Sandy heroes and villains

Today I drove up island to meet a friend-of-a-friend who would like Mitzi and me to house-and-horse sit for a few days this summer.

HORSE sitting??
I hasta sit on a HORSE???

Me:     No, Mitzi, it just means we'll be looking after the horses.  Not sitting on them.
Mitzi:  Well that's okay then - but dem horses better not sit on ME!  
Me:     We'll keep you well away from them, Mitzi.  

Anyway, I had a little extra time, so decided to pop into Parksville, a small mid-island city I have always enjoyed and usually visit at least a couple of times a year.  In fact, I was there just this May, when my daughter took Mitzi and me to a beachfront resort for Mother's Day weekend where we enjoyed beautiful sunrises, great seafood, and of course each other's company.

Parksville has a lovely sandy beach which, even when busy, isn't crowded.  Ocean, mountain views, boardwalk, and breezes perfect for kite flying - it's a community I could see myself living in one day.

Each summer, Parksville hosts a sand sculpture competition - this year was the 33rd Canadian Open, with the winners going on to the World's.  Today, I decided to check it out.  While it seemed small as such competitions go (having attended larger ones in Harrison BC as well as on the Oregon coast), it does draw master sculptors from across the country and around the world, who demonstrated their artistry with their representations of this year's theme: Heroes vs Villains.

There were, predictably, sand sculptures of caped superheroes and fairytale villains. In fact, the winner in the doubles was this one of The Joker and Batman, as a young child informed me:

First place, Doubles.
By Marielle Heesels (Netherlands) and David Ducharme (BC)

There were a few where I had a hard time figuring out how they fit into the theme, like this one of a baby:

Or where the subject was unknown to me but the detail, let alone the physics of the sculpture, was mesmerizing:

Such detail - and physics!

The first prize in the solo division went to a sculpture of Einstein, which, while very well done, didn't appeal to me as much as several other sand sculptures.

First place, solo
by Abe Waterman, PEI

Back of Einstein

I had three clear favourites - not necessarily technically the most difficult, but certainly ones that tugged at me for their creativity, their capture of emotion, and their spin on "heroes and villains" theme.

The first to grab me was - not surprisingly - an animal one:  Here Kitty, by Bruce Phillips of California

I particularly liked the expression on this little mouse's face!

.
The second to grab me was a piece in which mom and dad were in their super hero capes....on one side, a young child looking up to them - and on the other, surly and slouching and hands busy with smartphone, was teenage daughter. We know which child considers her parents heroes, and which considers them villains!

Sculpted by father-daughter team  Guy and Melineige Beauregard, of Quebec,  I wondered which of them had come up with the idea.  Just look at how true-to-life the sand daughter looks!

But the piece that I stared at for the longest time was a piece particularly meaningful across the province this year - the hero firefighter and the villain fire.

Firefighter weeps with exhaustion and sorrow,
his cap and pack behind him.

On the other side, the villain fire
rages with anger

Sketched into the mountain of sand was a familiar sight, one I photographed on my recent trip on the mainland - smoke rising from forest, helicopter dumping water just above the tree tops:

How well I remember this sight
from my travels to Lillooet

That piece, by Peter Vogelaar and Denis Kleine, both from BC,  came in third in the doubles.  But to my way of thinking, it won hands down - for capturing the theme in a way that spoke to my heart.

The firefighters are truly my heroes this summer. And fire (and those who cause it) the villain.

Fires, Flowers and Flutterbys

I awoke to cloudy skies this morning - which was strange, as the forecast was for hot, hot, and more hot. Then I stepped outside and realized it was not cloud but smoke covering the sky.  With a state of emergency up island, as well as several wildfires of note on the west side of the mainland, we even have ash falling here as well as the strong smell of smoke in the air.  The sun, trying to shine through the thick, thick haze, looks more like a harvest moon:

The sun through smoky skies

Though there is no fire threatening our community, we are at Stage Four drought levels in North Cowichan (fishing is now banned in rivers and streams as the survival of the fish is at risk with water so low),  and we have had weeks of scorching hot days.  All it takes is one cigarette, as is the case in so many of the fires around BC, or even just a spark from a farm vehicle hitting a rock during haying - as was the case in a wildfire 30 minutes from here a couple of days ago.   We are in for a scary summer, and it is only just beginning.

But still there is beauty around us.  Early morning attempts at weeding the garden are thwarted by the many butterflies (which my daughter used to call 'flutterbyes' when she was very small - an apt name which still sticks in my head when I see them) that feed on my butterfly bush.  Yesterday, I counted sixteen at one time, though trying to get more than one in a picture was a challenge.

One flutterby

Two flutterbys

Three flutterbys (almost)

Back to one

Fragile wings shredded at lower tips

Other flowers continue to bloom and grow, especially those that are well established perennials or at least able to withstand the hot days and very limited watering. I am partial to bright colours, especially yellows and  oranges and reds, and they never fail to bring me joy when I look at them.

Day lily

Crocosmia

Ummmm....I forget what these beauties are called!

