexico City to convert the local Indians to Christianity. The instructions focused on winning their hearts with corruption instead of the sword. Hmmmm, says Alice.
But also downstairs was a portrait of a lady dressed up as a gypsy with a pink silk skirt under rows and rows of black tassels. She was quite the lady - and a business women too who made a bit of money from pine resin products. Her husband stared from the other side of the exhibit room. Hard to read what he was thinking. But she - she looked so balanced on her two small feet, skirts high enough to go up and down any stairs without tripping on the skirt. Rather daring and high for her time!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Comfy Pants


Alice got some new stripey pants. She says they are very comfy and rather loud, being Loudmouth Pants. I wouldn't know. Dogs are colorblind! Here she was earlier this week helping to teach 145 people how to curl in San Jose in a photo taken by Gabrielle C. for NBCBayArea.com .
I am not sure about those pants. They may mean she will do more curling if they are that comfy. She assures me she is working on finding a place where I can watch curling - most likely somewhere outside like Ice Lakes or Caples Lake in the Sierra Nevadas where the ice is very thick in Winter. I would be glad to watch curling if I had a nice blanket and dog bed plus some warm chicken from a wide-mouth Thermos. A small treat of vanilla icecream would make my day. A small sled with extra blankets for me would be nice, too....

Friday, April 02, 2010

Timberline Pose

For years and years, Alice has thought about a cut linoleum picture of a lady with a dog at Timberline Lodge. David Lynch made it in 1938 and calls it "A Walk in the Spring". It's very faded, but you can still see connection between the dog and the lady.

Dan Sullivan took this picture of me and Alice doing our best to channel the Timberline pair. He spread out on his stomach to get to my eye level! He made me feel so important. Maybe one day Alice will get a big piece of linoleum and then carve and paint it with me and her walking together forever and ever.