Nancy Bloyer and her husband raise puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. They have just welcomed a new pup named "January". Part of the training is to take the puppy everywhere dressed in a green and yellow jacket identifying him/her as a 'trainee'. Surfside Quilters Guild welcomes the puppies at our meetings, but it is hard to not touch them - also part of training.
This Bernese Mountain Dog puppy lives in Massachusetts with her new "mom". Sepia has already attended a fiber arts meeting and was really mellow about it. She will grow to about 85 pounds and be loved and loving for many years. She thinks the snow is great!
As much as I love Corky, I would love to have a dog as a full time companion. It would almost have to be a poodle as I am allergic to dogs. I know the current research tends to debunk this, but I, and many other people, start weeping and sniffing when we are around dogs, so we will all continue our belief that it is the dog's dander that causes this. And act accordingly.
I may not have been very clear in my statements about selling things on blogs. I'm not put off by blogs offering quilts or other artwork for sale. What I don't like is the "commercial" blogs that clearly offer products as the main point of the blog. The bit of "chatter" that is posted is all connected to selling something - not toward friendship or exchange of ideas and information. I imagine there is a place for all kinds of blogs, I just would like to see an indication of which I am opening - before I open it. If I go to a website I expect to see things for sale - it is the place I would expect to find quilts that I might buy as part of TCQC.
6 comments:
our friends got a Wheaten(sp?) terrier. It has hair rather than fur and none of us have the sneezy reaction with it. I understand it's a great breed for people with allergies. He's a darling, lovable, dog with funny personality. Probably about 60 lbs or so. The dog levitates off the ground when company comes he's so happy to see anyone. Not much of a watch dog-probably lick someone to death instead.
I am also yearning for a pet - our dear Jack Russell passed away almost 5 years ago and I still miss him terribly. Since my husband isn't gung-ho for another pet, I make do with making a pet portrait every few months... I also agree about the commercialism on blogs. The creative process is much more interesting to follow if you don't feel inundated with "click and buy" images. Since I have actually sold pieces which were featured on my blog, though, I have been thinking about having a separate blog of items just for sale... that way people who want a piece know where to go to find it... a designated "sales" area so my "creative musings" area is purely a non-commercial... endeavor.
I, too, am highly allergic to dogs and cats (even worse). Not sure about mink coats, though. It is the rare dog who doesn't make me sneeze - but they are out there if you want a companion. Research also says that people who live alone are happier with a dog and I can understand that. So? What's preventing you?
The dogs look so delightful I could find myself yearning over them. I do think you need a dog for yourself, although Corky would probably be mightily put out. But keeping your eye out for what you could have in your future is a good idea.
I have always admired the dogs for the blind. They seem utterly cool and calm, which is what I like in dogs. I've not been around poodles much, though, so I can't vouch for them. I can vouch for allergies, which seem to attach themselves to us the older we get. Not that you are getting older, just me
About selling on blogs: I suppose it's old-fashioned of me (by "old fashioned" I mean about two years "old") when blogs were a means to chat about our lives and what we loved doing -- whether walking Corky or painting skies. So when I happen upon a blog that sounds like it's a chat, but is really a come-on, I feel like I need to wash after shaking hands with someone slightly "off."
If the site is clearly labeled, but uses a blog for selling, that's different: "Underwood sales corporation: buy paintings here" or some such nonsense. And of course, I buy off the web all the time. It's just that I expect blogs to be conversations, sometimes intense, sometimes partisan, sometimes neighborly. And when they are just a come-on for sales, I get grumpy.
On the other hand, if I see something someone is doing that I like on a friedly blog, I don't hesitate to check and see if I can afford it. That's totally different. And if someone is incidentally selling something, like Terry, when she first started doing the birds, that's different. That was part of her life; she sent us to Etsy after that. It's the deceptive come-ons that really irritate me.
Art is, nowadays, very much about people. And I like people who make art but who chat without the hard, or even soft, sale. Selling can go on in stores, and on labeled sites. Or even labeled pages within sites. But not where I might go to say "hi" and find myself hearing "buy."
I think a dog enriches your life. But of course, you know this through having Corky to care for. OUr son initially reacts to cats, but after a while he settles down & stops sneezing and reacting. Not sure why.
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