All this talk about Raven has almost caused me to forget something very important.  I am going to be interviewed on Animal Radio this afternoon at 3:00 EASTERN time.  They capitalized EASTERN in their email to me, so I’m doing same for you!

Seriously, I really almost forgot about this.  It’s on XM and FM radio I believe. If you click on the link, you can find out how to tune in.  So, if you’re sitting around, watching the snow fall, tune in!

Last night’s chat was great fun.  Have spent the morning looking for the “Blaize” reference, which Alan insists is the name of the young Mrs. Mrs. De Winter .  Still haven’t found it.

But now we must discuss something more important than all that. We need to talk about me.  At what point does one become a crazy dog lady?  After 4 dogs? 5?  We have 50 acres – a small farm -which makes 5 dogs not seem entirely crazy, but all the dogs prefer to spend most of their time on my bed-desk, which even I know is crazy.

Here’s the thing. I met another dog.   I’ve been visiting shelters and meeting dozens and dozens of dogs over the past few weeks, and I’m not one to fall for every dog I see.  In fact, I really don’t want most dogs I see, even the most beautiful, young and friendly.  But the other day, while visiting the site of the new facilities for The Simon Foundation, a wonderful rescue organization that I’ll  blog about soon, I met Raven.  Stephanie Ferguson, the director of the Simon Foundation is fostering Raven in her home and this is what she has to say about her:

“Raven a 2-year old American Staffordshire Terrier, was confiscated from a home in December 2009. Until that day, she had spent her entire life bearing puppies in the basement. She is a beautiful dog, even though someone did a really bad job of cropping her ears with a pair scissors.

Three of Raven’s housemates (Sydney, Spike, and Annabelle) came with her to The Simon Foundation. None of the dogs had ever been socialized with humans, and they were terrified of their new environment. They spent the first several weeks cowering in their pens, not making any eye contact with the staff. None of the dogs knew how to walk on a leash, so trying to get them out of the pens for exercise and socialization was a stressful experience for everyone.

While fearful, once Raven was out of her pen, she loved to be held and petted. She craved affection, and a life she never before knew existed.

One day we received an application for Sydney and Spike. Because the dogs didn’t show well at the kennel, we decided to take them to a storefront that we use for events and showings. On a whim we decided to bring Annabelle and Raven so they could get out and have a little reunion with their friends. We are so glad we did, because the Raven that was unveiled was a wonder to us all.

Upon seeing her friends, Raven expressed immense joy and playfulness. She ran around with the pack and even approached the people in the room. It was amazing to watch, and gave us hope that Raven could be adopted sooner, rather than later.

A staff member took Raven home and discovered she doesn’t just like other dogs, she also likes cats and children! It was decided that she would be fostered by another staff member so she could be integrated into a home environment and learn how to “be a dog”. She needed to learn how to walk on a leash, up and down stairs, go outside to go to the bathroom, and other basic skills that would help facilitate a successful adoption.

It didn’t take long before Raven’s true personality started to reveal itself. She has the calm, mature demeanor of Cesar Milan’s “Daddy”, who recently passed away. She is extremely intuitive and maternal, perhaps from repeatedly whelping litters.

Raven loathes the cold (and especially the rain) so she needs a sweater to keep her warm. She has learned to walk well on a leash, go up and down stairs, and she’s pretty well housebroken. She likes to ride in the car and pretty much sleeps on a dog bed the entire trip. We do not allow her jump on the furniture, but if you let her, she would love to snuggle with you on the couch while you watch TV. She’s no longer afraid of people (maybe a little shy), but definitely not afraid.

She has been trained to sleep in a crate at night. She didn’t like it at first, because she doesn’t like to be alone, but now she goes right in and sleeps the night away under a soft fleece blanket.

Raven is highly adoptable to anyone who has other pets and children. She would do best in a home that has at least one other dog for her to play with, and someone who will either take her with them wherever they go, or who is around a lot, because she does not like to be left alone.

