From the Sochi Olympics to the Canadian Blog Awards

Ah, the Olympics. Impressive and inspiring, sleazy and profligate. The athletes are admirable — Olympian! The IOC is corrupt. I love watching the events; I cringe at the resources that were sacrificed to mount the Games here in 2010. "Go, Team Canada!"? Sure. "Own the podium!"? Oh, please. For the past decade or so, I've heartily cheered on my former student Darcy Marquardt, a silver medalist with the Canadian rowing team and a smart and compassionate person to boot. A few years ago, I wrote a play that used the Olympic Games as a metaphor for selfishness and insensitivity.

[The deeply dubious ethics of McDonald's aside, this ad is a nice response, I think, to the obnoxious nationalism/parochialism of the "Own the Podium" campaign.]

As for Sochi and the LGBT/Human Rights business ... I dunno. Maybe these Games should have been more widely boycotted. Maybe they've served to call more attention to problems that would otherwise have persisted without much complaint. Are the Games worth the expense, given Russia's current social and economic difficulties? I really doubt it.

A complicated affair, these things.

But back to walking with Freddie ...

Friday Morning on the Right of Way

 

 
I love this woman's velvet coat and hat. She admired Freddie and asked if we were having a good walk. I said we were and asked if she was, too. She said she was.

Freddie and I made our way to Quilchena dog park for a vigorous romp with the dozen or so other dog/people pairs who were there this cold, sunny morning. On the way back, we stopped outside St. Augustine's School, where the kids were having recess. In the past, playground recess, with its squeals and bouncing balls and general exuberance has been quite challenging for Freddie. Today, following the guidelines in this Suzanne Clothier video (thanks to Heather L for the link), Freddie and I just hung out and watched/listened/sniffed ....

 Happy Puppy

Fleeting Moment

Again following the video, I let Freddie choose his own position. He started out on full alert: standing, ears perked, head high, tail swooshing. By the end of recess, he was doing this ...

He briefly put his head down in the grass, but then a leaf blew by, and I missed the shot!

Finally, if the Olympics aren't morally complicated enough for you, there's always the Canadian Blog Awards! This year Walking With Freddie is nominated in the "Best New Blog" category. We'd be honoured to have your vote(s) (there are two rounds of voting, with multiple votes permitted in at least one of those rounds). Just click here and scroll down to the New Blog category.

Vote early and vote often! :)