Post Open-House Swab the Decks Blues: Sunday, December 16th!

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobelist (1875-1965)

Dear Patrick and Corinne, Kimo and I had such a wonderful time yesterday. You invited us into your beautiful home, introduced us to your incredible friends and to top it off, we tasted the best meatballs ever! Thank you so much, this was a memorable night. 

I hope you guys can drop by soon for a glass of gluhwein. We are trying to take some time off between Christmas and the New Year’s and it would be great to have you over. On another note, I was wondering if you could forward me the email address of Aart and Jos. I have a pile of Dutch magazines they might be interested in. Again, many thanks!! Happy Sunday! Kimo and Joanne Hi Joanne and Kimo! Thank you for the lovely words! Delighted you were able to join us and that the meatballs we such a hit. Have included the message from Josinta and Aarturos so you can correspond directly with them. Thanks, as well, for invitation for gluhwein. We'll keep in touch and trust we can arrange a time for visit. All the best. Cheers, Patrizzio!

Dear Corinne, Cloe and Patrizzziiiioooo, Thank you for yet another great party. We enjoyed it and so did Rene. It is obvious that you are surrounding yourselves increasingly with Dutch people (for a good reason ....!). Doei, Aart & Jos Hello Burns Street Chauffeurs! Glad you enjoyed yourselves and thanks again for taking such good care of René. Had a message from Joanne and she wanted your email address as she said she had some Dutch magazines you might be interested in. I trust you don't mind that I took the liberty of passing it along so I suppose you will be hearing from them soon. Until next we meet, travel safely. Stay well. Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!

Dear Patrick & Corinne, Hope your open house was a success.  We are going to one next Saturday and thankful that I am not doing one this year. Maybe next year for our 75^th. As you are always meeting so many interesting people I too have met someone similar to my creative interests. His name is Don Chaput a Videographer and quite the artist. Received recognition from Stephen Spielberg for his work. His wife is a gardener and retired prof. in Psychology and recently gave a talk on the Seniors Brain and we are having them over next week.

I am always thankful for your wonderful photos of your feline friends and that it makes me think back to our first year of marriage when we lived out in Pilot Mound and had a beautiful red headed Tabby called Puff who we adored.  We trained him to walk on a lead, retrieve, walk by our side and just appreciate the closeness and the love that he gave us. When we moved back to Wpg. we could not keep him so temporarily left him with John’s parents until we could sneak him into our rented apartment.  We lived about ten miles away from their home and the next morning we found Puff sitting on the hood of the car. It is hard to believe their radar but he tracked us down. He did this a few times & when he did not show up one day the grief of losing him was unbearable. I can still feel his loss.

In Australia we were introduced to our first Dalmatian, Quin.  The bond, the love, the attachment was so great I felt he was like my little boy. His emotional intelligence as all our Dals exceeds ours and he was so emotionally intuitive that continued to create a closer bond. It was the beginning of such a love for the breed. He gave us his unconditional love, his loyalty, his commitment and helped create a most rewarding life that kept us healthy and happy. We grew to understand through his eyes that a loving relationship is what matters.  

When we lost him when he was twelve, the grief again was horrific. But time heals and we got Riley in Vancouver, he was my second little boy. Again he taught us that being in a loving relationship is what matters in life. 
 

Experiencing little love is lonely and toxic and being isolated one becomes unhappy so a dog teaches you about what is important in life. They become our best friend. They become owners of our lives as they sleep with us they complete our identity. Soon we got him a mate and Morgan and Riley were lovers. It was amazing to see the passion between animals, the love, and the commitment. The emotional attachment that we had for them and their attachment to us was powerful. They live for love and cannot survive without our love. We soon lost Riley at fifteen and Morgan at sixteen and the grief once again was unbearable.  But again time heals and we realized we could not function without them.

Benson now nine my third little boy and Tess six our second little girl are sweethearts and teach us a lot about love and commitment. They have high self-esteem, they are trustworthy and polite and they repay us with their unbelievable kindness. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living know they self. One discovers the self through their dog. We transfer our psychology onto another the same way we transfer our emotions onto our dogs. They know us more than we know ourselves. They are the Yin and Yang their black and white spots that offers us a balance in our relationship.
 

While everything in the universe is either male or female Yin or Yang love is not. Female dogs and Male dogs have the same ultimate goal to love and be loved. They are incredibly passionate and loving and demanding of their needs.  Benson must be stroked and held and kissed. Every night he has a ritual of sitting beside me before bed putting his paws on my shoulder and kissing and hugging as he moans and groans.  They have an ability to sit and look right through you as he reads my thoughts and knows my emotions. It reminds me of a mothers love for her infant. A mother teaches her newborn to love by looking at him as their eyes connect. It is how a baby learns to love through their mother. If the child has not experienced his mother’s love then he never learns to love himself and cannot love another. 
 