If you can offer Raven the home she so deserves, please visit The Simon Foundation website at www.thesimonfoundation.org to submit an online Application to Adopt. Her friend
Annabelle is also still available.”

So that’s Raven’s story. We haven’t adopted her yet. Denis will meet her tomorrow, But Stephanie brought Raven over to meet my girls yesterday. I had a bit of trepidation about this, I must admit. She’s a pit bull and they are more inclined to fight, generally, than, say, a Labradoodle..  Female dogs can be aggressive toward each other, but my dogs never fight. They take bones away from each other, eat out of each others’ bowls, etc. I didn’t know if Raven had ever fought other dogs (I was told she was taken from a crack house). Daphne, our pack leader has been known to growl at dogs who have come to our property and whose energy she doesn’t like, so I was worried that if she growled, Raven would be triggered to attack and there would be a tragedy.

But Raven and Stephanie arrived while we were outside and Daphne wandered over to them her tail wagging slowly. Raven was on a leash, which can make some dogs very defensive when confronted by a loose dog, But Raven was mellow, wagging her tail, her head lowered. Soon all of my girls were sniffing Raven, everybody seemed to be admiring her and then we went inside and let them all off-leash together.

Well, I won’t bore you with all the details, but Raven loves to play with other dogs. She LOVED the puppy and Holly loved her. They played for an hour, at least. She’s very short and compact, so she’s easier for the puppy to play with than Lulu, whose size can be overwhelming to the puppy. But she’s so strong that she can play tug-of-war with Lulu, which none of our other dogs want to do because she’s so powerful that they get flung into the air when she shakes her head.

So what do you all think? Will you stop reading my blog if I adopt her, because you will then know for sure what you have long suspected – that what you are reading is the rantings of a lunatic? A dog lady? Or will you admire me for my bravery and kindness, bringing yet another 4-legged creature into our home to live out its days with us?

PS – we have had 5 dogs before, and two of them were Irish Wolfhounds

PPS (PSS?) – we really would like to spend more time in the city and traveling once Dev leaves for college in the fall.

Just a reminder that this evening, at 8:00 Eastern time, we will be discussing Daphne DuMaurier’s REBECCA.

I’m so looking forward to this.  It’s supposed to be a stormy night here in New England, which will be the perfect atmosphere to discuss this moody tale.

I was going to post a link to a video clip from the Hitchcock film of Rebecca, but decided not to, as some of you have not seen the film.  If you want though, go over to YouTube and look at the clips.  Look at how Hitchcock used shadows so eerily, as he always did, but also the way he made everything at Manderley gigantically overscaled.  Everything of Rebecca’s was HUGE!  Her closets, her room, her brushes. Her house.  The young Mrs. DeWinter had to almost reachup to grab a doorknob, like a young child.

Okay, here’s a link to a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxO68PacfxE

Photo by Moses Pendleton

THE SEPARATE ROSE: I
by Pablo Neruda

Today is that day, the day that carried
a desperate light that since has died.
Don’t let the squatters know:
let’s keep it all between us,
day, between your bell
and my secret.

Today is dead winter in the forgotten land
that comes to visit me, with a cross on the map
and a volcano in the snow, to return to me,
to return again the water
fallen on the roof of my childhood.
Today when the sun began with its shafts
to tell the story, so clear, so old,
the slanting rain fell like a sword,
the rain my hard heart welcomes.

You, my love, still asleep in August,
my queen, my woman, my vastness, my geography
kiss of mud, the carbon-coated zither,
you, vestment of my persistent song,
today you are reborn again and with the sky’s
black water confuse me and compel me:
I must renew my bones in your kingdom,
I must still uncloud my earthly duties.

Today, as I drove around our charming little town in search of a USB cord (didn’t find one, but if you’re looking for candles I can show you ten shops within spitting distance of each other) I realized that I need no such cord, as I have several Moses Pendleton photos that I’ve not yet posted. Quite a few actually. There are are a series of red roses that I absolutely refuse to post here because they are rich and sensual and textured and beautiful, and the photos really do lose something when I reformat them for the blog. I just can’t do it, but hope to get prints of them from him someday. I know exactly where I will hang them, Moses, if you ever figure out how to print them.

