A Tragic Accident

The heat wave continues here, and I am beginning to lose patience. Cadie is so stoic, but the temperature, the necessary change to our routines as a result of the temperature are all starting to wear us down. I usually get home about 4:30, feed Uter in her special feeding bucket, put her back in her tank and take Cadie out for a good long walk. Today I forgot to move Uter back to her tank, which meant that Cadie and I had to rush home to find poor Uter trying to climb out of the feeding bucket. I have no idea where she thought she was going, but I give that turtle props for her willingness to try to improve her situation.

The shortened walk for Cadie wasn't really an issue though; as stated before it's hot, and one my neighborhood dog walking friends has put me in touch with another one of her friends who is considering getting a new dog. I had made plans to head over to this woman's place after super, and I figured that the visit and the subway trip would wear Cadie right out. My hosts are considering getting a dog, and had never seen a Ganaraskan, so they wanted to meet one in the flesh before deciding one way or another

We arrived at their home, a cool little town house on 7 floors. I was happy to keep Cadie on leash and try to restrain her, but our hosts insisted that Cadie be allowed to roam freely. I agreed, mostly because Cadie was more interested in her own tennis ball then in exploring their home.

This was nice, it gave me a chance to chat to this fascinating woman, a former nun, she hinted that she was a retired academic and professor, who has been to every corner of the globe three times at least by her count. We chatted for awhile, until Cadie became bored with her tennis ball, and took to do some exploring. We agreed that this was a good time for a house tour. I was a little disconcerted to have Cadie out of my sight in this stranger's home, she's still young, and I like to keep an eye on her.

We walked all the way up and my hostess gave me the quick and dirty history for each room, pointed out some of their more treasured possessions, the Chinese Art in the room called "The China Cabinet" the antique oak dining room suite, the Greek religious idol and framed Chinese silks on the walls of dinning room. Also in the dinning room was  stunning rug, my hostess pointed it out to me and asked if I like it. It was a beautiful cerulean blue with cream and coral accents, and a perfect cream fringe. My hostess told me that her husband had purchased it in Istanbul and it had arrived only a few weeks earlier.

Cadie trotted along in front of us, as we made the last stop, which was the living room. It too was full of beautiful art, including a lovely rug; red this time with a cream accents and a fringe. My hostess was in the process of explaining to me that it was a rare find for a Canadian warehouse, as they had seen this rug in Istanbul as well. I was just turning to admire the rug from another angle when I noticed that Cadie was squatting. Thankfully, she was not peeing, still, there she was pooping in this stranger's home. My hostess got me some Kleenex and I, mortified and apologizing profusely, cleaned up the mess. I was so shocked, Cadie hasn't had an accident like this since early puppy hood, and here we were acting as ambassadors for the breed. So, since I could offer no explanation, I just kept apologizing.

It goes without saying that our visit ended very shortly after that. My hostess showed me a couple more treasures, mostly photographs, as well as a pair of broken shoes. At which point her husband showed me to the door. The last three minutes of the visit were terribly painful with both of us being overly courteous "thank you for coming." "Oh no, my pleasure, thank you for your hospitality" "No. Not at all, thank you again." This went on until my hostess made a little joke about all of the "thank yous" going back and forth.

As I hit Yonge Street three thoughts run through my mind:
      *Never let your dog off leash in a strangers home
      *Thank God Cadie did her business on the rug bought in Canada, and not the one newly arrive from  
        Istanbul
     *I wonder what Cadie was up to while she was out of sight...on second thought...