UNPLUGGED

The figures are soft in the darkness, inchoate, shapes humped over, colors blurred, a suggestion of movement and motion. The sound is more distinct. Lyrical and transcendent, skirling up out of the darkness, flickering like the candle light that wavers as if swaying to the music ...


When I was in Kingston last week, for the sad event of my friend Paul's funeral, something rather wonderful happened, something unexpected, which in my opinion often goes hand in hand with unexpected.


I was only going to be Kingston for that one night, and it was a Tuesday night and I know people have lives but still, it was a lovely evening and I have it on very good authority (as in my own) that they have beer in Kingston. So we all know what that means.


So I ended up agreeing to go downtown and have a beer (or forty) with my nephew Ken. My plan was to do some patio surfing, really the only sport that I can claim Olympic caliber skill at doing. When I left Ed's house to go down to the waterfront, it was not quite dusk and I ambled along, not thinking much about a traffic light being out, then another, then another ... Yes, I am indeed an idiot savant but one of those words applies to me far better than the other. I realized that the power was out. Power was out all up and down Princess St., Kingston's main drag, and for blocks all around.


When I finally met Ken down at the water, our plans seemed to be pretty much fucked up. We hit a few bars but nobody was serving; cash registers weren't working, those little bar computers weren't running, there weren't any lights. Damn. As we wandered back up Princess, Ken thought of Ben's Pub, a little place just off the strip. "If any body's serving" he said, "Margaret will be."


Indeed, Margaret was. Ben's Pub is a little place and as the name suggests, sort of British in theme, not uncommon in Kingston, not uncommon in a lot of places in Canada I guess. They had candles set up on the tables and the draft kegs were working. When we came in, the bartender asked us if we were OK with only beer and Ken and I looked at each other and said "Duh"


As we settled down we noticed a few people sitting at the tables with fiddles. Apparently Ben's has a regular Tuesday night caleigh. As time went on, they acquired about half a dozen fiddlers, three people on guitars, a lute and an Irish pipe. The lack of electricity meant nothing to the players, in a way they were in their element, playing celtic and gaelic music in an environment very close to how it was originally heard.


I wish Collette had been there. My first "date" at her house involved a room full of musicians like this, playing and jamming and feeding off of one another. I am always in awe of this kind of event. That night at the pub, a fiddler would begin playing then the others would jump in, playing along with lively skill, everyone on time and at the end of the song someone would lean over and ask "What was that one?" They didn't know the song but were still able to join in as if they had. That frankly amazes me.


There were a few songs where everyone just really clicked, where the instruments played in perfect harmony, the music layered and complex and in no need of vocal accompaniment. Combine that with the darkness and the candle light and the lack of TV, electric lights etc ... it was kind of a special thing. Even Ken, who's musical tastes run more to rage and snarling, appreciated the moment.


I guess it's a black out cliche to not how we find alternate ways to connect with another, to engage with each other. What is interesting of course is that they tend to be very old ways, as in a night of acoustic music, lit by candles, flavoured by ale as it would have been a couple of hundred years ago .. OK, so the beer was cold but that is one comfort I will allow myself.

SLIPPING AWAY

Tuesday I went to Kingston to attend the funeral of my friend Paul Boyer. I have known Paul for something like thirty years. He was a kid when I met him, in high school, I was friends with his older sister Linda. Paul died at the age of 48, in rather tragic circumstances, I won't post the details here but leave it to say that he died alone, and seemed to have been alone for some time.


Very sad because Paul was not alone in his life. He had his family, and his friends, many of whom of course showed up to the funeral. I knew many of these friends, some of them go back to my high school days (yes, they did have high school back then, we had our own horse drawn bus to take us). A few of these people I had not seen in something like 25 years. Those that I have seen in that time have been sporadically, with many years in between.


