Contemplating Fall

It’s starting to feel a lot like fall, and fall is my favourite time of year! Kids cluster on street corners to talk about the upcoming school year, birds flock and gorge themselves on berries as they get ready for their journey south, a new round of book launches and writing related events begins to fill the September calendar, and fall fabrics are adorn quilt shops along with a new batch of projects and workshops.

I spent Saturday with a good friend. We spent three hours wandering around a quilt shop in NW Calgary and had a wonderful time. We fondled fabrics, leafed through books, and admired the fantastic quilting projects on display. I spent very little money there – I have a room full of unfinished projects – but that doesn’t mean a person can’t plan for the future. (However, in all seriousness, I need to decide who bequeath my material stash to in my will because I will never live long enough to sew all that stuff.) We had lunch at a nearby coffee shop and came home tired but inspired and ready to go on a “quilt shop hop” in September.

Fall is a settling in time, a time to batten down the hatches both literally and figuratively, in preparation for the long winter ahead. It is as much a mental process as a physical activity and the importance of “getting ready for winter” is both cultural and climatic. I wonder what replaces this urgent and productive need to get ready for winter in countries that experience the same climate all year long.

In the “great white north” some practical preparation is necessary – boots, hats, mittens and coats replace hoodies and sandals, snow shovel replaces hose and watering can – but much of the preparation is psychological. We need to wrap our heads around long cold nights and shortened days, and the inability to go anywhere without donning layers of clothes, hence the need to settle in with an interesting project (or a good, sturdy book – something more intense than summer beach reading.) Salad and barbeque recipes are replaced with recipes for hearty soups and stews. Light and easy summer meals are swapped for food that sticks to the ribs.

Right now, during these last long days of summer, even as the days shorten and the night temperatures drop, the scent of fall is in the air and there is an urge to preserve something – vegetables, berries, pickles, chutney – and a desire to fluff up the comforter and put flannel sheets on the beds. That will all come soon enough, but not for a few more weeks – we need a few more weeks of this glorious summer.

And Then There Were Two

So, we have this dog – Lily – that chews my cabinets, sometimes messes on my floor, drags her toys onto the furniture and brings me dead things. What do I do to solve the problem? Get her a friend, of course. In a short period of possibly warped thinking and an unusual period of dog-related agreement between the boss and me, we found another puppy – another long-haired miniature dachshund.

Our reasoning, well, mostly my reasoning, was that if Lily had a buddy, she wouldn’t spend her spare time climbing on the furniture or my shoulder to chew her stinky toys. She would leave the boss alone while he reads the newspaper and she would spend time playing on the floor, a place where she spends very little time at present.

Now that baby Jake has been here for a whole day, I realize that there are a few things I didn’t think of. For one thing, Lily was 11 weeks old when she came to live with us. She slept through the night, was mostly trained and ate dry dog food. Li’l Jake is 7 weeks old today, does none of those things and probably won’t in the immediate future. He was up at 5:30 this morning, doesn’t know why the newspaper is in the corner and insists on having his kibble broken and moistened. He has peed outside a couple of times but that’s only because he pees VERY often and we just happened to be outside when the urge hit.

It’s not hard to know what Lily and Jake think of each other. Lily sits on Jake or stands over him to show she’s the boss while Jake wishes Lily was his mamma, nutritionally speaking, and tries to nip her insignificant little tits while she’s trying very hard to be dominant. Lily, being a lady, takes exception to being chewed on and usually jumps up somewhere out of reach and glares alternately at me and the pup. Jake is a feisty little guy, thinks that Lily’s stuff is his stuff too, and goes after it relentlessly. Lily, just because she’s a sweetie, generally gives in.

It will be interesting and, I am sure, fun to watch these pooches become friends. I’m not really nuts – I’ve just always had a dog or two (or four) and my home now feels more like it should than it has in over a year. Two little dogs don’t take up much space – Lily and Jake, when all grown up, won’t weigh as much as a small Cockapoo, they just have twice as many muddy feet.

FB

I am having doubts about Facebook, not that I totally bought into the site in the first place, but it has been an interesting and useful way to keep in touch with friends and relatives and for that, I am grateful. I use it to keep in touch with writing friends as well, many of whom I only know slightly but the sharing of a common interest and relevant information produces a sense of community and it’s wonderful to hear of the successes and celebrations of fellow writers.

One thing that puts me off is regular friend requests from people I’ve never heard of, people who have requested my “friendship” even though we have no friends in common. Who are these people and why would they want to befriend me? I don’t post a photo of myself so they are either attracted to my dog or flowers. My recent profile picture of two horses’ asses, I must say, hasn’t attracted any curious strangers. Maybe I should leave it up.

Another post on my news feed that made me wonder was an invitation to explore the possibility of a “romantic relationship” with women in Eastern Europe. Ah, no thanks and please go away, but I’m not sure how to make things go away on FB. I’ve been told photographs, notes, posts, etc. are there in perpetuity. Are there still babushka wearing women in foreign lands waiting for me to swing the other way?

And just recently, I’ve been included in two “groups” without being contacted first. No invitation to accept or reject. Just a notice that I’ve been added by someone else. All of a sudden, there I am, a group member. Both groups sound interesting and both have members that I respect greatly so I haven’t yet revoked my membership (is that possible) but I have hidden them from view until I can decide if what they have to offer makes it worth my while to read their multiple and repetitive daily posts.

These groups will likely end up filed away with the anonymous wannabe friends and the affectionate European women. I feel messages like these are intrusive and wish there was a little more discretion in cyberspace.