Geraniums and "I forgets" in the planter boxes on my side patio

Hydrangea
Not red or yellow or orange, but still beautiful!

Mitzi, on the other hand, isn't too joyful these days.  I can't remember if I mentioned this on a previous blog but towards the end of May she was diagnosed with chronic renal failure.  The meds she was given helped her immensely, and she was like her old self - happy, eating well, chasing me around the house a couple of times a day - until this week.  At first I thought it was just the heat, but now that I have put up exterior blinds and installed the air conditioner, the house is really quite comfortable.  Still, she is refusing to eat no matter what I offer, has the occasional vomiting episode, and trying to get her meds into her is next to impossible.  C'mon, Mitzi, bounce back again.

Leave me alone!
I's not feelin' good. 

And that's about it - Until this heat spell ends, I shall hide in the house most of the day.  Perhaps I'll use the time to blog about the many adventures I've only posted on facebook over the past few months.  Perhaps.

I CANNOT SAY THIS LOUDLY ENOUGH......

DON'T LEAVE A DOG IN YOUR CAR ON A HOT DAY!

Today, I was saddened, angered, outraged to hear that the six dogs that were purportedly stolen from a Langley dogwalker's truck last week were not stolen at all,  but died of heat exhaustion when the dogwalker left them locked in her truck on a hot day.  

There is NO excuse for this.  This was NOT "merely an accident".  This was a person who makes her living taking care of dogs, and could not possibly have been ignorant of the fact that vehicles heat up quickly and dogs die quickly when the outside temperature is warm or hot.  

There is a message here for every dog owner, every dog sitter, every person who has ever looked after a dog for even a short while.  Don't leave the dog in a car on a hot - or even moderately warm - day.  Not while you run into the store for a few things, not while you go to the public washroom, not while you drop in on a friend 'for just a moment'.  Once spring arrives, and until winter returns, leave the dog at home!  You know what?  They'd rather be alive than go for a fatal car ride. 

Perhaps part of my outraged reaction is due to my own experience in 2010 when a professional dog caregiver, one who worked with dogs every day, killed my own dog Oliver through her absolutely unacceptable behaviour.  The circumstances were different, but the result the same - my dog died of salt water poisoning after the person entrusted with his care let my sight impaired, deaf, sixteen year old dog with canine cognitive disorder off leash on the beach and then turned her back.  I never thought to tell her what I thought was obvious - especially when the beach was not an off leash beach.  

And so there is a second message here:  know your petwalker or petsitter. Grill them, quiz them, check references, and grill them some more on their canine knowledge, their practices, their philosophy regarding dog care and safety.  And put in writing the things that are not acceptable to you - whether it is letting your dog off leash, taking them in the car without being crated or seatbelted, leaving them unattended in the back yard or in the car, opening the door without leashing the dog first, or whatever.   I learned the hard way not to take common sense for granted, not to assume someone who works with dogs would keep my dog safe. My dog paid with his life for that ignorance, as did the six Langley dogs.  

The dogwalker who killed those six dogs will never forget the lesson she learned when she chose to leave the dogs in the vehicle while she did who-knows-what.  I hope the petsitter who killed my Oliver will also never forget how she screwed up.  I know it changed my life:  my dogs' safety is now more important to me than any other aspect of their care.  They can miss a meal or two, miss a walk, miss my company - but when it comes to safety, there are no compromises because sometimes there are no second chances to get it right. 

My heart goes out to the families who lost their best friends.  I know only too well the deep, deep pain and sense of betrayal.  

I hope all my blog readers will keep their dogs safe this summer.  Leave them at home if you can't be with them every minute. Even when you can be with them, be aware of road temperature, beach temperature, dehydration, heat exhaustion,  water hazards.  Plan ahead to keep dogs safe in new surroundings while on vacation - dogs bolt and get lost when away from home.  Plan your strategy for safety in wilderness areas where bears might be encountered - angry bears can be right on Fido's tail as he runs right back to you. Carry a canine first aid kit.  Carry extra leashes, carry lots of water.  Get a canine life jacket if you boat.  Don't let your dog swallow too much seawater while playing his favourite game of swim-and-fetch.  Think safety, safety, safety. Please. 

(Used with permission of artist)

It's Too Hot to Blog

It's Too Hot to Blog

(A Poem by Eddie)

It's too hot to blog, 

Said my mama to me.

It's too hot to blog,

Let's walk by the sea.

Let's play in the sprinkler,

Let's splash in a pool.

It's too hot to blog.

I'm nobody's fool.

It's too hot to blog,

Though I know there are those

Who are waiting impatiently

While we play with the hose.

We've got lots of photos,

And stories as well, 

But it's too hot to blog

So just go to H...

  (Jean)                 E D D I E !

 Eddie's correct with the title - it is too hot to blog. And I'm working on a couple of projects that require a lot of time at the computer, so any time I have in the early morning or late evening is spent on that.  But I promise we'll be back soon - we still have stories from camp, photos of Emma and piggies and flowers and birds and, of course, dogs.  Keep checking back - should be something new here in a couple of days. J.