Posted tagged ‘Pearl’

In Honor of Trusting (And Smiling) Dogs

February 4, 2010

Pearl (Photo By Theodosia B. Martin)

The last couple of days I’ve been writing and thinking about the deficit of trust in government.  In the midst of this, I somehow got onto the topic of the trust shared between my dog, Pearl, and myself.

One reason that Pearl trusts me so much is that I was not the one to put goggles on her (above) and photograph her.   (That’s a joke, photographer Theo Martin!)

One reason that I trust Pearl so much is that she is cheerful and loving even when wearing silly goggles.

Some scientists refuse to attribute a complex emotional life to animals.  These, it seems to me, are very dogmatic scientists, and not very good observers of the natural world.

On the other hand (and there’s always another hand), some animal owners attribute a complicated array of human strategems to animals which, frankly, trivialize the animals’ specific and particularized intelligence.

Those are topics for another ManicDDay.   This post is really just a human strategem for posting Pearl’s picture, above, and the video link here, which was received by me in a moment when it was hard to trust in the goodness this day would bring, but which made me smile.

Dogs can do that.

Dreaded End-Of-Vacation-Sunday Night

January 3, 2010

It’s that dreaded-end-of-vacation-Sunday night.  A sick feeling drips from the back of my eyes into the center of my stomach.  Dread.  Anxiety.  Stress.   I remember suddenly all the things I was sure I would have plenty of time to do over the last few days, and simply didn’t.  What?  Do?  Remember?  Care about?

Uh-oh.

So now it’s back-to-work-Sunday-night, and any glow of vacation has somehow transformed into an ulcerous slow burn.

It’s a feeling that is probably nearly universal.

I’m guessing that even Barack Obama, as he heads back from Honolulu to DC, feels a certain queasiness.

Janet Napolitano has undoubtedly been feeling it for days.

And what about all the other people I spend virtual time with?  Is Robert Pattinson happy to be going back to LA after a holiday at home in London?  LA is certainly sunnier.   But it was announced today that he is supposedly in the top running for an award for Worst Actor of 2009 (a “Razzie”), so he can’t be feeling too great.

What about all those students going back to school?  It may be fun to, like, see friends, but getting up and going to class where you’re not allowed to text, talk, or sleep, is, like, a bummer.

And the teachers.  It’s probably pretty difficult to imagine “bright, shining, morning faces,” when you know you are going to be faced with glum, sullen, sleepy faces, and possibly, a metal detector.

In New York City, the discomfort of this end-of-vacation-Sunday-night is compounded by a vicious, flesh-biting cold.  (Which, frankly, casts all those narratives about the wonders of frigid vampire embraces into serious doubt.)  Who is going to be able to stand to even go out tomorrow morning?  And why won’t it just snow three feet and close the City down?

The only person in my world who seems truly untroubled by the dread of this Sunday night is my little old dog, Pearl, depicted below.  And even she seems to be having trouble sleeping.

Wakeful Pearl

But not much.

Not So Wakeful Pearl

If you like elephants as much as dogs, check out 1 Mississippi by Karin Gustafson.  Thanks.