My relationship with Paul was much like that. We both lived in the same city for a long, long time. Yet, we did not see each other often. That's life, Paul moved here to attend U of T, Collette and I came her so I could go to Seneca (yes, he went to uni, I went to community college, so he graduated with a sheep skin and a mortarboard, I got a paper hat and a lovely name tag) and Collette pursued her career in education. We got to know Paul better as time went by and I saw him less as the kid I once knew, and more as the brilliant engineer and fully evolved adult with a wicked sense of humour and a shared passion for baseball.


Paul got married to Linda here and it was my pleasure to do the video for the wedding and this led to a bit of a deeper friendship between the four of us. Paul and Linda attended a couple of my birthdays, where they got to know my family and we all went to a few Jays games. It was a nice easy relationship and it was funny how, even in a city this large, Paul and I would run into each other from time to time; usually me going into a joint as he was coming out and both of us saying "What are you doing here?"



For the last while, Paul live only a few blocks away from us and Collette would see him on the subway platform. I'd never been to his house and it was about a five minute walk away . So it was fair to say that I let Paul slip away. Where once we passed by each other, I had let him slip, going off in some direction that I did not follow.

By everything that I've gathered, Paul let a lot slip away as well. Even those closer to Paul had not seen him for a while. He had lost, or closed off, contact with them. He let them slip away, he slipped away from his old life. Where he was going I cannot say, but I know where he ended up.

Very sad.

We all have people that we know, that are in our lives, then their presence becomes diminished, and instead of being in our lives, we begin to pass them from time to time .. "Hey, what are you doing here" .. but it often happens that they just slip away. It happens. I don't see the people with whom I went to high school. That was decades and many hundreds of kilometers ago. They slipped, I slipped, we slipped away. I don't regret all of that, I don't have any expectation that I will remain in contact with every single person I meet .. quite frankly, I would find that exhausting.

But there are always those people you know, they may not be close to you, but you have affection for them, you like them, you may not miss them but when you are in their presence, you enjoy their company. We shouldn't allow those people to slip away. Even if we just pass them by from time to time, we must ensure that the time between doesn't become too wide. They slip, we slip, but it's in our power, if we really want to, to stop it from happening.

I don't believe in an afterlife. I won't see Paul again. And that's sad. So all I can do now is think about those who I love, think about those who I like, and make sure that we don't slip away.

Paul, I'll miss you.

SPLISH SPLASH

Just a short post and a video at the end of it. Terra is almost four months now, weighs 24 pounds and is slowly taking over the entire universe .. if she learns how to purchase kibble on her own, we may be in trouble. I don't want to be superfluous to this dog.

As we go on and she is getting older, Terra is discovering more and more and having more new experiences. As we are getting into the warm weather, it became time for us to open our doggie pool .. well, not exclusively a doogie pool, on occasion it has been used my many semi intoxicated drunk people to cool their feet in, at my birthday party. Miss Hayley was not impressed. Of course, now she has to share her pool with the puppy ...

Terra took to the pool like .. well, like a border collie to water.




Now, Miss Hayley loves her pool and of course she loves the Beaches and of course she loves the beach at Springhaven Lodge .. but all that water is good for playing in, not swimming. Will Terra like to swim? We'll have to wait and see.

But she sure liked the pool. As she walked around it, she created ripples and of course she had to try herding the ripples ...





and when she discovered that the water was coming out of the hose, she tried to take that right out of the pool ..




I am border collie, I shall control you ..

At one point Collette took the hose out of the water and was spraying it and Terra decided it was great fun to catch the water, even leaping in the air to do so. So yes, the pool is a big hit.





Here's the video, Terra at the beach and with her trusty lifeguard, Miss Hayley.

Pool Girl from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

TERRA - DOG PARK VIRGIN

Although Terra has been going to our local park since the day we got her, and has been socializing nicely with our neighbourhood dogs, Cerdarvale Park is the local official off leash area. It is about a 25 minute walk, or a quick subway ride, from the house. And this weekend, Terra was finally introduced to it.

We took the two dogs together of course. We walked them down, with the intention of bringing them back on the subway. The plan was to dissipate a lot of Terra's energy so that she would not be overwhelmed by the subway station and the train itself. That plan worked. The walk, and then a two hour play took most of the edge off her and she did very well on her first subway ride.

