NANO ZEN

People reading my posts and haiku might wonder after some of the names or words mentioned. I like to borrow from mythology and folklore, as the various gods, goddesses, heroes, villains, and creatures often lend so much more colour and personality to a story or poetic image. So I thought I might provide a brief run down of the cast of characters I’ve mentioned recently:

• Baka: My white fluffy little dog; a bichon frise. Word from Japanese means fool or idiot, though I meant it, when I named him, in the context of clown, bouffon, or jester. And Baka’s friendly, affectionate, and often amusing personality has developed along those lines.
• Cotton: my previous bichon frise I had from just after graduation from U(W) in 1990 to his passing in early 2005. Still in my memories.
• Eos: Greek goddess of the dawn.
• fée: French for fairy folk.
• Helios: Greek god of the sun.
• Selene: Greek goddess of the moon.
• Tatty – A online friend from Norway. Witty, fun, free spirited, chatty friend, who likes dark beer and light bruises.
• Thor – Norse god of thunder.
• Unclr – An excellent photographer from Norway and friend of Tatty.

I often write of dawn, dusk, scenery, and storms as I find them interesting times of change often mixed with beauty, colour, scents, sounds, turbulence, and emotion. They act on the senses and the mind in infinite ways and every day nature offers a new painting to begin and end the day. It also happens to be times of the day that Baka and I go for walks and the places we go when I might reflect on the world around me.

I like to go out running and unlike some people (who claim they went running or have no sweat glands or are simply not human at all), I tend to come back sweating profusely. If I walk around a bit to cool down, I’ll sweat even more as my body expels excess salt, minerals, moisture, heat, and gasses and generally makes a small contribution to global warming.

On those really hot and humid summer mornings, I can end up soaked head to toe, such that my running shoes will go squish squish squish as though I’d been running in the rain. Those are the days that you leave a trail of warm saline from the door all the way to the bathroom, fridge, or laundry, which ever comes first.

Now Baka just loves this. From the moment I’m in the door, I’m besieged by a fluffy little white dog intent on giving me a tongue bath. First the legs, then arms as I bend down to remove my squishy shoes. His little tail wagging furiously as though this were better than play time or long walks.

I hate to deprive him of his small pleasures, so I’ll sit or lie down on the floor and let him enjoy his moment licking my legs, arms, and face. It is not like I have much use for the sweat anyway. It’s not like I’m going to scrape it off and put in jar to use as lard or soup bouillon. And having Baka show his affections and interest in the by-products of my physical exertions allows me further time to cool down and can actually be quite relaxing, though it tends to tickle when he gets to the ears.

By “Thinking Cool” I’m not talking about the iPhone. Nice piece of kit, but I won’t abandon the SFR service I’ve been happy with for 12 years just to get one; switching to Orange France just ain’t worth it.

In my apartment, all I have in my bedroom to keep cool during summer nights is a squeaky ceiling fan (Casablanca fans take note). So last night I sat in bed with my laptop and watched Mystery, Alaska. Nice chilly underdog hockey movie. Just the sort of thing to remind a Canadian of home, beautiful vistas (and no, not the Windows shite), lots of snow, and hockey.

Of course I couldn’t keep the laptop in my lap; throws too much heat, when the idea is to think cool thoughts. Though it would make for a good bed warmer in winter, Baka does a good job of that year round. Soon as I open the bed and start to get ready, Baka jumps up and finds a place in the centre nuzzled against the pillows. Of course he gives me a disgruntled look as soon as I slide him over a tad so that we can both comfortably sit and watch.

I’ve been somewhat on a downer lately. Set all my IM clients to DND, tweet little, turn my cell phone ringer to silent mode, email yet to be answered, hibernating from summer heat, and generally feeling like I’ve lost the plot. Just to put things in context.

I woke early yesterday around 6h00, took Baka for his walk before the sun crested the hill, while the air was still cool and fresh, with nobody around to disturb the silence, sort of like Charlton Heston in Omega Man. After Baka had finished marking our territory, made a cup of tea, grabbed the last of the dark chocolate chip & pecan cookies, and sat down to watch Alien v Predator Requiem on DVD I just received, having not yet seen it. This cheered me up.

I like sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, thriller, drama, almost any story really, good or bad. I can suspend disbelief pretty well and get immersed in a story. In my current frame of mind, it wasn’t hard either. So to be watching a sci-fi horror flick based on the Alien and Predator creatures at 6h30 in the morning and claim that it cheered me up just goes to show how much of a downer I’m going through just now. I suppose the cookies helped too.

In any recent flick with the Alien, they have a tendency to breed faster than black flies hanging around Uranus and have a nasty bite too. To say that these critters leave a little welt is an understatement. So after the film, when I spotted Baka lying on his back in that all so cute “rub my belly please” posture, you might have thought I had a vision of exploding chest cavities.

Not so. But I did oblige him and rub his belly only to find grit or worse flea dust. Not a little either, but a lot. Dog owner’s worst nightmare is not drooling Aliens and face huggers, but ticks and fleas, especially if there is more than one and they can breed almost as fast. Right, my mood might be no better than Marvin the android, but action had to be taken. Immediate bath time for Baka.

Just as well too. Found four of the blighters despite the bath he had last week and the Frontline I applied. Now instead of Aliens, I might have to deal with more fleas and me only armed with a can of Raid.