My Weird and Wonderful Wolf

I know that at the outset of this blog, I had written that I would be talking about my having a book published and my experiences with that. I have been doing that, in a minimal way. However, every once in a while, like every day, my wolf/husky cross, Reenie, does something that so amuses and amazes me, I feel compelled to write about that. My blog is now about my book and my dog.

I have already written about her problems with eating, how fussy she is, which is very unusual for a canine/wolf. But now, she and I have taken her mealtimes to new and lofty heights.

Reenie enjoys dining al fresco even in the winter time when the deck is dark and cold. I don’t mind feeding her out there - it is a lot easier to keep everything clean inside the house. The fresh air is good for both of us. The other night we were outside on the deck and Reenie had just finished her appetizer - five pieces of dried squid. She has to be “primed” to eat real food, to get her salivation going, and the squid can always be counted upon. It is the one thing she will consistently take voluntarily, even though it likely has no nutritional value whatsoever. After her squid, I tried to give her some boiled chicken. She turned her head away. I tried to give her some beef. Again –head turned away. I tried handing her the food, giving her the bowl, throwing it onto the deck, throwing it into the air, yet every effort of mine was met by her head turning away from the food.

In desperation, I took a piece of beef in my hand and pretended, as I would with a two year old child, that it was an airplane. “Nyaaaar,” I droned, as I moved my hand holding the beef in circles around her head. She watched with interest. “Vroooom”, I continued, and circled the beef, did a figure eight and a loop-the-loop around her head, and popped it into her waiting mouth. She chewed happily and looked at me for more. We airplaned that whole dish of food into her mouth – if I tried handing her a piece of beef, she turned her head. Only when I flew the food around with suitable sound effects, a loud “nyaaarrrr, vroom, vroom”, would her mouth open for the food.

This is very similar behaviour to the Mr. Rhino cookie story. She eats these wonderful dog cookies, made by Iris (http://www.dogcookiesbyiris.com/), that are in the shape of a rhinoceros. She gets one every morning after coming back into the house and each evening after her dinner. One day I was in a particularly good mood, and when I went to give her the morning cookie, I sang a little song: “Here comes Mr. Rhino” and danced him along the countertop and into her mouth. I did this for several days until one morning I was late. I hurriedly handed her the cookie and prepared to carry on with my day. Although she loves these cookies, she sat down and turned her head away. I immediately knew what she wanted. “Here comes Mr. Rhino”, I sang, and danced that cookie along the counter – right into her waiting mouth. Now she will not eat a cookie unless I sing the song, and the cookie dances – I am well-trained and learn quickly.

My weird and wonderful wolf likes a song and dance before eating her cookies and needs to have airplane food fly around her head in order to eat dinner. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

The Growling Gourmet

The Growling Gourmet

I love alliteration, but I have to say at the outset that my dog Reenie does not growl; at least, certainly not when she eats. I don’t believe I have ever had a gourmet animal companion before, but I certainly have one now.

Reenie was always a “problem eater”. As a puppy, she was seriously skinny and we were always worried about maintaining her weight. She was a very fussy eater, but I understand now it was only because we, foolish humans that we are, were only offering her dog food. As a young pup, she discovered dried Chinese squid, and for eight years, that has become her favourite food; she starts every meal with an appetizer of this food which likely has zero nutritional value. But the dog loves her squid. Because she was so underweight as a pup, I started hand-feeding her to encourage her to eat, something which has continued now for eight years. She would not deign to eat out of a dog dish. I can put three pieces of meat on my palm, and she will gingerly take one, savour it, go off to smell a flower, come back take another, smile at me, take her time, and come back for the last bit. Alternatively, if she is not pleased with what is on my palm, she will take a piece in her mouth and spit it forcefully at my feet.

Now this dog is almost one hundred pounds and is half wolf. To see her gently pick out one piece out of a pile of pieces on my palm is hilarious. She is so careful to be exceptionally gentle. And she truly is gentle every single time. It makes me smile.

