Vankleek Hill

Vankleek Hill, originally uploaded by Sbmoot.

Vankleek Hill is a very small place. You can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes, I'd guess - though I haven't tried it. Certainly, you can walk the length of main street in less than that if you don't window shop.

But this place, for its size, is surprisingly vibrant and ... dare I say? Cool. There are, of course, lots of century homes and run-down rural buildings of all kinds, along with lots of random bored young people. But the fact remains that if I had children this is the kind of place where I'd like to raise them.

Cas and were talking yesterday about small towns. Vankleek Hill is the kind of place that gets idealized in American folklore - the small town in the country, surrounded by farms, where everybody knows everybody's business. In Canadian folklore, it's the kind of place where people freeze to death in winter after having had a bit too much to drink, or where a series of sordid murders happens, perpetrated by some disaffected pig farmer.

As far as I can tell, there are no pig farmers near Vankleek Hill. There are cattle, sheep, horses and llamas... but no pigs. No poultry, either. At least none that I have seen. So maybe we'll avoid the gruesome murders and ensuing media attention. As for freezing to death, I have a feeling that you could just knock on a neighbour's door and they'd warm you up with a nice draught of something warm before sending you home.

Mind you, I was somewhat disconcerted to learn that a village of fewer than 2000 souls apparently needs a food bank. It bears watching. More to come, no doubt.

Qui s'allument partout

Qui s'allument partout, originally uploaded by Sbmoot.

I like this, so I'm putting it here.

If you were a dog, you'd do this too

Solo, originally uploaded by Sbmoot.

First of all, it's funny. Funny dogs are popular dogs.

Second, it's cool and refreshing. In fact, the dog's owner (no, this is not our dog) told us that some day she was going to crawl into the mud and try it herself. I asked if I could watch when she did that, and she immediately specified that she would be fully clothed. Fair enough. I still want to watch.

Third, by doing this you get rid of that icky shampoo smell and replace it with the sweet, sweet smell of spring muck, with all the stuff rotting in it and such. (Remember, you're a dog here).

But fourth and most important, it makes you king of the mud puddle!

This is solo the golden retriever. My understanding is that his owner had to go straight to work from the dog park. I'm only guessing, but I'd say she might have arrived late!

... either that, or the sofa was a real mess when she got home.

Water Tank (Exploration)

Water Tank (Exploration), originally uploaded by Sbmoot.

I entered a photo contest last weekend, in which the challenge was to take one photo of each of nine subjects in a 48 hour period. (The subjects were: Neon, reflection, brick, public performance, old door, water tank, train track, playground and reading).

This is the entry for "water tank". Cas doesn't like it. I do.

The other entries are here.

Playground

Playground, originally uploaded by Sbmoot.

Pokey the dog has discovered the mud. At least she's having fun. Since Wrinkles died I had my chance to mourn him, but Cas and I knew that we couldn't live 'dogless'. I thought we were going to wait a year, but then Cas called one day to tell me that she had found a puppy, and that I was sure to like her - in fact, if I didn't like her, Cas announced that she would be leaving me.

Fortunately, I did like her. What's not to like? She's a little black goldendoodle (cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle), currently 5 months, one week old, and growing like a little proverbial weed. We named her "Pokey" after Gumby's pony pal, but we also like to say that it's short for Polkeroo - from the Polka Dot Door, a Canadian kid's show from the seventies.

I have to say, though, the Polkaroo is a pretty scary beast. Don't know if we really want to name her for that.