But I recalled a photo that Moses sent me over a month ago that I just love.  Here it is:

Photo by Moses Pendleton

I love the way the two chairs seem to be just barely touching hands, facing into the late afternoon sun together. Rooted there, like a lovely old married couple.

Then, wonder of wonders, I found a place that sells …well I have no idea what the hell it’s called but you take the photo card from the camera and stick it in this little plastic thing and then you insert the erect male end of the little plastic thing into one of the female receptors on your computer and, if the camera and the plastic thing really love each other, boys and girls, they will make pictures together!

I know somebody here tried to explain this contraption to me once. Maybe somebody knows what it’s called.

So now I’ll post some photos I took during our last snow storm.  I hate to post my photos on the same page as Moses’s, but mine is a sort of photo essay. It’s the story, more than the composition that’s important.

This is Holly in the snow.  The snow makes Holly feel quite alive and full of herself.

She believes that the cold gives her special powers that will enable her to conquer all larger mammals.  Here is Daphne after Holly has gone for a muzzle-grab:

Oops. She tried the same move on Lulu and was forced to offer an immediate surrender:

Here they are having a little conversation, working out the terms of the surrender. Somebody looks slightly humbled:

But all is soon forgotten. Holly will walk behind the other dogs for a little while. Until her special powers return:

Horses in snow:

A field of white:

Meg (not my sister, but the other Meg who sometimes comments here) sent me this incredible news clip about a dog that stayed with a lost three-year-old and kept her from freezing overnight.  Love happy endings:

Photo by Moses Pendleton

My friends Moses Pendleton and Cynthia Quinn have returned from Rome, where their dance company, Momix launched its European tour of the show, “Botanica.”  It was a very exciting trip for them, as the Italians love nature, beauty, music and dance and the audiences and critics went crazy over the show.  So many amazing stories from Moses today.  But most exciting to me is the fact that Moses exhibited many of his flower photographs at the theater because the art director of the show, in Italy, had seen Moses’s photographs online.  Where? Right here, that’s where!  On this very blog!  And now Moses has been asked to do a show at a museum of contemporary art in Rome!  Of his botanical photographs!  I can’t remember the name of the museum, but it’s very famous and I wish Moses would comment here and tell you all the stuff that he told me today, because it was all so exciting that I was literally levitating off the bed-desk, and then when I hung up the phone I had forgotten all the details.

And Moses sent us this flower.  This photograph is so, so beautiful that it makes me a little bit sad.  I’m not sure why.  But congratulations to Moses and Cynthia and Botanica!

Here’s a poem, called, appropriately, Botanica.  Even Bev might like it, because it’s a prose-y poem.  I love it. No complaints now. Yes, it’s a little dark but also sensual and delicately crafted and beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Enjoy:

BOTANICA
By Eve Alexandra

They are everywhere–those sunflowers with the coal heart center. They riot
without speaking, huge, wet mouths caught at half-gasp, half-kiss.
Flowers she promises I’ll grow into, sweet gardener,
long luminous braids I’d climb like ladders, freckles scattered
across our shoulders in a spell of pollen. She’s sleeping there–on that table
with its veneer slick as a glass coffin. She’s fed us fiddleheads, the tine fists
of Brussels sprouts, cupcakes, even the broken song of the deer’s neck. Singing.
Flowers everywhere. In my bedroom chaste daisies and the vigilance
of chrysanthemums. Dirt under my nails, pressing my cheek to the shag rug
with its million fingers. You could lose anything: a tooth, Barbie’s shoe,
this prayer. She loves me. She loves me not. I stare at my reflection,
a posy of wishes. Morning glory, nightshade, tulip, rhododendron.
In this poem I would be the Wicked Witch and she Snow White. Waiting.
My father talks to me about their lovemaking. My mouth empty
as a lily. I try to remember the diagram. Which is the pistil?
Which is the stamen? Roads of desire circle our house: Lost Nation Severance,
Poor Farm. Branches catch the wings of my nightgown.
There is a crow and the smell of blackberries.

