I find myself thinking of Mama a lot this time of year. The eleventh anniversary of her death was May 5. Her 99th birthday would have been yesterday, May 7. And tomorrow, May 9, is Mother’s Day. The picture is of Mama, at our wedding in 1985. I find Mama’s obituary a perfect…
When you think of a walk around the neighborhood, you probably think of walking past houses on a sidewalk, right? Not here in Maine! Our favorite “walk around the neighborhood” involves climbing a large hill or a small mountain, take your pick. We head up the driveway, hang a left , walk about a quarter…
In my 35 years of handling guide dogs, they’ve all seen some pretty bizarre things! This is about how dogs react to seeing or hearing something unusual. The first time I noticed such a reaction was when I was training with my first dog. Seeing Eye employs security guards who patrol the school…
In the first weeks and months after I became blind I struggled to find things to do, things that would interest and engage me. Even before my rehab teacher, now called a vision rehabilitation therapist, came to see me for the first time, I learned something infinitely precious from my father. Daddy had lots…
Have you ever wondered about guide dogs and clearance of overhead obstacles? We usually go for a walk in the woods every day. A couple of days ago, Jim said, “Did you know about that tree over the trail?” “What tree?” I replied. The tree over the trail was well above…
We’re just back from a ski trip to The Birches Resort on Moosehead Lake. The best – and maybe the worst – skiing was on our first day there. How can something be “the best” and “the worst” at the same time? The conditions were tricky. There was plenty of snow but it had…
Recently my husband, Jim, my Seeing Eye dog, Quan, and I climbed a mountain. The experience of this particular climb taught me lessons about teamwork I never learned in guide dog school. The beginning of the hike was fairly routine. Quan guided flawlessly and I followed his lead, turning when he turned, stepping…
Veterans Affairs uses a social media platform called Pulse. The other day I received a notification from Pulse about a book entitled Intelligent Disobedience. The concept of intelligent disobedience is not new to me as all of my Seeing Eye dogs have been trained to intelligently disobey me in certain circumstances. Interested, I downloaded and…
In Autumn, 2012, we took a whirlwind trip from Alabama to Maine and, among other things, climbed Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. What follows is a “sound diary” and images of that climb. This first audio clip was during the very beginning of the hike when we were in the woods near the foot…
Timing Is Everything After fourteen years in Alabama we’re having to reacclimate ourselves to growing a garden in Maine. By now, in Alabama, our garden would be in and we’d probably be harvesting early crops such as lettuce and spinach. Here in Maine we only have seeds started in the house – all in trays…