Friday, September 30, 2011

Pet Reliiquary's Part II

I haven't been able to get a satisfactory photo of my newest acquisition, so I'm going to go ahead with the blog post anyway - I got a new piece of fabulous jewelry commenorating Charlie and Daisy - and it's from a local artist this time - Lisa MacDormand from Seabright Soul Designs
I found her work at an art gallery up in the Hydrostone Market in the north end of Halifax and I was entranced by it - so when I got home I googled her and found out she does commission work, so I emailed her and asked her if she'd do something for me - which she agreed to - and I got her to do a thing for her and Charlie, and I am thrilled with the results.

She works in 3D - so the front - which is the first photo - is in 3D, and then on the back is another picture of Charlie and Ddaisy with their name on it - all soldered together - you can get the shadow box pendant in any size you want - you can even get bigger sizes to put in your window - the possibilities are endless - Lisa MacDormand is truly an artist and I fell in love with her - she is awesome - and she's even got a dog which makes it even better!


If I get a better photo of the pendant I'll post it - I'll keep trying, because the necklace is really beautiful - but things under glass are so hard to get a good picture of.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Unsatisfac​tory situation currently at Seaview Park

_MG_8847_MG_8854-1_MG_8854_MG_8853_MG_8850_MG_8851
_MG_8849_MG_8837_MG_8838_MG_8839_MG_8835_MG_8836
_MG_8834_MG_8833_MG_8831_MG_8832_MG_8829_MG_8830
_MG_8827_MG_8828_MG_8821_MG_8820_MG_8819_MG_8817

Dear John Charles,
Real Property Planning
City of Halifax


On more than one occasion in the very recent past, Seaview Park has been unavailable for offleash dog use because of ceremonies for former Africville residents.

This past Sunday the ceremony looked beautiful and moving in news stories, but what happened afterward was anything but.

Number one - dog owners had no notice that this ceremony was going to be happening - so they would have been showing up all day to a sign that said they had to go elsewhere to exercise their dog - and some people come from quite a distance away - I myself come from almost 1/2 an hour away.

Luckily I showed up at 5:45pm - so you'd think I would have been safe - the sign at the park entrance said that there were to be no dogs there from 12 to 5pm - but when I went in - there were cars drivinng around inside the off-leash section of the park, there was a gate to the road open - one of my own dogs almost ran out into the road - I was horrified.

Here is a link to my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/dogkisser/sets/72157627637524067/

where you can see photos of the cars driving around the park and the open gate.

At the end point - around 6:45pm I couldn't take it any longer and decided to leave and leashed my dogs up and started walking out - on the gravel paths that everyone walks on - and was almost run over by a red bmw that had decided that the paths at Seaview are actually roads to be driven on. I was horrified - and terrified that me and my dogs were going to be run over.

This is an unacceptable situation. Especially if it's going to continue.

Dogs and cars inside Seaview park cannot co-exist. Period.

Either the Africville Society has to accept that Seaview Park is an offleash dog park - or the city has to find another spot to give TAX-PAYING dog owners of the Halifax Regional Municipality another spot to have a fully fenced in dog park of the style that Seaview Park is.

There can be no compromise.

It has to be one or the other.

Either dog owners keep Seaview -or the city finds dog owners another place to go.

There are only two official off leash dog parks in the whole of the HRM - Point Pleasant Park and Seaview Park - every other spot is either only a sports field or is a "pilot" off leash park area that could be closed down in 48 hours - and none of them are completely fenced in as far as I know.

I have always thought it was a travesty to have an offleash dog park in such a place as Africville anyway - who ever made that decision, I'll never know.

There are so many other places that could easily accomodate a fully fenced in dog park - Upper Seaview for one - could be easily fenced in.

The situation as it currently is at Seaview Park is completely untenable and needs to be dealt with. I have a friend who was there at 7:30pm and had the exact same experience - so it went on late into the night on Sunday night.

These types of encounters between disgruntled former Africville residents and offleash dog owners is only going to continue and intensify in my opinion. I only hope nobody gets hurt.

Joan Sinden
Advocates for Responsible Pet Ownership (ARPO)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Regatta Point Walkway off Purcell's Cove Road

Regatta Point Walkway off Purcell's Cove Road is a great on-leash walk for those that like those types of walk - I think dogs need every kind of experience and that includes relaxing on-leash walks - and this place is a great spot for those.

It was also a great time to try out Buttercup's new stroller, which she seems to be enjoying.

It's such a picturesque place - I wish I didn't have the silly blue filter on my camera - I didn't know it was on there - it kind of ruined the mood of the photos - damn you Iphone!  I love my iphone, but sometimes it just doesn't tell me what it's doing to my photos....

Seaview Park September 23, 2011

_MG_8733_MG_8726_MG_8771-1_MG_8794_MG_8792_MG_8793
_MG_8791_MG_8790_MG_8788_MG_8784_MG_8782_MG_8776
_MG_8781_MG_8775_MG_8778_MG_8770_MG_8771_MG_8772
_MG_8773_MG_8769_MG_8764_MG_8766_MG_8765_MG_8762

Seaview September 23, 2011, a set on Flickr.

Here are a couple of the dogs I ran into Friday September 23rd when me Bubby and Buttercup were there around 4pm - including Bobby who used to live with me in 2009 - he's got a great new Mom who loves him alot - which I was really happy to meet!