Tonight I tried to feed her dinner. I long ago discovered that dog food would not do it for her, and so I cook. I buy stewing beef and bake it with garlic. I cook turkeys and since I only like bones and dark meat, she gets the white meat. Similarly with chickens – I make a lot of chicken soup, keeping the dark meat and bones, and Reenie gets the white meat. Her friend Derrick had cooked a large loin of pork, and gave some to Reenie. So tonight her dinner consisted of, after the squid appetizer of course, pork, turkey, and beef. She turned her nose up at this. She had this menu for the past few days and she was bored. Hungry, but still would not eat any of it. But when I took some sashimi out of the fridge for my own appetizer, she came alive. She never begs for food, but I know when she sits quietly beside me while I am eating something, that she would most likely want a taste. And she did. She loves sashimi. I couldn’t decide it she liked the raw tuna or the raw salmon better, but she ate half of my appetizer. Then I was preparing a dessert and let her lick the bottom of the container – pumpkin cheesecake – she went nuts. Licked it clean. But the thing she enjoyed the most this evening was caviar mousse, left over from holiday celebrations. What kind of a dog likes caviar mousse? How many humans do you know who like caviar mousse? Well, I happen to be one of them who does like it, and now I share it with Reenie because she loves it. With a passion. I think she loves to move those little caviar ball-ies around her mouth just like I do. So we sit in the dining room, or on the bed, or outside on the deck, and we share caviar mousse together. My wolf/husky cross dog and I. Both licking our lips at the goodness of it all. I don’t mind sharing in the least; it gives me great pleasure to do that. I love my gourmet companion.

Serendipity

A few months ago I was doing some research on Chestnut Lodge, the hospital in Maryland about which I write in my upcoming book. I came across a familiar name, Dr. Donn Murphy.

In 1965, shortly before I left the hospital, I was lucky enough to be involved in the production of a play, The Importance of Being Earnest. This play was directed by a young drama professor at Georgetown University who worked at Chestnut Lodge. Could it be the same director? I wrote to him and asked if he were the same one, signing my email Ruth, but my email signature said Dr. Ruth Simkin. Dr. Murphy wrote me back and said he was indeed that very director, but he did not remember me. Occasionally, doctors stepped in for patients at the last minute, but he did not remember a Dr. Simkin. However, he went on to say, he remembered Lela, and Ward and Chunky Ruthie and....I immediately wrote him back to say:

"Donn! I am chunky Ruthie! I did not become a physician for another eight years after." Well, then the emails between us started passing fast and furious as we both helped each other down memory lane. Donn is now Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University and President and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.

I told him I had written a book about my experiences at Chestnut Lodge, and in fact, there was a section in the book about the play. We had a very unusually successful run, mainly because we had several professional actors in the cast, plus a superb director. It was such a good production that Donn decided we should perform it at Georgetown University - which we did - to a full house (and good reviews, I might add). This was after two or three performances at Chestnut Lodge and then a day or two off before going to Georgetown. On the day of the last performance at Georgetown University, two of our cast members started to go manic and Donn had to decide what to do. The rest of us wanted to keep them in their roles, saying we would cover for them, and Donn agreed. The result was hilarious; I wrote about that experience in the upcoming book.

The photo above shows many of the cast in the final minute of the play at Georgetown University. I am the one on the far left, playing Cecily, with Lyons, playing Algernon with his arms around me. Then Lela as a most statuesque Lady Bracknell, Claire as Miss Prism, and Jefferey and Barbara as Earnest and Gwendolyn. It was quite a production!

I never realized how deeply moving it can be to "find" someone I knew forty-five years ago and have not seen or spoken to since. As soon as Donn and I started communicating, memories flooded back, but even more importantly, it gave such a sense of realism to my memories. After all these years, they sometimes seem a long way off, but talking with Donn about them and our having the same recollections and knowing the same people, made the memories fresh and real and strongly felt in my heart. It was an incredible experience!

Several wonderful things happened from our reconnection. One is that I will be reading from my book at the Noon at the National author's series on April 15, 2010. (http://www.nationaltheatre.org/noon/noon.htm). Another is that I am going to see Donn again and spend some time with him reconnecting. And then there is the fact that my whole experience has taken on another stronger and deeper dimension because of our recent communication, something for which I am so grateful.

I hope that Donn is the first of many new "old friends" - I would love to meet more people from those days. Perhaps they will come out to my reading or find me on the web. If anyone out there knew me in the 60's, please write. I would love to hear from you. Life is truly serendipitous.

Press Release

It's really happening. My press release is now available. The publishers have done a super fantastic job and my little heart just goes pitter patter when I look at it. In fact, I can't stop looking at it over and over. It is so hard for me to believe that this is all becoming reality, that my real book is coming out with a real publisher who put out a real press release. Wow! It is even better than I had anticipated.
That's why I'm sharing it with you. I'm so proud of it, although I certainly didn't produce it - Ekstasis Editions, my wonderful publishers did. But I do sort of feel like a kid in a candy store - I know I am supposed to be sophisticated and knowledgeable, but the truth is, I am thrilled with this, and just as proud and happy as can be. I promise I will try to develop a sophisticated author mien - nah, I don't think so - but I'm sure I will calm down once the initial excitement is over.

