Tuesday, February 24, 2009

American Gothic - Dogs


Cadenece (our Catahula) and Tag (our service puppy) posed for a parody of Grant Woods American Gothic. The pitch fork was too much for them to handle. Tag is now on the road with the Broadway show Spring Awakening. Bon Voyage Monsieur ParTager!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Tags adventerous aventures.

Our service puppy Tag experienced several cultural scenes in St Louis. 
What a good dog he was. 



In this photo he posed in front a work of one of his most favorite European artists, Claude Monet. He also like the modern works of Robert Motherwell and Ellsworth Kelly.



He got to visit the Love all, Serve all, Hard Rock Cafe-St Louis. As you can see he very much enjoyed (slept through most of it) his experience at the Hard Rock.




Tag really enjoyed riding the Metro Link train to Forest Park. He even got to spend some time being a puppy in the park.

Tag got his first ride on an escalator in Union Station. It was a really good time when nobody was around to watch and he got to do laps on the up and down sides. On the other hand he really didn't like the stair case that you can see through.



Tag really wanted to see a broadway show while we were in town so we got tickets to Spring Awakening at the beautiful Fox Theatre. He admits it was better the second time around when he wasn't sitting in the front row. 

Tag is now on the road with Todd and Angie who are with Spring Awakening. He will be traveling to Cleveland, Toronto, Boston, Pittsburgh and back to Louisville Kentucky before we get him back.

Enjoy the road.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

A Winter Awakening




Our animals hold the secret to making an event so magically mystical. They draw out the best of anyone that will open themselves up to live the dogs life by just petting them, reading to them, or rolling around on the floor. You can not help but be taken with the power of unconditional attention. You want it, you may not know it, but they will give it to you anyway. It is a magical experience. We had the cast of Spring awakening read to the dogs one Saturday morning while their performance was playing in Des Moines. The morning was brisk. How brisk can -6ยบ actually be? It was brisk. We gathered in the open room on the second floor of the Des Moines Civic Center in the downtown area. The dogs graciously and gloriously took center stage in greeting those in attendance. Some dogs gave more love then others but then others gave more love to the dogs. The room was filled asymetrically as there were pockets of individuals on the floor, in the corner, talking, stroking the dogs, and generally have a blast. 



The group was small and it was an intimate setting as we all sat on the floor together and gathered around in a circle to hear the children's stories. Each one select a book to read and took turns reading to the dogs as we all hung our ears on every word they spoke. Amazingly it was the first time I have been read many of these stories and only speaking for myself in this instance, I became a kid again. Nothing in the surroundings could have distracted my attention as line after line illustrated a different place and time. They took me there. It was a great feeling to be so captivated and taken-a-back by the ambience. When the books had all been read and we yearned for more but they had to really take the stage and we had to get on with our day. Wow. What a great time spent on an early Saturday morning. Only wish that more could have had the same experience.