My Favourite Dog in Seattle

His name is Rufus and he's an absolute delight!

Christmas Dog Story

I have an amazing story to share with you all. It comes from a friend of mine named Lora who lives in Tacoma, Washington. I've heard such stories before but always chalked them up to Urban Legends. This story, I know, to be absolutely true!

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Sheila, the Christmas Dog

Hello all,

Sorry for the long email, but I want to share a good story with you. :)

Most of you have met our cute little Australian Cattle Dog, Sheila. And many of you know our latest challenges with her; after we moved to our new place down by Titlow Beach last year, it has been IMPOSSIBLE to keep her in the yard. Short of putting up a 6 foot chain link fence around the entire half acre, we have tried almost everything. I was considering an "invisible fence", but a friend that had a similar problem with their dog recommended against it. She said the shock was worth getting thru for the freedom. In spite of all the associated training. That would definitely be Sheila.

She seems to have an otherworldly call to run. Therefore, she would break out of the fences and hedge and all the wonderful things David did to try to keep her in the yard. We have a very dense laurel hedge that lines our steep yard, which David lined with fencing, to try and make the hedge an impenetrable fortress. She would climb the fence, go straight thru the hedge, and down the hill. Off to run on the beach (and roll in whatever disgusting dead thing she could find)! She would always come home though, after a while.

Finally, I decided that she just didn't want to be with us, so I, sadly, put a "free dog" ad in the paper. I thought I'd find her a place in the country with acres to run on. I had dozens of calls from people in Graham with a 10 acre farm, etc. Perfect. So we decided on an elderly couple who had recently lost their beloved Australian Shepherd. Very much "dog" people, with several acres, fenced. Horses next door. I checked their place out, then they came to see her and fell in love, of course. She jumped right in their car and was ready to go.

A few days later I called them, she was happy, getting plenty of treats and love. They even let her sleep on the couch (a no-no at our house). She loved driving around town in the pickup with the dad, and running in the acreage.

A few days after that, I got another call. Apparently she had gotten spooked (she is a very spooky dog) when they were dragging a bag of rock salt out of the garage, and "took off like a shot". They jumped in their pickup and chased her. They'd get close and call her, she'd look back at them and then run even faster. They knew they were getting close to highway 512, so they stopped chasing, not wanting her to try and cross the highway. I offered to come down and help look, but they said they would just wait.

Now, about a week has passed, and the temperature has plunged well below freezing. I have been losing sleep over the thought of her out in this awful weather. But, yesterday morning I got a call from my dad, who lives in our old house (the first place Sheila lived with us). He told me they had a visitor. Have you guessed...yes...Sheila! She crossed at least two highways, and God only knows what else, to find us. Over 15 miles! She spent last night on her new bed, in front of the fireplace. Very happy.

Merry Christmas to you all...Love, Lora

El Perro de mi Amiga

Visit to Uncle Hector

Before returning to Vancouver, we stopped in to visit my mom's brother, Hector. For 45 years he lived out in a beautiful area of Richmond but recently sold his home and moved into an assisted living residence in Ladner. We were all concerned about how this change would affect him. So far, everything appears to be going fine.

Seattle Scenes

I had deliberately left the final few days of our trip open and flexible. Originally I was strongly thinking of staying overnight in Port Townsend, then taking the ferry over to Whidbey Island the next day, and then driving home.

But instead we decided to return to Seattle. As Danny had not yet been there on this trip, he was eager to visit. Our first stop was at Fry's Electronics in Renton, where we dropped Danny off and gave him a few hours to explore. Anyone technologically inclined (aka "a geek") would perfectly understand!
My mom & I then continued up to the University District where we checked in again at the fabulous Hotel Deca - thanks Hotwire!
We then picked up Danny (after I did a little browsing too!) and drove back to Seattle. He captured all of the next few photos.




After visiting the waterfront we drove up to Kerry Park in the Queen Anne neighbourhood. From this vantage point, one can capture some of the very best photos of Seattle.
There were lots of people and dogs lounging around, enjoying the brilliant sunshine. He looked very similar to a wonderful dog in Florida named Gigi who we knew. Unfortunately she passed away last year.

