I Feel Good

I feel content these days. 

I have a house I love, a dog who keeps me company. My blood sugars are terrible lately but that happens. I've been getting into yoga which I'm really enjoying. I've been using an app on my phone that helps me find yoga studios in town, shows what types of classes they teach and when happen.
It's a tricky thing to be new at because a class for "all levels" at one studio might be fine but at another might be too hard for me. Some studios do heated yoga which I really can't do. Not simply because it's uncomfortable but because I get light-headed very easily (more on that in a bit) and it freaks me out.

For the past month I've had some gross phlegmy thing going on and I went to a doctor yesterday about it. She gave me a Rx for nasal spray and hopefully that will help. The other issue is fluid in my ear which means my ear buzzes half the time. Or maybe that's just Harlow breathing in my ear. No, I think it's the fluid.
I asked her about the fact that I often get light-headed during yoga "I even feel queasy sometimes". She looked at my chart "It's your low blood pressure. Your pressure today was 70/54." 

Even I know that's low for me. So, I need to up my salt intake, I guess, or at least eat something salty before yoga now. Last night I went to a yoga class in Somerville and it was great. I like yoga because it's challenging, but it's all about "listening to your body" which sounds cheesy as hell but really is just a great excuse to sit out a move of two if you're too tired. "I'm listening to my body and it told me not to do the upward facing python twist so I'm just gonna lay down now"

At the end of last night's class we did a guided meditation. Sitting with legs crossed and hands facing up resting on your knees. I couldn't do it. No way. My back was sore sitting that way for so long, I get fidgety. So, I just laid down. I'm pretty sure that's cheating when it comes to the meditation part, but I don't want to get to the end of yoga and be all happy about my hard work but leave with a sore back.

It's been a rough week at work. I'm finding that at BU there is more sitting around than I'm happy with and it's frustrating. I could be taking on private clients, going to the gym, doing something way more constructive at home (working my way through the shows piling up on my DRV for example). I'm sitting at my desk acting busy, or waiting to go to a meeting, or waiting to go to a shoot. I don't go wander campus because we're all caught up with photos and don't need any for while, plus the students are on break this week so trying to find something to shoot is tantamount to torture. Although it is nice to have a job where I can walk around.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining and I am, but I can complain occasionally and still be really grateful. Because that's exactly how I am. Grateful. 

One might say here "Why not just go take pictures?" because they will never be used anywhere and that's just annoying. Plus, I seem to be shooting nothing but crap lately; no interesting composition, no interesting colors, nice moments. Nothing. I have goose eggs. Zero.
I posted about this on FB today...

You know you're having a bad week when you start having nightmares that no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to make a good picture. I dreamt this morning that I was driving through insane traffic conditions (think Mumbai) to get to a school to photograph a cheer leading practice. By the time I got there, they were done with practice. A few of them said they were going back to their house to practice and I could come along. So I did. They got ready to practice at their home and suddenly got distracted by the pet penguin and it's baby wandering through the house! I went to pet the penguin and when I looked up, lights were dimming, candles were being lit and a Seder was starting. "Sorry, you can't take any pictures!" they told me. So I left. As I got to my car I realized I had no shoes on. And no pictures either. (sad trombone).That's the other thing. Really really long, elaborate, complicated, graphic dreams which result in me waking drained. So that's fun.

I am proud of the newsletter I just sent out for CSP though. It took a ton of time to get right but the end result is great, I think.    http://createsend.com/t/i-DBEBA359F9A3BFA9

This weekend Meg is coming with Stella and Miles and I am completely excited about seeing them and spending the weekend with them. Gonna be great.

I'll end this with Harlow and the challenges of the tennis ball and ice combo.

Sure are slippery! from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.

Harlow Update

Harlow is changing. Ever so slightly. Bit by bit. She's growing up. She is still mischievous, but she is maturing too. Yesterday I left her loose in the first floor (no crating) while I went off to yoga. I returned to find no damage or destruction. Progress!  A week ago I'd given this a try and failed to notice that I left Amanda's DVD which she'd loaned to me, on a chair. I returned to a destroyed movie, aptly name Despicable Me.

Amanda got a new movie with a carefully written pup apology.

Her vocabulary is interesting though (Harlow's, not Amanda's). Now when I ask her "Where's your ball?" or say "Get the stick!" she listens to me, then consciously turns and looks for the item I've just mentioned. That item specifically. It's pretty impressive. A few weeks ago we were in my room and she'd brought in purple cow. As we left the room, I noticed she'd left purple cow behind. I said "Go get purple cow!" and she went straight back to her bed where she'd left it and picked it up.

She has "leave it" and "take it" down solid. I often sue both when giving her a treat. The idea being that she learn she can't take something until she's given the OK. This is especially useful around kids who might be walking around with food. She learns she can't take it from them unless she's given the "take it" command.