She also did very well on her first visit to the dog park. She has a fan club who had yet to see her; I've been telling some of the regulars there about her and they have been anxiously waiting to meet her. On our way to the actual off leash area, we met our friend John and his two dogs, greyhound Jazz and border collie Hayley .. yes, Hayley. Seems to be a popular name for the breed. John was so anxious to see the puppy that he and his two dogs jumped a fence to see us. In the video you'll see the three border collies playing, what can be better than that?

In the off leash itself, we ran into another friend, Joan and her dog Karma; this dog is, for Hayley, sheep number one. So we knew that she would be well occupied while Terra looked for friends. It didn't her long. In the mean time she did some fetch work with me, which is coming along nicely.

Eventually she met a lovely male Rottweiler pup right around her age. At first the male would just sit on Terra, pinning her, which is a sign of dominance. But Terra is pretty self assured even at this age. She kept her composure and kept at the pup and eventually his dominant behaviour turned into genuine wrestling (and we know, from the previous post, that Terra is a pretty good wrestler) The Rottie's owner was great "You dog has taught my do to play"

So Terra's first dog park experience was successful. More, I'm sure, to come


Terra at Cedervale from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

MARTIAL ARTS HAVE GONE TO THE DOGS

As I have mentioned in the past, Collette and I are big fans of Mixed Martial Arts, also known as MMA, in particular the Ultimate Fighting Championship, otherwise known as the UFC. It is a full contact fighting sport that combines a variety of martial arts including boxing, wrestling, ju jitsu, mui thai, judo and many others. Essentially a typical fight is comprised of two components; stand up (boxing, kick boxing etc) and the ground game (wrestling, ju jitsu, grappling). You can win by knock out or by submission by way of tap out ... OK that is the educational component of this blog. Hope you paid attention. There will be a test later.

Yesterday, in Viewmount park, Collette and I witnessed a live MMA fight that rivalled anything we've paid for on Pay Per View. It featured two young and up and coming mixed martial arts fighters who, although they lacked in experience, make up for it in enthusiasm and ferocity. Officiating is important in MMA, the ref has a lot of power, protecting the fighters, keeping the action flowing and even stopping a fight to determine a winner. Luckily, a wily and veteran ref happened to be on hand for this match.

TALE OF THE TAPE:

IN THE TAN CORNER: A five month old huskie from Siberia, a grappling specialist with impressive submission skills, this middle weight fighter is known for his effective throat hold submission move, introducing Barky:

IN THE BLACK & WHITE CORNER: A three month old Collie from the Border regions this lightweight fighter is a stand up specialist known for her take down defence and lightning quick offense, introducing Terra:

OUR REFEREE: One of the most experienced officiants in the sport, a former welterweight champion, known for her devastating stand up as well as her dominating ground game, a legend of MMA .. Hayley:

As the first round gets underway, Barky uses his weight advantage to good effect, taking Terra to the mat, pinning her and going for a quick submission

Barky uses his superior grappling skills, to pin his smaller opponent, but Terra maintains an effective guard, keeping Barky to a side mount

In a stunning reversal, Terra breaks the hold and gains the dominant position, attempting a full mount to initiate some ground and pound .. or perhaps that should be ground and bite.

The ref moves in, reminding the two young fighters about "bites to the face"

The fighters gain their feet and quickly engage, fighting for position, locking up, dancing in the middle of the ring, testing each other's strength

The ref, like the crowd, grows bored with the action

In a stunning move, Terra uses uses an obscure and probably illegal mui thai take down and gains full mount inside Barky's guard

Barky attempts a counter, but Terra retains her position through strength, guile, and the threat of peeing on her opponent.

Terra presses her advantage, trying for total domination of the other fighter and securing her victory and .. oh wait! Is that a tennis ball?

The ref's disinterest reaches an all time high ...