To read the full press release, go to the media room at my web site www.ruthsimkin.ca or click the link below to download the PDF:
http://www.ruthsimkin.ca/Dr._Ruth_Simkin/Media_Room_files/brand%20new%20press%20release%20ruthie%20j%20press%203_1.pdf

Flying and Fascism

I recently flew to California to combine a visit with my family and a working meeting on the screenplay of my book.  Going through security has always been an ordeal for me as I have two artificial knees and one artificial foot, so I beep a lot.  However, I am used to the pat downs and always allow extra time for this.  What I was not ready for were the secondary security procedures.

Now just because some guy tried to blow up a plane with stuff shoved in his underwear, does not mean that every single person flying has to have every last bit of belongings checked not once but twice.  Common sense should prevail at some point.

After going through security, I noticed a large seating area cordoned off; it was where I usually sat and many people were standing as there were not enough seats without those being available.

“Why are those seats roped off?” I asked a security person.

“Those are for secondary security,” he answered.

“Secondary what?”

I watched as two other tables were set up – one for men and one for women; each person travelling had to be submitted to further searches.  Every single thing was checked; individual coins in a coin purse, a beautiful woman with long blonde hair had her hair lifted up and examined, everyone, including very young children had a total pat down. 

I left my gum in my pocket by mistake.  “We need to check your gum, ma’am.”  They checked my gum.  Belts were undone, the bottom of our shoes were lifted up to be examined – for what I have absolutely no idea.

I watched a young four year old in a bright yellow t-shirt being subjected to a total pat-down.  What does this teach our youngsters about our world?  She was a sweet little girl, well behaved and probably came away from the experience not trusting a soul.

“What are you reading?”  I looked up to see a security guard checking my literature choice.  I told him and he asked further questions about the book and then carried on to ask other people about their choices.

I asked the flight agent if the security people have ever found anything since they started doing this.

“No,” she replied.

“Somehow I don’t feel any safer,” I said.

“Me neither,” she concurred.

“How long will they keep doing this?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s on a day to day basis now,” she shook her head in disgust.

Once we were patted and checked to the ultimate degree, we were ushered into the cordoned off sitting area.  Only people who had gone through the secondary security were allowed to sit there, and you had to sit there before you were allowed to board the plane.  All for a little twenty minute flight to Seattle.

I kept waiting for a surprise tertiary security.  But I guess security felt they had earned their pay.  It took twice as long to go through security than it did to fly from Victoria to Seattle.

I fear we are entering a time of fascism and I worry for my country, for the people, for the young ones.  What is the message coming from all of this?  Will my writing soon be censored?  Will they take away my gum?  Where are we going with all of this?  And why?

My Book Cover

It's happening!  My book is really getting published!  My publishers really do know what they're doing!  I'm so glad  - I was going to say I've chosen them, but the truth is, I'm so glad they've chosen me.  When I saw the cover nearing completion, my heart skipped a few beats.  I am really pleased with it, and the publishers did such a fabulous job with the font and putting it all together.  I had the original idea of the flower trying to get through the jaggedy area, and Julie my friend, put the art work together, but it didn't seem to be a real book until I saw the whole thing with the title and my name, all together.  It even the has the writing on the spine.

Now for my sister, she said it became real for her when she saw the ISBN number.  That made it real for her.

  

Truthfully, what will make it the most real for me is to hold that book in my hand, once it is completed.  That's pretty much all I think about these days.  And as the countdown meter says, only 75 more days to go until launch.  I'm having a book published!  How cool is that!

Friendship and Loyalty

Today I would like to write about something totally different. I would like to talk about my dog. Now for those of you who know me and Reenie, you know I can talk about her ad nauseaum. But something happened on New Year's Day that got me thinking and it still is very much on my mind. First - a bit about Reenie - she is almost the perfect pet - almost but for one quirk -she is an Alpha Dog, a pure alpha. This means that she wants to dominate every dog she meets and while she has never hurt another dog, it is terrible to watch her growl and snarl and try to dominate that dog. For the first few years of her life, I thought I would have to give her away because I couldn't hold her and she is stronger than I; she weighs over ninety pounds. But then I started working with Monique Anstee, dog trainer par excellence, and after a few years, Reenie will now sit quietly at the side of the road and let other dogs pass without lunging, growling or otherwise disgracing herself. This took many years of training and Monique was more than patient with us, but now, I feel confident going out with my dog. The only negative is that I cannot let her loose with any other dogs, and I have always felt very badly that she could not have doggie friends. She loves humans, and would rather be with humans anyway, but still, I always felt sad that she couldn't have other dog friends to play with.

