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April inspiration
April is my birthday month, so i always feel a special love for this fourth month of the year. There have been some special and lovely things going on, and more coming up in May.
Topping the list of lovely is that about three weeks ago, we adopted a new dog. His name is Fox, and he’s a super swell little fella: part whippet, part mystery dog. It’s been the best springy weather for having a new dog and going for long walks in High Park, getting to know the dog culture of the neighbourhood again. Some of you may know that we had a quite a tragic experience with our last dog, a couple years ago: Bosley was a 5 year old Boston Terrier, a rescue from a puppy mill bust in Quebec. Six weeks after we adopted him began to show a terrible aggressive streak. To make a long story short, he wound up biting me in the face, splitting open my upper lip from top to bottom -and this after several other only slightly less awful biting incidents, followed by working with a dog trainer – so in the end, we had to put poor Bosley down. It was horrible all around, and it’s taken me quite some time to be ready for another dog. It’s been an emotional process, but little Fox has stolen our hearts with his gentle sweetness: the first day we met him, he came right over to me, and kissed me on my scar. He’s a super quick learner, and a fast runner -so we are rocking the dog park daily.
So, other than the canine good times, there have also been a bunch of fun performances and travels: SPIN went to Montreal for Edgy Women Festival and we had a great time performing for a full house at the beautiful Sala Rossa. (I’m heading back to Montreal in 10 days, this time for a (solo) show, splitting the bill with PEI songwriter Teresa Doyle.)
Brad and I also recently did a stripped down version of SPIN in Owen Sound, Ontario for their local cycling club, sponsored by the wonderful BikeFace cycling shop. Then last week, I had the chance to perform a couple of poems as part of a very inspiring evening with environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill. As i sat listening to Julia talk, I had to borrow pen and paper from the fellow sitting next to me so that I could write down so many memorable lines and ideas that she shared – probably my favorite being: “part of the problem is that we throw so much away – as if there IS an ‘away'”. Had a good laugh at her clever turn of phrase, “being granola-ier than thou”. And loved being part of such an energized audience of activists and people committed to making a difference on the planet. As Julia said, ” It’s impossible for you NOT to make a difference”.
Happy spring, everyone. (She says, as a major snowstorm is about to hit Toronto… hope all those tender flowers make it…:)
Fox, our new canine family member