Thursday, February 2, 2017

Conversations




     In Venice this weekend an entire street closed, tents went up, and crafters and artists set out their wares. People strolled by with giant bags of kettle corn and others struggled through the crowds with metal sculptures or topiaries made of shells.
          We were in the thick of it, Mamie included. It was only a matter of time before she became a furry black and white pancake on the sidewalk so I became one of those ladies with a dog tucked under her arm like a handbag. Still, she was a great shopping deterrent. I wasn’t even the slightest bit tempted to elbow my way into any of the phone booth-sized displays to look at earrings or hand-thrown pottery.
          Mamie, now at eye level, drew any number of admirers who stopped to ask about her and launch into stories of their own beloved dog from their present or past. Apparently once you’ve owned a dog, you’re a softy for everyone else’s. It was poignant how many people missed their dog or wished they still had one.
We finally turned a corner and came across an artist’s shop where I hung around outside since it was unlikely anyone would want a dog, no matter how small, snuffling around in their corners. But no, we were all invited in, and had a long conversation with the artist himself, a wood carver of incredible skill.

 


We learned that instead of accessing a scholarship to art school, he’d trained one-on-one with an artist in Canada and been able to make a living with his art his entire life. 







        


  After all this culture, it was time for lunch and we found a dog-friendly café. Mamie charmed more passersby and scored corners of my grill cheese and there was no shortage of entertainment:



 







          Afterwards, there were just too many ice cream shops on the way to the car, so our next encounter was with a man who, charmed by Mamie, joined us on our bench with his own ice cream. We went into our usual explanation of her breed, which no one has ever heard of, and he told us about his own dog, too old get out much. Dogs are powerful ice breakers -  next thing we knew, we were hearing all about his relationship with a past girl friend of his and the dogs in her life.



Mamie was more interested in My Guy’s cone. After that source dried up, she cast her big brown eyes upon our companion,  who went back into the shop for a spoon to share his ice cream with her, too.

          Floozy.

12 comments:

  1. Yes, my husband and I have to get our "dog fix" when we are out and about since we no longer have dogs.

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  2. Does Mamie need to start jogging off the ice cream?
    There's a fellow in town who takes his enormous dog, of a breed I can't recall, bicycling in the summer, in one of those child attachments.

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    1. We may be strapping a milk crate to one of our bikes.

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  3. That's amazing. Who would have thought the answer to today's ugly partisan divide was more Mammies. The world might be a happier place if more people owned dogs.

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  4. really? People are pushing their dogs around in baby strollers?

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    1. Even worse, if you look closely the stroller of two dogs even has their names painted on the side - Karmel and Kupcake. Gag.

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  5. I think Linda may have hit on an answer to our current problems. Dogs do bring out the soft and gentle side in almost all of us.

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  6. She's such a charmer! Malties usually are. My sister in law had one many years ago. She named him Malty, which I thought was rather unoriginal, but didn't say anything.

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    1. Actually, she's a Coton de Tulear, a breed I'd never heard of till we got her. Often mistaken for a Havenese or a Bichon.

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  7. Sounds like a fun day! Yes, dogs are great icebreakers. I remember people in Venice always being very talkative and friendly -- it's very small-towny that way. (It kind of drove me nuts, actually.)

    This is the best time of year in Florida, I think -- cool and pleasant and often with incredible weather. Enjoy!

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  8. I am drawn to dogs, too. I hadn't considered how much I miss having one around until I read this post. They sure are wonderful creatures to share the planet with, aren't they? :-)

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Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.