So there is much power in the eyes of the mother. The same for the canine, we connect by looking at each other. Canines read our behavior through what they see in our eyes and it is powerful when we can feel their love and when they know they are loved. There is a bond, a trust, a commitment a knowingness and that is to love and be loved.

  

I think of how often our Dalmatians and I walk through the forest and there always is a deep awakening to the truth a deep realization of what I am experiencing. Being able to live in the moment is so powerful. I feel that is one of the most beautiful gifts a dog can offer you as they walk with you side by side listening, feeling, exploring we are always in sync. 
 

They teach you to feel, to sense, to welcome the moment your own awakening of just being human. When we are not with our dogs we are really quite different with others. Taking care of dogs teaches us to just be better humans.

Our Dalmatians are part of our life’s story and we are extremely grateful for their unconditional love and loyalty.Do have a most wonderful Christmas And a Healthy and Happy New Year, Much Love, Jean, John, Benson & Tess 
 

Dear Corinne & Patrick, Jean forgot to enclose our picture. Merry Christmas Hugs, Benson & Tess Hi Jean! Thank you for the best wishes on our Open House. It really was a lovely affair and we had loads of fun. The guests all seemed to enjoy themselves and raved about Lady Dar's wonderful food. 

Enjoyed your paean to your pooches, present and past. Wonderful snaps of Benson and Tess! Just a quick note before heading to bed as I'm replacing Lady Dar at Soupateria tomorrow morning. She is a regular volunteer there, preparing lunch for the homeless, during her once a month shift. However, she was asked to grandparent Avery and Ashlynn as their parents are both on day shift tomorrow so I'll cover for her, making sandwiches, doing dishes, etc. Happy to do so as it is a very worthy cause. Fondestos to you and John. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Etta and Duke before we left for an Open House in OK Falls this afternoon. Haven't put the rug back down yet as I want to wash floor before so doing. Ragin' with Sandy and Susan. Sandy is in Flatlander walking group with Lady Dar and Susan is her friend, visiting from Cochrane, Alberta. Lady Dar with Kelly, host, and Linda, both in walking group as well.

Ragin'! This article elucidates some of the reasons I enjoyed Buster far more than the Wild Bunch! Brilliant script/dialogue as opposed to fairly pedestrian fare and bang bang for the sake of bang bang! Cheers, Il Conduttore! 

Hello Fartograms, Here is the invite for another Monday hike, December 17. This time we will be taking you to the peak of Indian Mountain/Pine Mountain on the south end and explore the top. It is a moderate hike, an new idea from our own Karl, who has already hiked it several times, including recently with Al Tinka, the father of all hikes! We will be under Karl's very capable leadership. It is a moderate hike, lasting about 3 hours over approximately 8 km. For the seasoned Fartograms, this should not be an issue. I.e. you can use all your energy to enjoy the outdoors and the views, and not to huff and puff! Trail head is somewhere on the Shingle Creek Road close to the Bob Tail ranch, so we need high clearance vehicles. As long as we have some, it should be good with carpooling.

Dear Patrick and Corinne wishing you a peaceful and relaxing time over Christmas where ever you are and what ever you do. And may 2019 be a good year for all of us. Lore and I did not sojourn in the Okanagan this year. We went to Port Hardy, Port MacNeil, Telegraph Cover over on the Island, it was most interesting and lovely. so quiet people have a bit of a hart life up there but a good one. Unfortunately the weather was not that great foggy and a lot of smoke. But there is nothing one can do. I hope you and your large and small family are doing good, and you Patrick are always busy with all sorts of events.
Take care and may be see you next year. Love Gisela

[Dick Cannings Bobcat at the Okanagan Lake Marina in Penticton this morning!]


Hello Dearest Gisela! Simply lovely to hear from you and thank you for the Christmas and New Year's wishes. We missed you and Lore this summer but it sounds as if you enjoyed an interesting time on VI in spite of the fog and smoke. Terrible smoke here in the Okanagan as you probably knew. Nevertheless, we had plenty of visitors!!! Please pass along best wishes to Lore and a Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year to you, Gisela. Cheers, Patrizzio! Hello Patrick thanks for all the news, you sure have a very active and
interesting life. Hope to see you next year. Love Gisela

As always, we will get together at the IGA parking lot in Summerland at 9:00AM. Pentictonites will need to gather at 8:40PM at HH in Penticton, then carpool to Summerland. After the hike the usual get together for beverages of your choice! See you there! Aarturos & Karlos All hikers are welcome to come to the residence of Marian & Tim Dunn for cake, coffee and/or wine and/or beer after the hike .... for a special occasion. Here's to ..... Aart