She does seem to go in phases of weird traits though. Months ago, she was really into hiding her head under the curtains at bedtime. She doesn't do that anymore. Now, she talks. A lot. She barks when she thinks she hears something outside, and does her talky barky thing regularly. Where she sort of grumbles at me. For not getting out of bed. For not greeting her in the morning once I'm out of bed with the right amount of peppiness.

She has now figured out the couch. She can get up onto it with ease now, which she didn't used to. I think because I had rained her to stay off the couch. Now, I put a red blanket down and she knows she can join me. I love when she hops up and plops half her body across me, as if the couch is lacking space.

Here, she talks to me about her bone (or really, tries to get me to throw it).

Chatting it up about a soup bone from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.

Lake Worth Street Painting Festival.

Lake Worth St Painting Festival from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.


Shannon and I have participated in the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival three times when we were still living in south Florida. Here was one of our first conversations about trying to go back. It was a really great experience and we loved doing it. (Here's the one from 2008) Since moving away, me to Boston and her to IL, we've been talking about going back specifically to do the fest again.

This year we finally made it happen. It was a great weekend! Libby hosted me and Taylor hosted Shannon. I arrived on a Thursday and was able to catch up with my friend Ellen over dinner that night. On Friday, Shannon, Libby and I went for a hip breakfast to meet Libby's friend Meggie who was also participating in the festival and wanted to pick out brains. Not that there was much to pick. While a lot of people use the entire weekend to work on their elaborate piece (the woman stationed next to us was doing, no joke, the Sistine Chapel), Shannon and I generally make it out goal to do something that's fun, manageable, recognizable, and gets us to lunch at Toojays by 1.

We did some shopping in preparation for a really nice gathering Libby hosted of Post people, and in the afternoon I had lunch with Thomas. It was really great to see him and catch up after over six years!

Saturday morning, Shannon and I headed over to Lake Worth. The application process was more involved this year. We had to send a screen grab of the art we were doing, a sketch of the screen grab, and to give ourselves an extra edge, we sent pictures of past works we'd done. We were relieved to get accepted eventually (we would be guaranteed a spot of we sponsored ourselves, but I was too cheap to do it).

The scene we chose was from an animated movie called The Book of Life. Neither of us have seen it but we could see it was visually very cool, with it's theme of Day of the Dead. Our character was a dramatic woman with a giant hat. In the end, we got rid of the hat, convinced we wouldn't actually have enough chalk in the end to pull it off and make it look good. So, we improvised and we were pretty happy with the results (although looking at it now I see my flower is sort of floating BY her head rather than resting on her ear, but whatever. We're not artists. We're chalk drawers, we decided.

We also decided we needed to make this a yearly tradition.

Saturday we had a really nice Indian meal and Sunday, Libby and I went down to Miami to a neighborhood called Winwood, where public art abounds!

yummy Friday morning breakfast

Only in Florida!

TooJay's deliciousness!

angry baby mural

For Susan. At Block 11 cafe

This place it looks familiar
This cafe I've just walked in
It took a sec to place it
But then I knew I'd been

Many years and counting
With you I saw this place
Many years and counting
Since I've seen your smiling  face

New Annoying Toy

Because we don't have enough annoying toys around here, I bought her yet another one. I'm glad I did though because she loves the thing and it actually tires her out. It took a bit to get used to it though. At first it freaked her out (evidence below).

After she was done playing with it last night, I vaguely remember wondering where it went to. Tonight when I went to the pantry to get a cup of dog food for her, there the ball was, right next to the dreaded vacuum cleaner! She's afraid of the vacuum cleaner so, of course, she went nowhere near the ball.

Discovering her new toy from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.

More Snow

According to local news, we have exceeded the snow fall of 1978! And in the video below, I say that it's Sunday. It is not Sunday, it's monday. I'm very confused and have lost track of time.

Untitled from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.

Carport Part 2

We have a lot of snow here in Boston. A lot of snow. A record amount of it.
Even though I've run out of places for it, I keep shoveling. Clearing the front stairs, clearing the back stairs, clearing the sidewalk to the carport, clearing the sections between the carport and the street.

This morning Harlow and I ran errands before the next storm hits. Food, pet-friendly ice melt, etc.  Pulling back into my carport though, I slid sideways into the snow mound on the right. I got really stuck. So I delivered Harlow to the yard and got myself the shovel and got to work, moving out as much snow as a could, then jamming some cardboard under the wheels for traction. It worked like a charm!

And once I got the car settled, I looked up and saw this on top of the carport. Of course...

2/8/15 the endless snow essentially made a ramp for her to get the best view! from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.



I tried to clear some of the snow which was helping her get access to the top of the carport, but it was a beast of a job, and in truth, my priority was clearing my access to the street a little better for the sake of my car. We'd only get more snow to remake her access ramps anyway.

