Raison d’être

We've all heard - either as advice we give our children or perhaps directed to ourselves - to follow your bliss. This isn't insipid advice from a 99 cent greeting card - it is actually a profound and fundamental truth.

Years ago my father, an orchestra conductor, advised Anthony (then an aspiring cello player), not to pursue a career in professional music unless he couldn't live without it. Being a musician is a tough way to make a living, much less in classical music. But if one is a musician (or an artist of any sort), life without that art is hell itself.

I've come to believe that is true, on some level, of all productive activity. Be it work or hobby, there's a self-fullfilling cycle: If you enjoy your work, you will be good at your work. If you are good at something, you're more likely to want to do it. In training, we call this a self-reinforcing behavior. There are lots of examples, food and sex being the most profound. If it feels good, do more of it, right? Think about comfort foods and masturbation, and the truth of this becomes obvious.

Some things are obvious only after first-hand experience, and I was reminded of this again yesterday. I took Gin open field coursing, and her unrestrained ecstasy at discovering why she exists gave me joy, as well. She loves plastic games (lure coursing and racing), really loves them. They are fun fun fun and Gin is always happy to go play. But yesterday she found her purpose for being: chasing live game over rough terrain in cold weather. This is what borzoi were developed to do, this is what they do better than any other breed. (Yes, some are faster and some have more endurance, but none other hits that trifecta out of the park.) Gin thought cotton-tails looked like fun and should be chased, but once loosed on the jackrabbit, she transformed.

I have seen this before, Py and Ren and Day all learned the same lesson about themselves - the why of their being. It's just like a border collie when they "turn on" at herding: OH!! I make the sheep move by doing THIS. And they become their true selves.

Hundreds of generations of DNA can not be denied. The truth is it feels good to do that at which we are best. Basically, "do what you love, love what you do."

And perhaps this is why we humans - as a species - have so much trouble figuring out what to do with our lives. We have hundreds of generations of DNA for... nothing in particular. So Anthony has a love and appreciation of music that only a musician can have, but it is not his raison d’être. His opportunities to discover other interests have led him in a different direction, one that is easy for him simply because he loves it so much.

The hard part is to find what you love. The easy part is, just do it.

2009 GN results... sorta

My e-mail is down, haven't had access since Thursday. Maybe will get it fixed tomorrow...

Here's the reader's digest version of results from the Grand National weekend:

Friday - Region 3 Invitational
Open - Gin (only one entered) - had a very nice course in Prelims, the lure op did an outstanding job. Then she got caught in the line in the middle of Finals, came up lame, and I pulled her. Excused.

FCh - 1st Challenger, 2nd Py. Charger came up lame after Prelims, Challenger didn't look good after Finals.

Rough day for borzoi.

Saturday
I spent the day running scores from the judges to the scorekeeper, so actually have no idea how the results went. I was EXHAUSTED from all the back and forth, *man* I need to get in shape before OFC season. But the judges were great sharing perspectives on how to score, which dog got scored how and why... very interesting. Must do this job again sometime soon.

Sunday
Open
1st & BOB - Emmy
2nd - Gin (now has 99 pts!!)
3rd - Merlin
4th - Halis
NQ - Shadowcat

FCh
1st - Challenger
2nd - Spitzer
3rd- Kyra
4th - Phoebe
NBQ - Nitro
Field: Charger, Dagny, Py

Vet
1st - Belle Starr

Py and Dagny were tied for 1st after Prelims, but Py got a cactus spine jammed up his nailbed and I didn't get it out cleanly. He took a few bad steps so I, very reluctantly, pulled him from Finals. FCh stake had a run-off for 3-4-NBQ, Nitro was lame and was pulled from the run-off. Then Emmy beat Challenger in the run-off for BOB.

Grand National
It is a thrill to report that Joan's scottish deerhound Wist won the GN!!! Sorry I wasn't there to see it, by all reports it was an incredible run.

On the road again

Not traveling; road work.

Today was day-two for Tigress to have a little roadwork. Yesterday I took Py out with her, this morning Gin got her crack at it. Gin is 20 months old, she took to roadwork like a trotter to the track.

Yesterday I was sorry I didn't have a camera with me, as there were some lovely little birds flitting from fencepost to fencepost and an assortment of summer flowers in bloom. Today I took the camera but it's much cooler (mid 50's) and overcast, so no birds.

But here are some flowers for your viewing pleasure:

When I was little, we called this a "zuni squash". It's correct name will be added later (I can not find it in my book to save my life) but the amazing thing about them is that the edible part is the flowers.
Gorgeous jewelry pieces are named in honor of this flower.


These enormous plants spread 20' or more along the ground; I've seen them climbing fences and choking cholla plants.

Here's the fruit part:

Note how it forms between the base of the flower and the stem, allowing the removal (and consumption) of the flower without damaging the gourd. MMMMMMMMM, delicious.

Speaking of cholla... they are now blooming at our elevation. Anywhere up to 7' or taller, sometimes an entire field of these - acres and acres - bloom simultaneously. Spectacular.



And here are some other little flowers: sadly I don't know what any of them are, but they do dress up the ditches on the side of the road:


And finally, even though it is off-topic, last night's sunset was so spectacular I must share:


This view is why I will never live anywhere else.