dogs in cuba

there were many sweet dogs in the streets in havana. most of them looked like a 10-20 lb mutt combination of dachshund wiener dog, papillon, terrier, and/or cocker spaniel.



there were certain dogs who lived in certain city squares. some had paper tags around their neck saying that they lived in that square and had been neutered.

every day i saw cuban people giving food to street dogs. styrofoam platters of yellow rice sat on the sidewalks next to hotels. a woman brought steaming rice in wet newspaper to this pup in the park, and then walked away. it seemed like even the mangy ones were being taken care of.



our cuban tour guide lived in a small apartment by himself and had a dog. he said the dog was 19 years old (maybe another cuban myth) and he fed the dog the same food as he fed himself. not his scraps, he made extra of everything he cooked and fed his dog at the same time.

the main adjective i would use to describe the dogs i met is MELLOW. they weren't friendly, as in coming up to greet a stranger friendly, but if you went up to them, they didn't mind, and wagged their tails. there was no jumping or freaking out, like pouncey puppy perrito would have been doing. no chasing, not much barking. just kind of sitting around. this was the cutest dog gang in havana.



their fur felt like steel wool.

i saw one and only one labrador retriever who looked like nacho. he was being walked on a leash.

service dog puppy live cam

the cutest site on the internet:

Misty's Pups - Nursery Cam

Meet Misty's litter of future service puppies. These five Labrador Retriever pups were born on December 28th and have already begun very important work — helping to heal the invisible wounds of our Nation’s Combat Veterans. Recovering Service Members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, MD are engaged in the critical task of socializing the pups through puppy petting. The litter will spend the next two years lifting the spirits of Wounded Warriors and giving them a therapeutic and purposeful mission. By volunteering to train the pups through the Warrior Canine Connection program, these Warriors will both address their symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress and prepare the pups for future lives as service dogs for their disabled comrades.

baseball in cuba

baseball is the national pastime in cuba. there were pick up games going on all day in every park.



in the middle of the havana streets, little boys played "taco" - stickball using a cut off broomstick for a bat and plastic water bottle cap for a ball.



i never saw a girl playing.

on friday night kevin, his parents, and i went to a baseball game. without internet it was hard to determine if there was a game, and what time. we heard it might be cancelled because the stadium lights were broken. the stadium (estadio latino americano) is located in a rougher, darker, part of town. we got in a taxi and said "beisbol? pelota? estadio?" and the cab driver started yelling "beisbol! beisbol!" and was pretty sure there was no game that night and the stadium would be dark.

we drove up and the floodlights were on and the game was on and starting at 8pm and excited fans were going inside. we were (nicely) directed by police to go buy tickets at a window charging $3 instead of $1 that locals paid, and ushered to seats on the visitors side through the farthest gate away.

the local havana team is called the industriales. their mascot is a blue lion, and they are like the yankees of the cuban league. they were playing the cigar makers from pinar del rio.

the stadium was big. and clean. and full of energy. and people. and people blowing vuvuzelas. air horns. there were drummers. non-stop. we walked around the entire stadium, and it was on the verge of out of control going through the home team side. they did not serve beer, which kept it from having a hooligan feel.  it was exciting.

kevin was impressed with the pitching. 

30 second video of the scene:

we had to meet people in old havana at 930, so after the 3rd inning the 4 of us left and went into the street and kind of wandered looking for non-existent taxis. a few older men were sitting on a corner stoop, saw us and said "taxi?"  we hesitantly followed him down a dark alley and got into his small old honda civic-like car after he shooed a cat out of the front seat. he was not a taxi driver, he was a man with a car looking for some tourist cash. the gas light was flashing and his brights were on as he drove us over potholes back to town. we gave him $10.

8 days in havana cuba

if it seems i have been off the map lately, it's true. i spent 8 days in havana, cuba, where US cell phones and credit cards do not work, and the internet is sparse and difficult to access.



it was the first time since 1994 that i have gone an entire week without checking email. slightly refreshing, slightly alienating.

kevin's dad has wanted to go to cuba for decades, and online research led him to a cuban arts and culture tour run by a US college professor, they booked it, invited us along, and there we were 2 days after christmas in the miami airport boarding an unmarked charter plane for a communist country.



the weather was endlessly perfecto. 70-80 degrees and not a drop of rain.

the air was deplorable. many of the cars driving around the streets are from the 40's and 50's and have no catalytic converters, the newer cars and buses were just as bad, and the smell of carbon monoxide exhaust was omnipresent and overpowering. everything was covered in a dingy gray film.


we were on a tour (and tourbus) with 20 other americans. the group tour thing can be tough, especially for people used to having control, but we really lucked out and everybody was flexible and positive and intelligent. the bus was newer and comfortable, though it smelled of stale cigarettes and urinal cakes. i may be overly sensitive to air quality. i would not recommend an extended trip to havana to anybody with respiratory illness.

potable water. our tour bus in the background.

we were told not to drink the water, or eat produce washed in the water. for somebody who would be thrilled to have salad and only salad to eat every day, this was a challenge. most of my meals were chicken and rice, most of my vitamins came from the peppermint in the mojitos.

the buildings are made of concrete because it is cheap and resistant to hurricanes. many buildings are in ruins. the ones not in ruins are painted vibrantly and kept neat. the streets are treated like a garbage can. littering was rampant. there were also many street cleaners so it didn't accumulate, but it's still jarring to see people throwing trash on the ground 4 feet from a dumpster.



the people in havana are not aggressive or hostile. i did not see one person who seemed strung out on drugs. didn't even catch a whiff of weed. (sad face). seems like rum, rum, rum is the drug of choice. 

the street dogs were awesome.



more stories and photos to come.

