Cerberus

I can see how Cerberus became envisioned.  Greyhounds have long and narrow bodies. They often stand abreast. If they look in different directions, and you see them for afar.  Κέρβερος was the multi-headed dog that guarded Hades, the hellhound. One of the labors of Heracles/Hercules was to capture and parade Cerberus.

The ancient Greek writers did not have a uniform description of the hound, or how many heads he had. Some descriptions also had snake heads included, usually on his back. The common description, that has come to us, is a black hound with three heads.

Peter Paul Rubens. Hercules and Cerberus. 1636. Madrid.

Captain at Glendale Akron

Walter Franklin's mausoleum is the most elaborate in Akron's Glendale Cemetery. Captain is posing next to one of the statues.

On Jupiter and Mars

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars 

Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars ...

— Bart Howard

                                                Cassius (L), Captain America (R)

Yesterday, we had a solar eclipse, we relaxed inside. Prudence is a virtue. To-day, we took a walk along the solar system on Mastick Road in the Rocky J. River Metropark. They have a series of stops with signs describing our solar system. One step is equal to a million miles on the walking scale, this ends up as close to 3/4 of a mile. They stop at Neptune, the eight planet. Pluto is mentioned on an early note as one of several dwarf planets. When this was controversy, a term arose 'trans-Neptunian objects'. Pluto was discovered in 1930, the next was in 1992, the current count is beyond 2,000.

meeting of the pack

Off chance, yesterday, i saw a note on facebook of a greyhound pack to form the hour before noon between the new bath house on Lower Edgewater, and the Cleveland sign at Upper Edgewater. Here are two class pictures, eleven hounds*, eight people.

pack approaches

On the far right, on the side of the tree there is a SQUIRREL.

There is a dog beach at Edgewater. I have avoided it, because not that long ago it was full of rubble and debris. Not so now. It is beautiful. People come there and lay down, before you had to step carefully when walking your hound.

Captain is sitting on the far right, Cassius is lounging in the foreground. A few people recognised Cassius from the shelter as "Dak". Cassius is happy as Cassius.

Next to the bathing greyhounds, this weimaraner was enjoying a fetch and swim with his human friend. The man's girlfriend named him "Uitzi" after Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war.
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postscriptum:  * i have found out eleven of the hounds, and one other were part of the trek. Here are the names of the twelve:  Aster, Smitty, Dellie, Fitz, Jag, Jasmine, Biscuit, Buster, Custer, Cassius, Captain America, and Remi.

portraits Cassius

 Cassius outside the Cleveland Art Museum.

Cassius on Whiskey Island

John and Cassius in silhouette

hitching post

    Lorain by the beach (Cassius foreground, and Captain America)

open the door

We (Cassius on the left, and Captain America) come to the garage door to tell you to load us up in the car, and go somewhere. We were born to travel.

this was my first greyhound post

This is one of the first fotos i took of Captain.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Greyhounds

 

The greyhound is an apt metaphor for how dogs and people are treated in society which monetary interests rule. He is an hunting hound, a sight hound, who courses (chases) his quarry. The greyhound and other similar looking dogs were known in earliest days of civilisation, in Sumeria and in Egypt. His bearing is considered noble, and he is pictured in Egyptian tombs and mediæval heraldry. Greyhounds have a long history with man.

A century ago, a man invented a mechanical hare and opened up a dog racing track in California. Tracks opened up in several states (especially Florida), and most English speaking countries. Recent extension of casinos and other forms of gambling has closed many American tracks; but the industry still exists.

The business needs young fast dogs, always more. If they are not young and fast, they are discarded, and replaced; very much like human labor.

Now, in the recent past, many of the dogs were then put to death. Humanitarian dog fanciers began to organise greyhound rescue societies. The unemployed, and unemployable hounds that were born and bred to serve monetary interests have been sometimes saved to become companion animals.

Many realise that we are all creatures of the same God. Certainly, we know Francis of Assisi taught this. He is not the only patron of animals. There are saints for all animals, for domestic, for wild, for particular animals, for ill animals... The two Tonys (Egypt, Lisbon/Padua) are both animal patrons. Some animals have two patrons. Dogs have Hubert and Roch. We are to treat animals well. We have the custom to have animals blessed on the feast of Francis, 4th of October.