dog joy

meet lucy. an unwaveringly happy, bouncy and fun 30-pound dog. i adopted her from The Humane Society of Boulder Valley when she was about one.

i had wanted a dog for some time and decided to justify it with a "security" bent: a dog would alert me to any intruding that might be afoot.

with that in mind, i began trolling the humane society web site. i had decided a puppy would be the perfect thing. since most people feel the same way, it can be hard to come by one. then, one day two little black fur babies appeared online and i was off like a flash. alas, by the time i had made it, both had found new homes. disappointed, i decided to say hi to my great friend sarah, who at that time was the shelter's volunteer coordinator.

as we were talking, she politely wondered if i might consider an older dog. (at least one of us had her wits about her.) oh, and by the way, the puppies' mum was in the back recovering from her no-more-babies surgery. would i like to meet her?

two minutes later, in bounced a little black one-of-a-kind doggie. in spite of a birthing two puppies, a long trip from Nebraska and stitches in her belly, her outlook on life was entirely sunshine and roses.

she sat on my foot and that was pretty much it. adoration at first sight. (for propriety's sake i took her for a little test-walk, but the deal was already made.)

thank you, Sarah. i immediately appreciated the benefits of adopting an older animal: already house trained. that was huge. she had a few other skills: sit, down, sit up, although not necessarily on the proper command.

that has pretty much been the status quo since i got her.

i guess in some ways, we had inadvertently trained one another. she grocks what i mean when i say "no." but "come" can be a little - er - random.

lately, i have been hoping we could tighten things up a bit. most importantly, i'd like a consistent response to the "come" command. so last night i started a new book.

so far, i like these guys. imagine! a spiritual approach to dog training. check this out:

they seem to have me pegged. we shall see if an old dog (me) and a happy-go-lucky lucy can learn a thing or two.

a bouquet for you

I seem to have a slight obsession with yellow these days. It's making me want to change everything around here. Ditch the green and beige. Paint the place - in all shades from butter to golden. Couches, rugs, pillows, kitchen floor, cat, dog, bedding - the lot. It's really never been a favorite before.

Since a complete redo is really not in the cards for today, I'm looking at the daisy eyes and getting back to work.

What's your favorite color today?

mail joy

what beats an honest-to-goodness, hand-addressed card or letter?

while i am pretty lousy at sending cards in a timely fashion - for the birthday, for the holiday - i do send lots of cards "just because." and thank you notes. i send lots of thank you notes. 

i got this in the mail today - a card from my mother. i love getting cards, especially cards with kind, loving messages. feeling very fortunate. hoping you find something yummy in your mail box soon.

studying creativity: charles limb

i am now the proud owner of a roku box which allows me to watch netflix on television. i discovered another bonus this morning: there is a ted.com channel which showcases TED presentations on so many topics. after browsing through a few, this one caught my attention. (it's 16 minutes.) 

it stunned me to hear just how poorly understood creativity is by scientists. but after i watched the presentation, i can understand why. how does one measure creativity. his MRI research shows that the area of the brain that self-regulates shuts down during the improvisation - the creative - portion of the experiment. not terribly surprising results, but reassuring evidence for the need to silence/ignore the inner critic for the best creative results.

today there isn't much need to measure my creativity. it's a very blue day following a trip to see my mom. i think i am experiencing grownup homesickness. ever had it?