(found this cuban woman's blog last night: http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/ which speaks out against the human rights violations, repression, and censorship cubans are experiencing under the castro regime. not surprisingly, we were exposed to very little of this sentiment on our state-sponsored tour.)

latch hook dogs

latch hook nacho






latch hook eli and nacho





latch hook pounce onto the table

have a soggy doggy christmas

to you and yours from pouncey the big tongued rain dog

He'll be comin round the mountain when he comes

PUMP THAT CHRISTMAS!

inflate!

catcher's butt

this is something my brother drew as a present for my mother in about the 4th grade, age 8-10.

wintry mix

they're getting longer! from today til june the days are getting longer!

my thoughts on the instagram uproar

haha get it? 

"my" thoughts?

my thoughts are jeff tweedy's thoughts. 

 i agree with them.

i relate to them.

i enjoy them.

i appreciate that he shared them.

it sucks to have intellectual property taken, without credit, without permission.

but it's kind of flattering that anybody is even interested at all. 

i need a nap

good thing it's almost the weekend! i hope your weekend is peaceful and easy.

pouncey as 'evita' in community theater

condensation crosses

driving to church (the woods) this morning

pouncey has 2 balls

and he lifts his leg when he pees! sometimes. okay one time.

favorite colors

it's a landslide of blue!

this is from 4th grade - 1986. 

why does everybody hate yellow?

holding hands...and feet

is that cunnin or what?

charles darwin on expressing love

Man himself cannot express love and humility by external signs, so plainly as does a dog, when with drooping ears, hanging lips, flexuous body, and wagging tail, he meets his beloved master. 

-charles darwin 

pouncey is great at expressing highly enthusiastic love

first grade diary

this was my first diary. i was 7 years old. seems so cute and innocent, right? where a girl who could barely write would write about bunnies and rainbows. 

but no, instead i filled it with the names of every kid in my class and graded their appearance, intelligence, and niceness. also added their phone numbers. 

what a little witch i was! as much as i'd like to be an INFP, there's no denying i am an INFJ. i probably should have channeled this judginess into becoming a college admissions officer. 

boys impeticular

this is what happens when you make third graders do current events reports

scissorpaws

pouncey is so pigeon toed that he is scissor pawed! never is this more apparent than when he is bounding through a meadow. 

he also does a mean chow chow impression: 
 

the grace of the nacho

behold! the most nimble 9 and a half year old labrador retriever on the planet! able to transform himself into a rainbow to leap upon a rock! it's nachodoggy! and his sidekick pouncey tennisball mouth!

a very romantic moment

wicked beauty

pushin the good vibes

this isn't an entire "great list" like betsy does every friday, but here is my attempt at finishing this week on a positive note!

see that sticker behind smiling pouncey's face? it says "pushin the good vibe!" 

pouncey is pretty good at that.

it's a line from an ALO song "country camper."

"country camper" can be streamed for free here. the whole show is on archive.org here.


you don't even have to listen to get the gist of this funny story.

 "country camper"

it was obvious enough
that we weren't going anywhere too soon
side of the road
LA traffic friday afternoon

from where i was standin
it was worse than i'd feared
her front had disconnected
from her rear

freedom never came so easily
for my country camper
on the dodge chassis

i guess i had the fever
ever since i was a little man
a life so free of maintenance
you store it in the back of your van

she was a thing of beauty
1979
and i was feelin lucky
pushin the good vibes

and my heart was thumpin
as i drove her off
hit the freeway
destiny laughed and coughed

cause freedom never came so easily
when it costs more than you can afford to be free
sometimes the dream is better than the real
sometimes the dream is better than the real
thing

better than the country camper on the dodge chassis

well uncle sam bought her off us
for a thousand bucks and a lunch
sometimes you gotta cut your losses
while there's something left to be cut

freedom called us
and we did her dance
lost our shirts
and forgot our pants

sometimes the dream is better than the real thing
better than a country camper on a dodge chassis
*****

here's an example of a country camper:

i hope everybody has a wonderful weekend and all good vibes are pushed to their limits!

puppy puzzle

they go together rama lama lama ka dinga de dinga a dong

though the thyme leaves seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting

i am sick. so so sick. haven't been so sick since elementary school. i've been to the doctor, gotten awful though helpful antibiotics, and all that's left now is to keep warm, drink tons of tea, and wait. 

the morning frost crystallized the herb garden.

Thyme has a long history of use in natural medicine in connection with chest and respiratory problems including coughs, bronchitis, and chest congestion. 

It's anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, kills staph infections, strep throat, e.coli and more. See also, basil.

herbs glorious herbs.

mama? is that you mama?

watching the 'nature' show on pbs last night called 'odd couples' about different species of animals being friends. basically it was different animals (cheetah, deer) that were friends with retrievers. retrievers are very friendly animals!

pouncey was EXTREMELY interested in this show. he went right up to the screen when the dog who could have been his twin was pouncing around. he sat 6 feet from the tv and watched intently until it ended. when they showed other animals (goose and tortoise) he was not interested.  maybe his little pea brain works better than i give him credit for!

pets for obama

4 out of 4 dogs agree, obama with peanut butter on his ears beats riding on the roof


also cats find shelter under obama: 



 
and moose:

pouncey scribbles

not one to be outdone by his budding artist cousins, pouncey took a pen and made his own drawing on his dog bed! i see similar theme and execution - definite family resemblance.

this is what halloween in the 70s looked like