I’m a little hesitant to blog about our puppy AGAIN.  You all will tell me if I’m getting to be a bore, right? I feel like the annoying mom who keeps showing pictures of her baby to all her friends.  But just …please :

This was Holly before our hike today.  Yes, she likes to sleep on the center console of the car!  Here you can see how she rests her hind feet on my legs and sleeps against the gear shift.  I think she likes the vibration:

I know.  I know.

Well, she was resting up for her big hike in the snow.  We’ve been hiking with my friend Marcia and her gorgeous puppy Gus.  Today Gus was sporting a very jaunty vest, due to the snow:

And Marcia’s beautiful daughter Ava joined us because she had a snow day.  Holly was rather taken with Ava:

Holly would like to be carried on snowy hikes.  It’s a lot of work for those little legs, but I encourage her to walk most of the way.  The whole point is to tire her out.

Eventually, though, if she starts to shiver, I end up tucking her into my jacket. It makes her happy:

Me too!

Photo by Andrew Sullivan

Since yesterday’s post was so depressing, I thought I’d follow with something cheerier.  Here are a couple of animals who are not at risk of finding themselves in a kill shelter anytime soon. And, as you can see, they are not exactly malnourished – in fact the horse looks like it is about to have a foal, but of course, he is not, because our Snoopy is a gelding.  He likes to offer some inspiration while I type. He nibbles dreamily at the lawn and then breathes sweet-smelling thoughts into my ear. Oh, the breath of a horse is so nice and earthy and sweet. All they eat is grass and clover and hay and grain, nothing disgusting like meat.  Our horse Gabriel is so repulsed by meat-eaters that he won’t touch his water trough if a dog has drunk from it.  And they digest their meals slowly and thoughtfully and so when they breathe out through those big soft nostrils, it’s just lovely warm huffs of meadow and air.

I love the winter but it’ll be nice to sit under that apple tree with my horses and dogs again.

“Four things greater than all things are, -
Women and Horses and Power and War.”
~Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of the King’s Jest”

I spent time with a couple of animal rescue people the other day.  We were at a city pound that takes in dogs off the street or animals that have been surrendered for one reason or another.  The two rescue people that I was with look for adoptable dogs to remove from the pound and try to place in homes.  They want to save the dogs’ lives and they are wonderful women. We had a discussion about the issue of what is to be done with dogs that are aggressive.  Biters and fighters.

One woman works for an organization that doesn’t believe any dog should be euthanized, regardless of temperament. I don’t believe in this philosophy, for several reasons. First, of course, is  the risk that a child or adult will be seriously injured by the dog.  But I also have concern for the dog. The human-aggressive dog faces such a bleak future, and I don’t think a lot of animal-rights advocates take this into consideration. I have seen what some “trainers’ do to large, aggressive, difficult to control animals.  You see this a lot with horses.  Whips, spurs – with dogs, choking with pronged collars, electric shock collars used in a punitive way, kicking, etc.  Or, if they end up in a “no-kill” shelter, that won’t place human-aggressive dogs in homes – that’s where they will live the rest of their days. In a kennel.  Perhaps for years.  Is this a life for a dog?  As we discussed this, one of the women told of a story about a local “trainer” who specializes in aggressive behavior, and what that trainer did to that dog, right in front of its owner made me so sick.  After such treatment, I have no doubt that the dog’s fear of humans will have intensified, as well as his aggression.  I wonder if it wouldn’t have been kinder to have the dog humanely euthanized, before the brutal training.  I suspect that it’s the ultimate fate for this dog, anyway.  Too bad it had to have its short life made worse by such torture.

I would love to know what you all think about this issue.  I’ve been talking to so many people about animal ethics, for my book, and people become very emotional about this topic. Do you believe that “no-kill” shelters are the most humane solution for dogs?  And I’d like to hear from horse lovers about your feelings regarding bans on horse-slaughter,  which is another controversial issue that some animal advocates don’t believe is in the best interest of the animals.