Gee, I wonder where she's getting up onto the carport?

I worked to remove some of the snow, but who am I kidding? She could easily jump that if she was bored enough.

So, I put the correction collar on her and basically tried to bait her. I let her back outside and acted busy on the porch (from where I can see the carport) and hoped she would try to jump up again. I would shock her to teach her to stop doing it. I don't love that (there's a vibrate mode on the collar which tends to be effective enough), but I'll take puppy's temporary discomfort over her being crushed by a plow because she got out of the yard again and when for a walkabout!

Alas, she knows exactly what that collar does, so she knew better than to take the bait. In fact, she'll approach the carport and then look into the window to see if I'm watching her, remote in hand. If I'm there, she scurries in another direction. So make no mistake about it; she knows what that collar does and she knows she's not allowed on the carport.

Yesterday though, before the back-breaking snow removal and car digging out, I got some nice snow play shots.

she's an excellent snowball collecter

tracking those nasty squirrels!

The (additional) Great Escape

These days I look like death and feel about as great. This winter has been a tough one health wise for me. I got a nasty cold during Christmas which resulted in me losing my voice. About a week after that I got another head cold. This past Saturday I was finally starting to feel better with the sensation of appreciably less snot inhabiting my sinuses when I woke Sunday morning with a tickly cough.

By Sunday night it was clear something was up and I was actually a little freaked out about how quickly I declined. By evening my lungs felt sharp pain in them, likely from the coughing. The next day I went to the doctor and while I hoped to feel validated for my whinyness by hearing that "Yes, Miss Scott, you do indeed have the Black Plague" I only have a chest cold. I was told that it can stick around for 21 days though.

21 Days?! Who has time for that crap?  I sure don't. Parents in general have been on my mind a lot lately. How the hell do they keep their kids alive when they feel this miserable? I can barely take care of my dog these days let alone do my job.

Case in point; poor Harlow has been very confused since I've been home sick for three days now and I'm am simply no fun to be around at all. She's been rambunctious and whiny, fidgety and restless. Poor girl. Why is Mom here but no fun at all?! If I am laying down in bed in my dark bedroom, she's quiet as a mouse, but anywhere else and she can't stand to sit still.

Today she took matters of boredom into her own hands when she disappeared from the yard. When I tell you this seemed like a miraculous feat, you'll have to take my worked for it. I let her out this afternoon, and after about a half hour when she hadn't returned, I wondered what was up. I went out into the yard and sure enough, no dog. I checked the house in case in my delusional state she'd been inside the entire time. Nope. No pup.

I didn't panic. In fact, my reaction was sort of, um, oh well, I guess she'll come back when she comes back? Which isn't at all the right attitude I realize, but it is true, really. Usually. I mean, they do just come back on their own generally right?

Keep in mind I'm not running on all cylinders these days with head congestion, chest paint, a sinused of brick and water in my ears.

Try not to judge me too harshly.

Anyway, I went to the car and got her Most Obnoxious Squeaky Toy In The Whole World because of course it's her favorite. I gave it a squeeze and she came bounding out from behind the neighbor's back yard, crossing the street right in front of a car which was thankfully moving at a slow pace and spotted her on top of that, slowing to a glacial pace. Harlow got about five yards from me when she realized she wasn't actually interesting in being a good dog and coming to me when I called, so she turned her back to me and crossed the street again, heading down Gaston Street.

I started to walk towards her, calling her cheerily in my forced cracked sickly voice. She wasn't buying it and picked up the pace to a trot. I got in my car and called my dad. I was slowly creeping around the neighborhood with the window down, squeaking out her name, when some neighbors waved me down "Are you looking for a dog?"

Does she seem like a mischievous asshole? Then yes!

Judging from the state of her snout, she found something delicious in her travels

I brought the punk home and made her stay inside for a bit. I let her out again with intention of watching her through the windows to see how she's getting out of the yard (she's smart enough to know not to do it while I'm watching her). As she moved around in the yard, I had to move within the house from window to window. I thought for sure she was jumping on top of the carport again, but as I looked out the window with a view of the carport, I could have sworn I saw a plume of white fur flutter by below the window. I ran outside and sure enough she was gone. Minutes later I got a call, "Are you looking for Harlow?"

The mail carrier held onto her until I could retrieve her about a block away. I brought her to the yard again and watched her carefully. That's when I figured out where she was getting out, because she kept eyeing me as she wandered over to the tiny space between the house and the fence. I couldn't fathom that this was where she was getting out, and then I remembered, if she can get out of her crate when only one of the two latches are unlocked, she can squeeze through this space easy-peasy!

I solved the problem with a nail and a piece of wood, and I knew I'd gotten it right when she began to pace nervously as I did this. Poor puppy, her freedom revoked!

Thank goodness I had a piece the perfect size. hammering one nail was about all I could muster today. I never could have handled having to saw something today!