Hot Scent

A lot of things happened this month. A lot. One of my dear friends said that it ought be this way making reference to the Mayan calendar... However, my theme song these days is "Always look at the bright side of life~," so let's talk about Chana :D.

These days in our obedience training, we are working on something called "articles." In the real trial, you would need dumbbell shaped items made of wood, leather, and metal. As Chana is new to this training, we are using two sets of each of leather glove, wooden spoon, and cookie cutter. One set of items are attached to a mat, and I would put one randomly picked item on the mat. Chana's task is to find the item that has my scent which is loose. Well, all of them have my scent on it now, so she is supposed to find the one with the strongest scent, also know as "hot scent."

I saw another classmate with more advanced dog does it, and I thought "No way. Chana would just go for the gloves" as she likes gloves particularly of our guests'... But! She is doing it! Using her nose and successfully bringing back the item that I recently touched and left on the mat...

To dog owners out there, you should explore the world of obedience! You would find amazing talent your lapdog has in him/her!

Happy Birthday Chana!

Chana turned 4 years old today. According to the Pedigree Dog Age Calculator, she is 32 years old in human age. That make three of us the same age, and this is very very special as dogs age faster than humans. This means that she will be the eldest in our household next year... I think I have to call her "Chana-san" as a polite Japanese would do to respect seniority.

Chana was a litter of six, two of the last pups when we went to see her. The other one had hernia, so we chose the "healthy one" who in the end developed umbilical hernia (belly button). Chana often had a fit when she was young, loved to eat so called "wild delicacy" aka goose droppings, and traumatized a couple o

f young puppies by pinning them down to the ground and growling like a mad dog...

Luckily she has grown out of all of that. Four years ago, we got a "dog." Now we have a "partner" in agility and obedience training. I would like to thank all of my trainers who helped us come this far and showed Nathan and I how to enjoy Chana to the fullest.

This is what I want to do!

http://www.wildearth.tv/static/bearden

Hibernate! En japonais, 冬眠 (too min), "winter sleep."

So snuggly~.

Two heart warming stories

Nathan and I have cable service provided free by the university, but we only watch two channels: CBC News World and Food Channel. From the coverage of "the balloon boy" to the gloomy report on economy, CBC News World does an excellent job keeping me up-to-date. I can keep watching it until you start seeing the third rerun of the National at midnight.

And today, it finally did it! It made me cry! Twice! Two heart warming stories were reported, and I would like to share it.

1. Winnipegger Rescued by Shiny-Shoed Stranger

It is a story of a good samaritan, "pay it forward", people helping each other for no return... Just beautiful.

2. Guardian Angel

Again, dogs. How awesome they are!

New Year's Day

The New Year's Day is the biggest holiday in Japan. It has been a tradition of the Sekita's to have extended family over for a big meal. This year, we were blessed to have our close friend T&A and their son TyTy join us celebrate the day. Although I would never be able to put together a big meal that my mom usually does, we had "gomoku chirashi sushi" a traditional homestyle vegetarian sushi, "mochi" pounded sticky rice cooked in two different soups (soy sauce base and sweet bean base), etc.

After their visit, I delivered some sushi over to a few good neighbours of ours. In return, we got delicious sweets from J&S and Biryani from A&A. The beauty of reciprocity made both my heart and stomach full. Biryani is an Indian/Pakistani rice dish that I love, and I am going to learn how to make it this year!

あけましておめでとうございます。キリスト教の影響が強いカナダではクリスマスに比べてお正月はとても地味ですが、関田家の伝統を受け継ぎ、お年始をしました。お友達のT&A夫婦とベイビー君を招き、五目ちらし、お餅、なぜかペペロンチーノ風エビなどをにぎやかにいただきました。関田ママのようなご馳走は作れませんがみんなで食べるとそれなりにおいしいかったね（はず）。

食べた後は近所にお年始回り（笑）でお寿司を届けました。そのお返しにおいしいケーキやビリヤニというインド／パキスタン料理をいただき気持ちもおなかも満杯です。今年はビリヤニ作れるようになりますように〜。

It's never too late!

So, the year 2009 is almost over, and all of a sudden I decided to revive my blog...thinking, it's never too late and better late than never. I don't know how long this one will last, but we'll see. Let me join those who decide to start their blog as part of their new year's resolutions.

I am quite happy with what I accomplished in 2009.

LIFE: I reduced my teaching load to 1/3, and I am a much happier person. I love teaching, but when you are doing too much it is no different from being employed as a factory line worker. I need changes and rhythms in my life, together with creativity and sense of independence. As I wait for Nathan to finish his Ph.D and to set the next destination, I learned to be patient with what I want to achieve with my life. As a result, I turned into a hobbyist! This year I studied Arabic, took a course for TESOL certificate, started Flamenco lesson, piano lesson, knitting, gardening, soap-making, and trying even harder with local eating. I hope everything will be continued on to 2010, with a few more addition. Cooking has become another passion of mine, especially with locally grown ingredients. Here is my top 5 dishes of the year, successfully entered the Sekita-Krislock's hall of fame.)

1. Hummus-chickpea or fava (Thanks Benny!)

2. Vij's Family Dinner-Chicken Curry (Thanks Donna!)

3. Anything with zataar (Thanks Kanaan!)

4. Blueberry+Raspberry Buttermilk Muffin (Thanks fourtysomething.ca!)

5. Rosti (Thanks Rosti!)

CHANA: Dog agility and obedience training with Chana was more exciting than ever. I am hoping to enter some trials in 2010, which will give me a better idea what kind of work Chana and I need. As for her diet, I stopped feeding her kibbles in the summer of 2008, and she was on raw meaty bone diet for a year. I now feed her homemade meat muffins or home prepared raw food together with calcium supplement. Eating food prepared at home, Chana is going strong turning 4 years old in January.

As the time is ticking, I would like to thank my family and friends who made my year 2009 a happy and exciting one. I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year!