Good People, Good Food!

I had many people to visit this weekend, so I rented a car to get around in a more reasonable time period. Without it I could have never accomplished all that I needed to.

The car was a Buick Allure. I'd never had driven this model before. It was stylish, had a very quiet engine, and a smooth ride. It also had a Satellite radio featuring XM Radio. I'd never experienced this before so it was quite a treat. In addition to some great music channels such as this one, it also featured talk radio channels from BBC, CNN, and Fox News. Perhaps the most interesting channel was one called "POTUS 08". I'll leave it to you to figure out what was on it - my politically savvy American readers should instantly know!

Here's a shot of my friend, Monsieur S., and his long hose! :-)

And here's his sister's beautiful dog, Cory. What a wonderful little guy he turned out to be!!

It was my first time to see an iPhone up close. It belonged to one of my friend's cousins, who was visiting from California.

Finally, here's a selection of photos of the great food I was lucky enough to consume this day:

A Great Day For a Walk!

Vancouver was surprisingly spectacular today, very rare for this time of the year. I seized the moment and met up with two friends downtown, Steve and Steve. The first I went to high-school with.

The second was visiting from Sudbury, Ontario. He still works for the huge mining company I was employed by between 1989 to 1994. In fact, we both started on the same day: September 5th, 1989! We talked about a lot of things including the fact that his company, Inco, can't find nearly enough workers. They need to hire at least 500 next year but just can't find qualified people. And this despite two interesting facts:

• The underground miners there are now making around $45 per hour just to come to work and then a HUGE bonus on top of that. Apparently Hummers are the vehicle of choice for many of these guys nowadays, as they're just rolling in the dough.
• The car industry in Southern Ontario is laying off tens of thousands of workers every year yet most of these people don't want to venture elsewhere. Crazy!

I mentioned to Steve an observation I made a while ago: Isn't it strange that Canada, a so-called "First World" advanced nation is now making most of its money from the primary industries of oil, natural gas, and mineral extraction, yet so-called "Third World" nations like India and China are making their money from secondary and tertiary type industries? I think this is a very weird paradox!

Throughout the day, I took several photos, which you can view here. But I'm posting some of my favourites as well.

Halloween Dog

My friend, Sharon, decided to dress up her "new baby".

Colours In The Night

I took these three completely unrelated photos last night:

A Delightful Dog

Here's a short video of my uncle's Shih Tzu, Penny. She was mesmerized by Danny's juggling!

Danny Arrives!

I first met this fine young man in November 1996, when he was just 7 years old. I was working down in Mexico City and his mom, Laura, was my Spanish teacher.

Danny's now 17 and just graduated from high school, with exceptionally superb marks! He's visiting me for a month and Day One of his trip commenced in Seattle. Joining him was Winston, the 9 year old greyhound of our hosts.

Tired Dog

Here's a photo of Jack, one tired standard poodle. He's one of the gentlest, sweetest dogs I've ever met.

Recycled Dog

I was visiting an uncle and just had to capture a few photos of his vivacious dog, Penny. To say that she's a bundle of energy would be the understatement of the decade! She's a "Shih Tzu" breed, which is one of the few times you can swear and get away with it!

Back in Vancouver!

Hello All! I've been completely exhausted ever since returning home. But slowly I'm getting my sleep patterns back in sync and rediscovering my hometown again. Here are some recent photos:
NE Corner of 6th & Granville

Entrance to Granville Island

Looking east from the eastern edge of Granville Island

Fish, fish, fish!

Accidentally ran into Jennifer Burke (nee Mather), host of Living in Vancouver.

Wait, am I in Vancouver or still in Miami?!?

I just had to get my Dim Sum fix, after 2 months away from Vancouver!!

Make your own jokes!

Delicious Tarama at a Greek restaurant on West 4th Avenue


I saw all kinds of eccentric things in Miami but was pleasantly surprised to see that Vancouverites are trying hard in this regard too!