My dog and I were walking down the sidewalk as usual, her out in front leading the way, me working a little bit to keep up. Except for occasional times when she decided she just had to stop and sniff a fragrant tree, check out a suspicious walkway, or observe a patch of interesting grass, she went straight down the middle of the sidewalk. Not bad when you consider that she is 16, deaf to almost every sound, and nearly blind. No one looking at her as she heads down the street would ever suspect she has problems. She is and has always been an Alpha dog who believes the world belongs to her.

While we were walking this morning, it occurred to me to ask myself how it is that she can walk so confidently while I in a similar position would be afraid to leave the door to my house. I can think of a thousand problems that would arise – tripping over anything and everything, walking onto the street and getting hit by a car, falling over the curb, bumping into someone…. True, cement sidewalk feels very unlike soft grass, and it might be possible to stay on the walkway, but at best I would stumble along slowly, one hesitant step following another.

So how can she do it? Doesn’t she understand the dangers?

And then my son reminds me that in the past, the few times she has gotten out of our yard alone, she’s always gone to the front door and scratched to get in the house – very unlike her usual behaviour. And I understand. The reason she can walk quickly and confidently is because she knows she’s safe. There’s a leash that connects us.

Without the leash, she would be alone and fearful, even more so than she’s been when she got out alone before she began to have sight and hearing problems. But with the tension of the leash between us, she’s secure. She knows that I’m with her and that she’s safe.

And sure enough, more than ever before, I make sure she gets over curbs safely and doesn’t bump into a stray bike or something else that’s unexpectedly in her path. I have become her guide person as well as her security.

And I consider how the leash, which might seem to be a restraint, actually gives her freedom.

blind dog · blindness · booundaries · deaf dog · fear · leash

I just ordered Buddy Jewell’s latest CD, which I’ve heard is great, and that got me going through my CDs to pick out my favorites.

Since I’ve been a huge fan of country music since I was about 5, I started there.

Most of these aren’t major ones where they had all the bells and whistles, like Toby Keith and Brooks and Dunn, or some of the classics like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, but maybe some lesser known ones that I think are very well-done.

George Canyon – George Canyon

John Berry – Faces

The Roadhammers – The Roadhammers

Johnny Reid – Kicking Stones

Lisa Brokop – Hey Do You Know Me?

Ian Tyson – I Outgrew the Wagons

Prairie Oyster – I love pretty well all their stuff – esp. some of the early ones.

Terri Clark – Pain To Kill

The Mavericks – several – esp Trampoline

Buddy Jewell – Buddy Jewell

john Arthur martinez – Lone Starry Night

And one of my all-time favorites – Joyce Martin’s Diamonds on a Dusty Road – A Christian one but very Mary Chapin Carpenterish – I think it’s her only solo CD and it was a departure from her other stuff with her family, but I just love it

Buddy Jewell · country music · Diamonds on a Dusty Road · Faces · George Canyon · Hey Do You Know Me? · I Outgrew the Wagons · Ian Tyson · john Arthur martinez · John Berry · Johnny Reid · Joyce Martin · Kicking Stones · Lisa Brokop · Lone Starry Night · Prairie Oyster · Terri Clark - Pain To Kill · The Mavericks · Trampoline

Why is it that when I’m not at my computer and can’t write anything down, I get all these great ideas for blogs, and then when i sit down at the computer, they just evaporate as if they were only a figment of my imagination?

Okay, maybe the ideas will come back…

Oh, yeah. I know one of them. Point of view.

I’m going to write several blogs on this ASAP, but just one thing for now.

New writers tend to write from whatever point of view they’re thinking about at the time – or from no specific point of view. In other words, what you’re thinking is likely what you write.

Many writers don’t even know that there are different points of view they could be using.

Most experienced writers are very intentional about their point of view.

A great exercise is to read twenty short stories or the first chapter of twenty books and identify whose point of view each one is told through. if you have a local writers group, you could even read some of them out loud and discuss the point of view.

But, you may be asking, how can you tell?

Simple. Whose eyes are you seeing through? Whose thoughts are you hearing?  Whose expectations or prejudices are colouring what you are told?

More to come.

point of view