Waylon had another great outing last Saturday at Doggie Depot over in St Paul. They opened the beautiful new depot to dog traffic for the day and the hall was filled with vendors of every canine sort. Your were greeted on arrival by the aroma of carob fondue pots to make your own peanut butter dog-dipped treats. (They were good enough that I even took a bite.) After that - there were costume contests, adopt a pet, photo opportunities; a wealth of possibilities to behold. Most amusing was the scurry of paws on the tile floors which made more of a skating rink for the pooches than an atrium.
But one great resource I had not come across was SidewalkDog.com. It is basically one stop shopping for anything you could want to share with your pet. Need a groomer or chiro for your dog? Check. How about a dog friendly patio or apple orchard? Check. Fill up your Google calendar with dog events around town. It's all compiled into one handy area. But in addition to the resource, we found that their token dog blogger, Kramer, is almost an identical match to Waylon. Although he was not there in person, the pics on the site would fool even myself. Here is hoping to a meet up at some point. Until then - find their link ad give them a good look/ see.
I shared this on my work blog, but thought it was also worthy of a share to my circle of friends and followers here.
General Mills and the Betty Crocker line seem to be one of the few corporate entities that has managed to stay noble and not get smeared along the lines of politics or corruption at a top level. They have recently been crusaders against naysayers on marriage equality among other causes. Even with a bit of media backlash. So it was no surprise to see them in full force at this summer's Pride Festival. They had a truck with plenty of confetti cupcakes, lots of frosting, and a pack of seemingly happy employees. I downed a few of those cupcakes, took home a cake mix and had some great conversations with them. Here it is 4 months later and they have taken some of this great media campaign and packaged it up with a bow in this great video feature as part of what they are calling a Families Project. Not just gay families, but embracing any diversity that amounts to a family. Touching as well as genuine. I will continue buying from Betty.
For the last year, there has been this fascination with red-heads; now affectionately called "gingers." Looks like maybe blondes no longer have more fun? As I get older and am now most certainly more gray than anything else, I did once try out the red thing for a role in a summer production as an Irishman. It actually worked on me and I wish I could hunt up a pic or two to scan. Maybe an addendum.
But here from a Buzzfeed posting which features a large handful of blazen-haired boys. Shaun White, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Prince Harry, Seth Green.... I am wondering how many of them are "natural"????
Today's post is a trivial one. Coming off a board game night this weekend with friends, most of you likely know that I am a big one on word puzzles. If playing on my tablet, I am more apt to be working on a crossword app than Angry Birds - my brain does much better than my motor skills. Thus this feed from Mental Floss which is a knowledge podcast that explores tangents of all angles. The edition is looking at Idioms of the English language. If that is a foreign word to any of you, it is a turn of phrase that has become common slang even though it's original intention is muddy over centuries of use.
Do you ever Fly Off the Handle? That would mean you were using an axe that malfunctioned and the head came off the hilt. Do you like to Ride Shotgun? This comes from the old Wild West and bandits where someone in the stagecoach was aside the driver armed with a weapon. Who's on your Blacklist? King Charles sought revenge for the death of his father and kept a life long vigil to seek them out by compiling them in a black journal. All this and more. Everything you never really wanted to know. But it might play out in your favor in a round of Trivial Pursuit.
This has been circulating for a day or two now. A staged outbreak in a NY coffee shop where patrons are scared shitless with some theatrical outbursts. I won't say too much giving away spoilers. But by the end it is genius marketing. I can't imagine what I would have thought if I had witnessed it live. Let me know what you think?
This is a pondering missive in tune with the autumn season. It revolves around a metaphor of an acorn and how that translates to us in the bigger world. It came from a sermon in church and is based on a short story constructed by theologian Cynthia Bourgeault. Sounds like heavy stuff, but actually not really: Here is a link to the short story; a forward from another blog as I could not find a direct link on line. Acornology - Ecumenicus It begins by humorously looking at a "crop" of acorns approaching their mid life crises with self absorption which we all live with in our own way. Into this conformed little world is dropped an outsider from above. And he professes a revelation that they are all indeed the towering tree above them. This radical proclamation is akin to Chicken Little's "the sky is falling!" Demanding an explanation - the new acorn goes on to say that he doesn't understand it completely, but it has "something to do with going into the ground and cracking the shell." To which they reply. "Totally morbid. Why then we wouldn't be acorns anymore."
Thus the metaphor. We need to dig in deep and reinvent ourselves to something much bigger than we can imagine or see. And this has to be done with faith and trust in this pensive time of the year. Regrowth.
This was a forward of a good friend. And in the midst of all the insanity lately; shutdowns, orchestra collapse, runaway girls - I thought it wise to remember that kindness should come in small places and with genuine grace.
The story involves a church congregation of an undisclosed church. They were getting a new pastor and rather than make a major event out of the transfer - he decided to turn it into a life lesson. Jeremiah Steepek disguised himself into a homeless transient who hovered at the back of the church. On Sunday morning as congregants entered, he tried to engage them in conversation. Only 3 members actually took the time to say hello. None of them assisted with requests for food. And he was later asked to leave his pew at the front for seating in the back. Later in the service, the elders of the church greeted the new minister while rows of Sunday morning guests looked around and finally blushed in disbelief that it was the man they had all shunned. His opening line: "Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples."
Be kind, be generous. You never know whose life you will touch and how.
*I have since received news that this story is viral internet hoax, set forth with good intentions if not fact. But still a message of reflection worth note.
Waylon had another great outing last Saturday at Doggie Depot over in St Paul. They opened the beautiful new depot to dog traffic for the day and the hall was filled with vendors of every canine sort. Your were greeted on arrival by the aroma of carob fondue pots to make your own peanut butter dog-dipped treats. (They were good enough that I even took a bite.) After that - there were costume contests, adopt a pet, photo opportunities; a wealth of possibilities to behold. Most amusing was the scurry of paws on the tile floors which made more of a skating rink for the pooches than an atrium.
