Moon Ride

Yesterday was the Mid Autumn Moon Festival. Pops took me and a couple of his friends up to the top of Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands at night! Boy, was that cool! We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge while there was still light out and I pulled Pops all the way up Conzelman Rd! Yeah! It was nice and cool and his friend Juan was up front leading while Charlie went way ahead. This sure beat running last week in triple digit heat! Speaking of which, that seemed like distant memory already!

When we got to the top, the moon was coming over Mt Diablo and the sun was setting over the Pacific. What a sight! Everyone was just blown away by the beauty of it all. Then Pops brought his moon cake and shared the story of Chang-e and the Ming Rebellion while we ate the cake.

The way back was completely in the dark. It got too cold for Pops but not for me! We go home and Pops was starving. I wasn't even hungry. We Huskies eat very little, you know. We got efficient bodies. We working dogs! And to think, Pops and I went for a 4-mile hike that same morning... in the Headlands too... up and down hills and everything!

Dharma Dog on Pilgrimage

Home! San Francisco! Cold is cool! Hot is not! I'm back in the Fog City by the Bay and I'm HAPPY! Pops and I came back from the Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage last night. Was it fun? Well, it was interesting. I saw cows and peacocks for the first time, and got to ride in a car with Uncle Eric, and sleep in a tent. It was an adventure. But it was not my idea of fun. I mean, there were a lot of nice people, and they all thought I was beautiful, and they loved that Pops and I came on the Pilgrimage and how he towed me in the trailer and all that, but it was so friggin' hot that I was in no mood for socializing. I couldn't wait to pull Pops and run with him next to the bike, but after only a few hundred feet of running, I was panting like a freight train on steroids! I'm a snow dog, fer chrissakes! I sure hope we can go on road trips again, but NOT in heat like this! Let's go to Montana or somethin' - like, go visit Uncle Marty's family... in the winter!

I can't figure humans - Pops, in particular. They torture thmeselves doing stuff like riding bikes through hundred-degree weather, then they talk about not suffering but "being with" the heat, or the pain and I'm like, I am being with the heat. Did I have a choice? And they talk a lot about death, like we had any choice in that! There were some funny-looking, bald headed guys - some in brown robes, some in white and one of them seem to be the leader of the pack and he said a bunch of stuff that was true because I knew it all along: you can't always get what you want and you can't always have control. You gotta be open to change and chance. You gotta be attentive, be mindful. And you can't be mindful if you're always thinking about something other than where you are now, or wanting to be somewhere else or someone else other than yourself. Well, I knew that! I'm a dog (a snow dog, fer chrissakes!) and my job is to be happy and you can't be happy living inside your head. That's not where the food is. You gotta be alert. You never know who might drop a piece of meat he's eating or run into someone like Pops who just came out of nowhere and now I live with him and Moms and Trina in their home and all I had to do was to be a good dog, which is what I was all along anyway, it's just that some people make it really hard and the best thing about Pops and Moms is that they just let me be. They "be with" the dog. Ha ha - I just thought of that!

Anyway, I don't mean to come off like I'm complaining about the heat or nothin' - just that it didn't make much sense to be in it doing the stuff we was doing. You know I never complain and I'd go anywhere with Pops and do anything (well, almost anything) for him. One thing I know is that he really loves me. I know he wanted so bad for me to come with him on this Pilgrimage, but he never forced me to run when I was too hot. He was always finding me shade and giving me water and when I wouldn't eat the dry food he brought, he gave me his food. Heh heh - my new rave is peanut butter on bagel and hard-boiled egg yolks! And, oh yeah, we slept together in his tent and I had my own sleeping pad and that afternoon at A Buy-a-Gary's place, when it got really, really hot, he gave me a rub-down with an ice pack. Oh-ho-ho that felt so good - never mind why the heck we were there in the first place. As I said, everyone loved me and I think I really added to the Pilgrimage, know what I mean?

Sun in the Mist

"Sometimes, it's the fog that lets you see things more clearly," Pops says. I guess he means stuff like sun rays or halos around his head. Must be kinda like how I can smell things that he can't see.

Well, things have been changing a lot around here lately. Moms and Pops have been taking me and Trina Jieh-jieh out together a lot, 'cause Moms broke her arm when she tripped and fell running with Trina one morning. I gotta admit, it's been bad luck for Moms but fun for us. But now that Mom's getting better, we've been going out separately again. Pops and I kinda missed our mornings together, like, he's been taking me out with the bike again. Oh yeah, speakin' of bikes - you know what? He's gonna take me on the Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage with him. He got a hold of this trailer that he hooks up to the bike. At first I didn't like it but on my second try it turned out really cool! Yeah, what a kick, huh? A Husky being pulled by a man. I'm tellin' ya, life keeps getting better!

Today we went up to the Headlands. We were gonna go do our usual hike but when we got to the top of Hawk's Hill there was a cop standing by a truck with flashing lights. He said we couldn't go down the road to the other side.

"What's going on down there?"Pops asked.

"A car went off the edge,"said the cop.

"Ooh," Pops said, sounding almost like he thought it was cool. I knew he wanted to go look, but he didn't want to get the cop pissed off so we went for a walk up to the top of Hawk's Hill instead, pretending like that's what we planned to do anyway.

The fog was dripping off the trees and the foghorns were all going crazy, like they were all trying to see who could moan louder. All the wet smells were making me crazy too. I ran around all over the place while Pops took pictures.

When we got to the top, Pops said, "Check that out, Nikki! That's a fogbow!"

"Huh?"

"You know rainbows, right? Well that's a fogbow!"