About a year and a half ago, I built a suite in part of my house and rented it out to Sarah and Shaun and their beautiful ten year old white lab, Ned. At first I was terrified that Reenie would try to dominate Ned, but Sarah and Shaun reassured me things would be okay and that Ned had lived with an alpha dog before. And sure enough, Reenie and Ned became friends. For the year that they lived here, almost every day the two dogs walked together in the woods, shoulder to shoulder, then would play in the back yard, running circles around each other. He was the only dog she has ever allowed in our house; in fact, they would watch movies together. We would take them to the beach because Ned is a retriever and loves to retrieve balls from the ocean. But he is also blind in one eye. Sarah would throw the ball out into the water, and Ned would swim around desperately trying to find it. Reenie would watch all this from the shore, take a deep sigh, swim over to the ball, take it over to Ned, spit it out in front of his mouth, and swim back while Ned had the pleasure of bringing the ball back to Sarah. This happened many times. Reenie does not normally deign to do dog things, like retrieving. But she would do anything for Ned.

Almost six months ago, they bought a house and moved out. For a little while, Shaun would bring Ned over to walk with Reenie, but life happened for all of us, and we hadn't seen them for quite a while now. On New Year's Day I was walking in the woods with Reenie when all of a sudden, she stopped. Her ears went up, she stood still. I could tell there were people on the other side of the ridge, but her reaction was very different than usual. All of a sudden, with a yip, she leaped over a hill, totally ignoring any paths, and ran as fast as she could to greet Ned. They had come for a New Years visit and finding us out assumed correctly we were walking in the woods. The two dogs ran circles around each other, and jumped and played - I hadn't seen such incredibly joyful exuberance exhibited by humans or four-leggeds in a very long time. We came back to my house, and Shaun went to put Ned in the car. Reenie would not come into the house until she heard the car door slam and knew Ned was inside the car. Then she came into the house, hopped up on her chair, and put her head on the top of the chair woefully eyeing the car in which Ned rested. It was so clear to me that she loved him so much and wanted to be with him every second. The friendship and loyalty between the two animals was palpable.

Later that evening, I got an email from a woman with whom I attended kindergarten and school through high school, and then briefly we worked at the same hospital in Calgary, and I saw her briefly again not long ago at a reunion, but we have not really stayed in touch. Now I have known this woman for almost sixty years now. And yet even though there are decades of our lives we do not know about, I still felt a deep sense of kinship with her, and I know I would certainly trust her. There are people I see every day, yet I wouldn't trust them or feel as much of a friend to them as I do with this woman whom I haven't heard from for decades. Friendship and loyalty. I think once it exists, it stays. Time does not become an issue. It is interesting how these feelings develop. I don't think we can will them into being for a particular relationship. I think they just are. Or are not. And when they are, it is a true gift, one to be valued highly. My dog taught me to look at the friendship and loyalty I experience with other people and certainly Reenie and Ned are the gold standard of love and trust and friendship and loyalty. I hope I can live up to their standard and be as good a being as my dog.

Jan 1, 2010: Happy New Year

I know I have not exactly been keeping up with the blogging since my first posting, but I hope to remedy that and write shorter blogs more often. I think I am now up and running.

Part of the problem I had been experiencing is the unfamiliarity of blogs. Usually when I write, I am writing to someone specific, or for myself, but when writing a blog, it is a totally unique experience as one never knows who is out there. Or even if anyone IS actually out there. It's kind of like writing into a void.

Someone told me to keep in mind Julie from Julie and Julia. When she started her blog, she didn't have anyone reading it, and by the end of her first year, she ended up with a huge number of readers and became incredibly successful. That's unlikely to happen here, but I guess it's always possible that someone will read my blog and find some sort of meaning there. Or at least smile and be amused. I'm not prepared to cook over five hundred recipes in one year though. Although I must admit that in the last two weeks, it feels as though I have already cooked more than that!

Look for more regular postings now. We'll discover 2010 together. Happy New Year.