Chipmunk Canadiana

[Photo By: KPA]

All About the Print

Faux fur leopard prints that are all over the place right now.

You cannot, of course, get the real deal anymore (as far as I know), but from designer labels to Walmart's Everyman's clothing line, we are graced with the presence of these winter warmers.

Perhaps it is the "inner feline" that is awakened. Or it is simply something undecipherabley attractive, innate and instinctive, about these prints, that has lured women to take out their pocket books and spend their dollars on a faux fur craze which has now lasted for several decades. And there's no risk of red paint to tarnish your respectability by (crazed) faux fur advocates (with whom you have NO allegiance, since you never know when they might turn).

Here is Walmart's $70 faux fur coat, soft and warm (I've tried it on!).


CAN$77 (US$60)

Walmart tells us:

Get coverage and style when you pull on George women's AOP faux fur car coat. Knit from soft, patterned faux fur, it’s styled with a revere collar [What is a revere collar - my link], jetted pockets and concealed snap closure. Fully lined, the shiny coat on this box-cut jacket will add an element of chic to any outfit you throw it over.

• 100% Polyester
• Faux fur knit
• All over pattern
• Full lining
• Revere collar
• Full snap button closure
• Jetted pockets
• Soft hand feel
• Dry clean only

Holt Renfriew, The Bay, Simons, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, all have their variations (all at least $100 more than what Walmart offers).

Everyman wins, hands down.

Below is a fascinating, and I think very good, article on the "history" of the leopard print.

Dogetiquette: What WOULD Fido say!

Post (below) from Camera Lucida: Just Me and You and Fido, March 29, 2012

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Just Me and You and Fido

It is for a good reason that I chose Fido as my cell phone plan. Actually, at the time I got it, there were very few cell phone services available in Canada, and this was touted as the best of the few. The many American services were unavailable in Canada at the time, for fear of them out-bidding the Canadian ones (so much for fair trade/free trade). Now that the market is inundated with them, Fido services are better, and more cheaper. I had thought to change plans to something even more cheaper and more better, but I'm glad I stayed loyal to my Fido.

The above photo is from Fido's online ad. These true Canadian canines are enjoying a toboggan ride, as only (Canadian) dogs can, all happily crammed on one long piece of wood.

On a serious note, cell phones have also brought out the worst in people. Every day, I hear one-sided, often very personal, conversations around me. And people hike up their voices when on cell phones. I think it is an ego thing: "Look at me! I'm having a conversation!" I also think that people get lost in their cocoon of them and the person on the other side, and the rest of the world doesn't exist. It is, of course, the continuing crassness of our world, and the gradual loss of civility. "No-one else matters but me!" say these modern narcissists. Sometimes I slow down to listen into these (boring) conversations. Some catch on and actually lower their voices. Others are just relentlessly oblivious.

The Mourning Dove: A Call to Action

Post from Reclaim Our Landscape (Formerly Our Changing Landscape): July 20, 2015

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Below is a dove I saw flying from tree to tree, and then it decided to stop by a small patch of grass, where it pecked at some seeds. I had drawn a portrait of one a couple of years ago, but the photo I used came from Wikipedia!

Confession: I have never seen a real-live mourning dove, although I have heard its lovely sound (in the Philadelphia area, last Spring).

Below is a photograph I managed to catch of this fleeting dove, and below that is my rendition of one perched on a branch.

I thought for a long time that it was "morning dove" but it is perhap apt that it be "mourning." Animal sounds often give us the mood of the times. A mourning dove, reminding us that we should be aware of what we are losing, and as my modest blog attempts to do, to reclaim it once again.

"Dogs, I Am Confident, Would Have Arranged Many, Many Things Better Than We Do"

First, I Do An On-Line Search
Cartoon by Arnie Levin
Published in the New Yorker October 5, 1998
I went to my (second) favorite spot to read - the Whole Foods Market cafe - my newly acquired (for TEN dollars, down from FORTY EIGHT dollars!) book, The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs.

Here is what the reviewers say about it:

...the amused insouciance, the self-deprecation, the gentle unfolding of a structural irony, the skip and reveal of the final sentence, the knowledge of Not Too Much that seems intrinsic to the New Yorker. And cartoons.”—Edmund De Waal, The Spectator

But, above all, it's funny, in that canine way, where all things are about the dog.