Then he took a gadzillion pictures of the fog, and I'm like, OK, I'm gonna look around. I'll be right back.

Then on our way back to the car, we took a different path and Pops saw the sun beaming through the fog and the trees and that's when he said that wise thing to me and I pretended not to hear and just ran ahead to the car.

On the way home, we stopped at Wing Lee's and Pops got a dai gai bao and a choi yuk bao. M-m-mmm-m! Now I'm beginning see things very clearly!

P.S., Pops says to thank Uncle Wen for the Sun in the Mist tune and title.

Old Human Stuff

Did you know that Buena Vista and Golden Gate Parks were the first urban parks in California? Built over a hundred years ago. Geez, I didn't know the squirrels around here are that old! Pretty fast for old geezers! Pops been reading all those signs that tell the story of the places we go to. He sure likes that old stuff! Kinda gloomy, if you ask me... like them old tombstones in the gutter. Check out his pictures. Seems to me humans spend a lot of time making art. Lots of time. I guess they need it. Fine with me. Whatever makes them happy. One of these days, I'll catch a squirrel, then I'll be happy!

Strange Dogs in Golden Gate Park

Whoa! Golden Gate Park again today - three times in a row! For Pops, a guy who hates routine and repetition, this is kinda strange. He says, "I've lived in the City for 30 years, and I still don't know all of Golden Gate Park! It's fun to explore!" Truth is, he's been kinda limited as to where he can take me 'cause of that pain in his butt. One thing about pain and sickness - it forces you to change your ways! We've been goming to Golden Gate and Buena Vista Parks a lot lately 'cause he couldn't drive, and these are in walking distance. 'Xept today we drove to the Polo Field. Must be feeling better! How quickly he reverts to old ways!

On the way, he says, "The further out you go in the Park, the quirkier the people you come across."

"O-K..." I thought, "we're out here, what does that make us... I mean, you?"

Then he says, "But I never would have gone to all these places if it weren't for you, Nikki."

Well, what can I say... I love you too, man.

When we got to the Polo Field, he lets me off leash, and we play this game where he runs up and down the stairs between the bleachers and I, like, try to "follow the leader" on a different flight of stairs. I get so excited sometimes I just dash over to him and bark and paw him and he laughs and gives me a treat and... aw, I'm getting breathless just thinkin' about it.

Then we walked around some more and we saw these huge dogs with people sitting on top of them, and they were all kept inside these fenced fields and some of them make this weird, "wheh-heh-heh-hen" noise and I saw them eat all this dry grass. Yuck! Now green grass tastes good, I like green grass. Anyway, it's all very strange.

People's Park

Today is the second time in a row that we went to Golden Gate Park. Pops calls it "People's Park" 'cause everyone is out here - joggers, dog-walkers, dogs, cyclists, crazy people, old people, young people, homeless people, Chinese, Italians, Russians, Latinos, African Americans, rich folk, poor folk, commuters driving through - so into their own thoughts they don't even notice the birds and the trees. Coupla times they almost ran me and Pops over. Grrr-r-r...!

Today we went into the park through 6th Avenue, past the white guys practicing kung fu and the Chinese ladies dancercizing to Elvis' "Jail House Rock" on the boom box, and the poor homeless guy in between, trying to catch some zzz's next to his cart. Pops says, "You gotta have an open mind to like San Francisco... or... you gotta live in San Francisco to get an open mind." Yeah, he talks funny like that a lot.

Then we walked past the de Young, and the Music Concourse and as we went behind the band shell, we heard this funny "Brraap" sound coming from behind some trees. It was a group of elderly Chinese doing a Taichi Fan Dance! And the noise was from when they all opened their fans at once. They were all dressed so drab but the fans were a bright red. It was so cool! We watched them till they finished their set.

Yesterday we went to Stowe Lake and after we crossed the old stone bridge onto the inside island, Pops let me off leash. Then I got to go after what I really came for - squirrels! 'Course I never catch the little buggers, but it never stops me from tryin'. "Keep Hope Alive," Pops always says. Then he laughs at his own joke. I don't see what's so funny about it. I don't give him a hard time for lookin' at women. And he never catches any either! Ha ha ha ha - I just thought of that!

Writer's block

Writers' block - isn't that the street where all the writers live? Ha ha - as you can see I'm very blocked. Truth is, nothing much new has happened in the last week or so. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying things haven't been fun, but how much can you say about another day in the Headlands, at Land's End, the Presidio, Buena Vista Park, etc., etc.? It's all good, all the time! Pops' the one with all the drama. For me, it's a dog's life - eat, sleep, play, repeat. But even Pops' drama is not much to write about. He hates talking about his ailments. "That's a sure sign of old age," he says, "when all you do is talk about your aches and pains." Well, the poor guy has been in pain. Sciatica, or something like that. Good thing for him he has me to go walking with, 'cause walking really makes him feel good. He's been sleeping on the floor next to me at night. I like that!

Hey, did I tell you what a big hit I was at the Nihonmachi Street Fair? People stopped at our booth just to look at me. No one paid any attention to Pops and his friends and whatever it was they were selling... "art" or something... The little kids were a bit of a pain but I can tolerate. All the pretty women who came to fuss over me and pet me - now I can get used to that! Pops likes that too, but he kept saying, "What a waste of a chick-magnet." I think he was P.O.'ed 'cause he's married... and too old anyway... so I gotta enjoy it for him, see? After all, I'm his best friend!

Okay, well, I'm getting sleepy... sun's coming out... sorta. Maybe when I wake up, everything will be sunny.