Winter at PPP ...

This time last year I had not discovered Point Pleasant Park. Since it had snowed last Friday, Saturday I took Wendy, Sooki and Chandler to PPP to rectify the situation. 

It was a sunny brisk morning and many other dog folk were gathered at the early morning doggie meet-up.

I hung out with other doggie folk and we smiled at dog antics. 

Wendy pretty much disappeared.  I found her playing with a child who was throwing a stick for her.  Wendy gets ticked off at me when I don't take a ball or stick, so she goes off to find some human who will do her bidding.  She'd come ack every ten minutes or so to make sure I was still around.  The child didn't have much of an arm and was throwing the stick about five feet each time.  Luckily, Wendy has very low standards.

Sooki would seek out other goofball dogs that liked to run and play hard and didn't mind her "bumping" style of play.  If other dogs were playing a rousing game of "chase, chase", she would happily join in.  "Chase, chase" is an exciting game involving lots of running and chasing.  That's about it.  I have so far not been able to find written rules for this amazing game but the dogs all seem to instinctively know how it's played. 

Chandler stuck pretty close to me, which is a bit unusual for him.  You can see him in the second picture (above) running with a German Shepard.

I would guess that there were 30-40 dogs of varying sizes, from Yorkies to Great Danes.  It's a wonderful experience to be among so many dogs just enjoying each other's company without a hint of conflict.

Just before 10 o'clock the dogs and their companions dispersed as if on command. 

And by the stroke of 10 they were all gone -- leaving not a trace behind.

"22 minutes" ... er ... I mean, "44 Minutes"

Last night we went to the season's final taping of "This Hour has 22 Minutes",  for next Tuesday's one hour Christmas special -- hence 44 rather than 22 minutes.

The tapings are free.  You just call and leave a message.  And then cross your fingers and wait for them to call you back.  When I spoke to the person at CBC I learned she had over 700 voice mail messages, so I consider myself very lucky to have seen three shows this season.

The joy of attending a taping is seeing the performers spontaneous humour and  how they interact with each other.  The live taping is interspersed with pre-recorded segments. While we watched those, the cast watched with us or talked quietly and comfortably with each other.

Left to right (below) they are: Geri Hall, Mark Critch, Cathy Jones and Gavin Crawford.

    

I noticed that Cathy Jones occassionally wiped her nose and her eyes were tearing up.  At one point (between takes) she quietly left the set, followed shortly by Gavin.  I thought she had a bad cold and was just having a tough go of it.  Turns out it was Gavin's last day with the show.

There were monitors everywhere.   In the scene depicted below, Gavin was on one side of the set in front of a green screen and Geri was on the opposite side of the set, facing the opposite direction and interviewing Gavin via a huge monitor where he appeared to be in a large opera house.

I was very surprised when in saying their final good byes at the end of the show, they said they'd see us in the fall.  Fall ?  What happened to spring ? 

Apparently the show's contract has been shortened. 

(insert your own biting, snippy comment about Conservative government here)

Hey, wait.

If Gavin is going, that means they need a new cast member.

I think I know just the right person for the job ...