Thurber Dog With Butterfly for Nora, 1937
Illustration by James Thurber

Dogs, I am confident, would have arranged many, many things better than we do. They would have in all probability averted the Depression, for they can go through lots tougher things than we and still think it's boom time. They demand very little of their heyday; a kind word is more to them than fame, a soup bone more than gold; they are perfectly contented with a warm fire and a good book to chew (preferably an autographed first edition lent by a friend).
James Thurber, from "Dogs I Have Scratched"

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

The New York Dog

I browsed through the books at my local Chapters bookstore, and I found this: The New York Dog (not The Dogs of New York) by Rachael Hale McKenna, going for a mere $21 online ($32 in-store).

Here is one dog:


Bonga Loves New York

Image from: Rachael Hale McKenna: Photographer
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

The New York Dog

The New York Dog (not The Dogs of New York) by Rachael Hale McKenna, going for a mere $32.

Here is one dog:


Bonga Loves New York

From: Rachael Hale McKenna: Photographer
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Busy Sparrows

[Photos By: KPA]

Here are busy house sparrows setting up their nests above a small store. The male's colors are a combination of brown, grey and white, while the female's are shades of brown. They seem unperturbed by the human traffic. The only thing they object to is if said humans stands too long under their abodes. I've done this, trying to get a photograph, and what I get is an earful of the territorial claims by the feisty males.

In the top photograph, the male is inside the nest, but he is holding a piece of straw, building the nest. In the bottom, is is the female, who is normally hidden in the nest, who has flown out. I haven't yet seen any chicks yet.

Here is the sound of the male:



And information.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Those Canadians!

Of Geese and Dandelions
[Photo by: KPA]

Here's a photograph I took of a couple of Canada geese in a park area filled with dandelion heads.

I think there is a nest nearby. The goose closest looks like he's the male, on high alert, whose

...black bill has lamellae, or teeth, around the outside edges that are used as a cutting tool...
Male Canada geese can be very aggressive they will often attack predators with their wings and bill.
[Source: Canada Goose - Branta canadensis].

The male and female have are very similar, with the main difference being the males are larger. They mate for life.

Apparently, they like to eat weeds, and dandelions are a favorite. Here's an explanation for their attraction to lawns:

Mowed lawns attract geese by providing nutritious, new grass shoots. Such landscapes also offer unobstructed lines of sight, allowing the birds to detect approaching predators from a distance, and enabling the birds to continue maintaining ties between parents and offspring.
[Source: Canada Goose Habitat Modification Manual (pdf file)]

And more information from the same source:

Many urban and suburban areas...were designed and constructed early in the twentieth century, long before resident Canada Geese were abundant birds. They contain landscape features ideally suited for these geese, such as a supply of fresh water, expanses of shortly-mowed lawn, an island with suitable nesting habitat, and sometimes people feeding Canada Geese and other waterfowl.

It's a strangely elegant bird. Its long neck is incongruous with it squat body, and it waddles on its flat, webbed feet. But its black and white neck, with the grayish brown body makes it stand out from a distance. And don't get caught in a gaggle fly over, with a burst of loud honks!

listen to ‘Canada Geese flying North for the Summer’ on Audioboo

Call of the Wild
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Birds of America

Iceland or Jer Falcon
By John James Audubon (1785-1851)
From: The Birds of America
Publication date 1827 - 1838

Falco Islandicus, Lath. Iceland or Jer Falcon - Gyr Falcon. Labrador Falcon.

Tooth-like process of the bill generally obsolete in old, festoon slight in young birds; tail from three to four inches longer than the wings. Adult white, with slate-grey sagittate spots above, the bill pale blue, the cere and feet yellow. Younger birds light grey, the feathers white on the edges; the bill and cere light blue, the feet greyish-blue. Young brownish-grey above, the feathers margined and spotted with reddish-white, the lower parts yellowish-white, longitudinally streaked with dusky.

Male, 221/2, 49. Female, 231/2, 511/4.

Breeds in the extreme north, and in Labrador. In winter, migrates southward as far as Maine.
[Text source: A Synopsis of the Birds of North America
By John James Audubon
Edinburgh: Adam And Charles Black;
London: Longman, Rees, Brown Green and Longman
1839]

I recently posted on bird illustrations by Charley Harper (1992-2007), where I said:

His whimsical world captures, despite his best intentions I'm sure, some of that movement (chaos, as he calls it) of life, and especially the life of birds.