Sensing the match may be getting out of hand, Terra employs a never fail martial arts technique employed by females around the world over for thousands of years .. the dreaded kiss lock

Not even our valiant grappling specialist can deal with such overwhelming technique .. and besides that WAS a tennis ball ...

So, Mr Dana White, president of the UFC, we await your call. We expect to get paid in Milk Bones. Canadian.

THE DOUBLE DOGGIE BLUES

There is some kind of weird, alternate universe math going on in my house. We now have two dogs. Two dogs, by my math, should mean twice the poop, shouldn't it? Well something is happening here because I swear that two dogs = triple the poop. Of course, this all stems from the fact that I have adopted myself a little black and white poop machine. I'd be concerned with her output if it wasn't for the fact she is growing so much. She has now doubled her weight since we got her. As one of our dog park buddies put it: "What are you feeding that dog?" I swear, I can see her growing as she sleeps.

Here we have Terra eating a bone but I don't think that that is responsible for her growth spurts. No, I think her diet of shoes, tissue boxes, base boards (yes base boards), book cases, plastic pop bottles and anything else she can get her teeth on, all seem to benefit her physical maturity.

Speaking of plastic, Terra has found a new toy. We have this huge plastic jar, that used to hold dog biscuits; the thing is huge, it holds over 6 pounds of Milk Bones. It now has two or three bones in it so when you knock it over and push it up and down the hall, it makes a lovely, loud rattling sound. A couple of weeks ago, Terra could move the thing by nudging it with her nose. Now she can pick it up by the lid and whip around the house with it. You will see this in the video at the bottom of the post.

Another food source that Terra has discovered is ice. And although the video shows her romping in her first snow fall (in April, don't get me started), the ice came from the outside water bowl we have for the dogs. The previous night had been cold enough that a thick skim of ice had formed. Terra came bounding up to to take a drink, dropped her head down .. and met the icy resistance. She promptly smashed the ice, tore out some big chunks and set about devouring it. Also in the video.

As for my two dogs, that relationship is getting better. Terra loves Miss Hayley, there are moments she sees her as the mamma dog, emulating her behaviour and totally doting on her. These are good moments.

But she also wants to treat Hayley as an equal, wrestling with her, and positioning herself for dominance. These are not so great moments, especially for Hayley. Although Hayley enjoys chasing Terra as the puppy chases the ball, and she shows sign of almost wrestling with her, there are other moments where Terra latches on to the big dog's neck fur and Hayley wears her like a necklace.

What Hayley needs to do is give her a couple of firm put downs; other dogs have done this in the park and Terra does learn respect from this. The problem has been, Hayley has always given lee way to very young puppies. But Terra is three months old now and her time of grace may well be fading.

But it is special to have two border collies. Let's face it they just look damn good together, especially outside, in the park. I am walking them together, on leash, in the morning. Terra is doing very well on leash, actually better than Miss Hayley was at this age. Sometimes the walk is slow but this is not the fault of either dog. Terra is like a cuteness magnet, people just can't resist her and it sometimes adds a good ten minutes to our walk as we deal with her fan club. She may need security soon .. and a manager .. and an entourage.

Going to keep this a short post, take a gander at the video, and next post: Terra gets a contract with Dana White ... stay tuned.

Terra the Ice Queen from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.

ARE YOU WHAT SOMEONE ELSE CALLS YOU?

Not a Terra post this time, but a Terra-inspired post, and a kind of follow up to an earlier post I had written concerning names This post, is more about nick names, or to start off, pet names, in the very literal sense of that term.

Yes, my pets have pet names, nick names. No, I don't dress my pets up in cute costumes or throw them birthday parties or write this blog in my dogs "voices" but I do have nick names for them. Our first dog was Gigilo, so that became shortened to Gigs; that seems pretty obvious and I don't know it if really counts as a nickname. Hayley often gets "Hales" especially when we need her attention quickly. I am often called Vic, a contraction of Victor and a very select few people call me V.J. my first two initials; it is also how I sign my name ... does that count as a nick name? Probably not.

