Things with Fur and Feathers
Jann Arden and the Dog Whistle Blower
On Sunday, every Canadian news source was belching out the story of Jann Arden getting sidetracked by VIA Rail for inadvertently boarding a train in Toronto with her ever-present Morkie in tow. Midi, her darling four pound dog became a weighty issue when noticed by a policy watchdog VIA employee en route to Ottawa. After several [...]
A Day by Donkey
Camels. Taxis. Feluccas. Water taxis. Ferries. Hot air balloon. Private 4×4. Planes. Donkey. When I think back to all our modes of transportation across Egypt, our donkey (and the hot air balloon) proved to be the most reliable. After the exhausting frenetic pace of Cairo, we welcomed slowing the day down to donkey speed in [...]
Tarra & Bella: Love Conquered All
In the olden days (the 1980s to me), I imagine people played records, maybe even cassettes to fully engulf themselves in an emotion. It’s easy to entrench ourselves in despair by cueing up music, that’s universal. There are movie titles that are guaranteed to stir up the quality of weeping reserved for weddings and funerals (Beaches, [...]
Babysitting? Give Me Fish & Ferrets.
“Do you mind looking after my fish while we’re in Montreal?” Dax said after handing me a set of apartment keys he had cut. The fish have always stressed me out for good reason. The tank is saltwater and has a labyrinth of pipes and wires and filters and several sensitive things. Coincidentally, on two [...]
What On Earth Are We Doing?
My original intention was to Google the story about the 32 monkeys that died when a Nevada lab overheated. Charles River Laboratories is one of 26 registered US importers of primates (others on the list include zoos, universities and private labs). An article on Foxnews.com indicated that 27, 388 primates were imported into the US [...]
To All The Dogs I’ve Loved Before
I’ve heard all the remarkable love stories of polar opposites finding soul mates. The Croatian and the Serbian. The devout Catholic and the atheist. Online lovers that defy geography. Ex-girlfriends who now have boyfriends. Even the story of the fate-filled collision in a Vancouver dog park where two individuals met over the laughter of calling [...]
For Mila, The Very Best Dog in the World
Tonight the world seems a bit emptier. It seems unfair and sadness holds my throat in a chokehold. Mila left us today, she left the backyard that she loved and all the pig’s ears and cow bones that she had strategically buried there. She left behind her best friend, Bently, who can only be wondering [...]
63 Pounds
When renting a movie with my sister, Kiley, many factors have to be considered. She doesn’t like violence, subtitles, graphic sex or storylines that will leave her too emotional. Dax, my brother, a lover of sci-fi, muscle-bound boys and/or glossy special effects had his picky say in the choosing too when we were all together [...]
Hanging On, Letting Go
When I read Marley & Me a few years ago, I was prepared for a weepy ending. What I didn’t expect was that I would be sobbing for the last thirty pages in that pathetic way that humans can cry—all gasps and snot and shaking shoulders. I warn everyone I see reading that book in [...]
Cat Crap Coffee, Bird Dung Facials and Nibbling Fish Therapy
If you missed the cat shit coffee craze of five years ago, it’s back, and better than before. Even Dr. Jane Goodall is backing the Vancouver-based Doi Chaang Coffee Co.’s newest product because it’s organic and sustainably collected from the wild. At $500 a pound though, it may be cheaper to fly to the Doi [...]