John James Audubon is another American illustrator who drew a large number of birds. His world is less whimsical than Harper's, but no less bewitching. His gyrfalcons, with their dark, and perhaps cruel, eyes, still win us over with their thick, mottled, black and white feathers.

From the University of Pittsburgh:

The Donation of Audubon’s Birds of America

The daughters of William McCullough Darlington and Mary Carson Darlington, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, donated their family library to the University of Pittsburgh in 1918 and 1925 as a memorial to their father. Birds of America was part of the collection that became the Darlington Memorial Library, established in the University’s Cathedral of Learning. According to one of Mr. Darlington's record books, he paid $400 to purchase the complete set in 1852.

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Charley Harper's Menagerie

Western Tanager
Bright as a circus poster on a weatherbeaten barn, the Western Tanager looks like a highly embarrassed goldfinch. No tree-top Caruso, he sings for his own enjoyment, telling of far-flung solitudes and the carefree existence, while his wife does the chores. When he visits your fruit orchard, remember that he eats mostly insects, ornaments Christmas trees in July, commemorates in color the autumn leaf, and is what you can say something is not as yellow as.
[From Charley Harper Prints page: Captions and Puns]

Charley Harper, often dismissed as an "illustrator," is a proficient artist. Wikipedia describes his as an "American Modernist artist."

Harper refines this "modernist" label as "minimal realism" as:

When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.

His "modernist" description is too vague, and what Harper was attempting was not "modernism" but a picture "without trimming or unutilized parts" where "the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."

His whimsical world captures, despite his best intentions I'm sure, some of that movement (chaos, as he calls it) of life, and especially the life of birds. We can see, and feel, his barn owl in flight, startled by something (Harper?) and ready to pounce on the small animal (a barn mouse?) that would feed him and his family. Or the barn swallow, preening and mocking (the barn owl?) in its gloriously red plumage, ignoring the poor, industrious insect above it for a later rendezvous for a meal. Or a blue jay furiously bathing in a calm stream with unperturbed fish which are more cautious of bathing hawks or eagles than neurotic blue birds. Harper's pictures are delightfully detailed, despite their apparent simplicity. And he is as fascinated with the mundane robin as with the exotic anhinga.



The Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) is:

...a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae).[2] The species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.

Adults have pale stout pointed bills, yellow underparts and light wing bars. Adult males have a bright red face and a yellow nape, shoulder, and rump, with black upper back, wings, and tail; in non-breeding plumage the head has no more than a reddish cast and the body has an olive tinge. Females have a yellow head and are olive on the back, with dark wings and tail.

The song of disconnected short phrases suggests an American Robin's but is hoarser and rather monotonous. The call is described as "pit-er-ick". [Source: Wikipedia]

Video of song of the Western Tanager
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Jewel Reigns

Last year a beautiful American Foxhound named Jewel won the Hound category in the National Dog Show.

This year, she went one up and won both the Hound, and the final coveted Best in Show prize.


Yes, she is smiling

Dogs are interesting creatures. They do things with such seriousness, and above all, with such eagerness to please their masters. Some act a little cocky, even in front their masters, but their are quickly reined in by an adroit and commanding voice. Jewel was a little disobedient in last year's competition, and that is why the judges feel she may have lost the grand title, although she did win the 2012 Best in Hound trophy. It looks like she was a little spooked by the foreign environment, with all the noise and the crowd. But, the judges were quick to add that at the moment of the hunt, the American Foxhound focuses in on putting his attention on the chase and capture. That is probably the same spirit that led Jewel to win the coveted dog prize this year.

And this year, she seemed perfect. She was happy to show what she knew, and she did so with some flourish. Probably the familiarity with the place helped, as well as a few other competitions and prizes she took along the way. And a dog's natural proclivity for play (at whatever age) also adds to Jewel's, and other dogs', charms.



The foxhound was President Washington's favorite dog. As I wrote here (quoting from the America Kennel Club):

George Washington, the father of our nation, is also the father of American Foxhounds. In 1770, Washington imported a number of hounds from England and in 1785, he received a number of French foxhounds from the Marquis de Lafayette. These hounds, carefully bred and maintained by Washington, are the founders of today’s American Foxhound. More than 30 hounds were listed in Washington’s journals, including "Drunkard," "Tipler," and "Tipsy."