But Hayley also has a nick name, we often call her "Beans" or "Miss Beans". This comes from when she was very young and very small, a tiny black and white fluff ball overflowing with border collie energy and prone to jumping crazily about. To Collette, it reminded her of a jumping bean ... We also call her Schmaley, which comes from Hayley Schmaley, in a sing song sort of way . My friend John the dog trainer thinks any variation of your dog's name is not really a nick name; John disdains the notion of giving your dogs nick names. So Schmaley may not be a nick name, but Beans certainly is. Terra already has a nickname. Collette started using Terra-Misu, again in a sort of sing song sort of way, particularly when trying to coax or gain her attention. So, according to John, this would not be a nickname. Recently I've taken to calling her monkey, for something so cute that can be so much trouble. Vic or V.J. would not be nicknames for me. Variations of the name seem a logical sort of thing. But something like Beans or Beanie would be a pure nick name, stemming from behaviour or incident.

Gypsy had a nick name. We called him G Man or even G Spot ... hey, easy now, this is a family blog .. well, no it isn't but we will keep this particular post g-rated (take a deep breath, just let that horrible pun wash over you like a warm bath and it will soon pass). Again, you consider those names variations of his name. So .. nick name or not nick name?

We've all had nick names I'm sure. Many of them start when we are young, some we leave behind and some stick with us till the end. Certainly a lot of them come as variations of our name. In school I was often called Victor Vicious, this was mildly derisive, it stemmed from a cartoon (or maybe TV commercial) character from that time (Yes, there was TV back then, shut up). Later, as I got a little older, and started to grow my hair out around Grade Six (hey, it was the sixties what can I tell you) I got, of course, Vicky. We won't count those as nick names.


When I was quite small, and I just had the two older brothers, my grandfather gave us all nick names, all starting with the letter B. I was Buckshot, I think Edward was Buster and I can't for the life of me remember what Vincent was called. At any rate, mine was the only that stuck in any way. To the day she died, my mother would still call me Buckshot ... oh, and her other favorite nickname for me was Burn out ... so your lifestyle can also influence your nickname, as well as your name.

In school I knew a kid called Chopper, because he would take any perfectly respectable a CCM bike and transform it into a pedal powered "chopper" style behemoth. I knew a girl who liked to be called Barbie because she was tall, thin and blonde ... we often speculated it it was also because she had an alarming lack of genitals but as I said, this isn't that kind of post.

Physical attributes are another popular inspiration for nicknames. I knew this biker type dude, big as a double wide trailer, with a ginger red beard ... yeh, shockingly he was called Big Red. I knew another rather large gentleman, first name Victor, and myself, well only my mouth has ever been called large .. yup, meet the Big Victor and Little Victor show .. sigh.

Just by casual observation, it seems that more men than women have nicknames, at least ones that persist into adulthood. I could be wrong about this, but I know more guys with nicks than women; again, I won't count derivations like Vicki from Victoria. Though I once knew a girl named Catherine O'Toole and I always thought it such a lovely name; however, the young lady preferred to be called Toolie ... this was a long time ago, I have lost touch with her and I'm hoping she's seen the error of her ways.

Nicknames, though, do seem to be more prevalent in the masculine realm. I've written about Rio Bravo, one of my favorite movies. All the main characters are known by their nicks: Dean Martin is Dude, Walter Brennan is Stumpy, Ricky Nelson is Colorado, Angie Dickinson is Legs and John Wayne is Chance; although Chance is the character's last name, it is used more like nick.

So it seems that most nicks are given to us but then we had Toolie who created her own. How common is that? I suppose there are people who are dissatisfied with their names and want something different. Anyone know an example like that? I have a sister named Venus (ok, it was the sixties or something) but learned to bear with the childhood abuse to become comfortable with it, so no self imposed nick name for her. I knew a girl in high school drama class who wanted to be called Scarlett, as in Scarlett O'Hara; let's just say that many of our dreams often go unrealized.

I'd love to hear some nicknames, where they came from, do you use them, how to people respond .. I'm sure Terra will bet more, but we have recognize a limit. Even border collies can absorb so much.