First Gentleman of Virginia, 1909
John Ward Dunsmore
Fraunces Tavern Museum


Jewel: A Winning Spirit


Roger the Pekingese, who won Best in Toy [Dog] category.
How can this creature compete with the likes of Jewel?

There is a hierarchy of royalty. American President George Washington vs. Chinese Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi

The Pekingese is a spoiled lap dog: The American Foxhound is a working dog. Although the Amercian Foxhound became famous for fox hunts, it was also used for chasing coyote and deer.


Jewel, with her Best in Show 2013 Trophy

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Columbo's Canine Aide

Good-bye, Lieutenant Columbo
By: Whiteling
Columbo with his beloved canine, Dog

My favorite detective, other than the classy Jessica Fletcher who solves murders in Murder She Wrote (I blogged about her here), is her complete opposite: the scruffy Columbo. Fletcher looks, and acts, efficient and observant. Her method is methodical. Columbo, with his scruffy jacket, mop of a hair, squinting eye (which he lost due to cancer at age three, and which is a prosthetic) and exuberant side-kick dog, is less threatening. People don't notice him much, so he gets away with rummaging through homes, cars and other private properties.

"He looks like a flood victim," Falk once said. "You feel sorry for him. He appears to be seeing nothing, but he's seeing everything."

Columbo's side kick dog is a large, friendly basset hound, with a deep and boisterous bark and an incessantly wagging tail. He is also pretty stubborn, and at times makes his master Columbo carry to where he's supposed to go. And Columbo obliges, even when he has not time for stubborn, tail-wagging dogs sabotaging his murder investigations.

The dog's name is...Dog. Nothing else would fit, is Columbo's excuse for not naming the poor Dog.

Columbo is a detective of Italian descent. He is actually played by Jewish actor Peter Falk. But to my surprise, during the episode Identity Crisis, Columbo rips through in Italian with one of his co-actors, Vito Scotti, who plays Salvatore Defonte, an Italian winemaker.

But, Dog takes over the scene whenever he appears, which is why Columbo leaves him in the car (with promises of ice-cream) as he goes about the important work of solving murders.
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The Aesthetics of Foxhunting

John Ward Dunsmore (1856-1945)
The First Gentleman of Virginia: George Washington at the Hunt (c. 1777)
Frances Tavern Museum, New York City

Information on the painting is on page 20 of:
Images of America: Woodbrook Hunt Club
Joy Keniston-Longrie
Arcadia Publishing, 2009
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Jessica Fletcher, the astute observer of human (and it seems, animal) behavior in Murder, She Wrote is on a Virginia estate solving the problem of the murdered estate owner Denton Langley in the episode It's a Dog's Life. The wealthy Langley leaves his estate to his dog Teddy, causing a lot of disappointment amongst his relatives, including the one who murdered him in the hopes of getting the spoils of his death. Teddy gets called a murderer (of his beloved master) by these greedy relatives, in order to disown him of the inheritance, and to claim it for themselves. It is up to Jessica to show that Teddy in as innocent as, well, a dog.

Here is the synopsis of the episode.

What was interesting was the foxhunt that took place during the program. Jessica usually carries out her special art of investigative activity in a charming Massachussets coastal town called Cabot's Cove. For this one, she travels to Virginia to visit a friend at Langley's estate. Foxhunting is apparently still practiced in the United States.

Jessica joins the crowd in her own charming version of a foxhunt attire:



Standard attire is:

[D]uring the formal hunt season (usually around late October to late March in the northern hemisphere)...hunt members [wear] 'colours'. This attire usually consists of the traditional red coats worn by huntsmen, masters, former masters, whippers-in (regardless of sex), other hunt staff members and male members who have been invited to wear colours as a mark of honour. Since the Hunting Act in England and Wales, only Masters and Hunt Servants tend to wear red coats or the hunt livery whilst out hunting. Gentleman subscribers tend to wear black coats, with or without hunt buttons. Ladies generally wear coloured collars on their black or navy coats. These help them stand out from the rest of the field.

Teddy, the dog is probably an American Foxhound, which was bred by George Washington, although he looks a little too small to be an American Foxhound (here are dimensions for the American Foxhound and here for the English Foxhound), since he was easily carried around by the various protagonists of the murderous show.


Teddy

Is this the face of a sleuth? Actually, it is the face of an intelligent and observant woman, with a sense of humor


Jessica Fletcher, who would rather be writing
her books than solving murders.
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