Wholly Clean

Last weekend Your Boulevardier was hosting the Subcompact Loaner, and so more walks were taken in our immediate neighborhood. This piece of garden art has been noticed many times before, but this time a photo was snapped.



It is a statue of the Virgin Mary, and yes, the protective shell behind her appears to be fashioned from a bathtub. (Click the photo for a closer view.) It's quite beautifully and respectfully done, in Your Boulevardier's opinion, and clever to boot. In its shape and in its blue color, it evokes the grotto at Lourdes. There's also an unexpected touch of whimsy in the whole thing.

If readers can suggest other pieces of Castro Valley garden art Your Boulevardier should check out, please post in the comments or email your.boulevardier@gmail.com.

Lengths and Breaths

Your Boulevardier is once again hosting the Subcompact Loaner this weekend, and the sun is shining, so this morning was a good one to get out for a long walk on Castro Valley Boulevard. The first stop on our journey was Valley Java, where Your Boulevardier feels safe tying up the SL for a brief moment. (His unease with doing so at busier, more exposed places is explained here.) Our arrival occurred before the church rush, so the shop was quiet, with only a few customers at the tables and soft jazz audible over the hubbub.

Your Boulevardier was tempted to take a peek at the hospital construction site, but opted instead to head east on the Boulevard. It was noted that the ARCO station at Wisteria Street is closed due to an Alcoholic Beverage Control violation. Interesting to note that they're not selling gas during this shutdown; could it be that the Patrón and Pabst brings in more money than the Petrol?



From there the Post Office was visited. Although the sign announced that dogs were not welcome, Your Boulevardier broke the rules and walked the Subcompact Loaner into the building to check his box. Then the Village was passed through; bowlers were already arriving for their morning observances.

Near Peet's, Your Boulevardier had a chance encounter with Paul, the husband of Soeur de Boulevardier. (If there is a colloquial French phrase for "brother-in-law," Your Boulevardier does not know it.) Paul asked if Your Boulevardier was "walking a mop" -- recall that the Subcompact Loaner is a small, white, hairy dog -- and other family news was shared. From there, Your Boulevardier ambulated through the shopping center behind the Wachovia branch that will become Castro Valley's Wells Fargo Bank this coming April. He confirmed that many of the storefronts in the center are vacant, though there is a dentist, a real estate agent, a title company, a hair salon, and a tutoring company in business.

The Boulevard was crossed at Yeandle Avenue -- Rudy's was passed without ducking in, since Your Boulevardier is trying to limit his intake of sweets -- and the under-construction path from Castro Valley Boulevard to the Castro Valley Library was explored. (The work seems to have been stalled by the recent rains.) A book was returned using the Library's nifty self-service electronic scanner, after which the creek was inspected from the footbridge. The streamflow is far calmer than it was just a few days ago, due to the recent dry spell. (Your Boulevardier finds our town's creeks thrilling when they're raging, but much more pleasant when they're just flowing peacefully.)




The rest of the walk to Chez Boulevardier was without incident or observation worthy of reporting. It was a fine morning for a walk, though; the air is clean and smells fresh, the sidewalks and crosswalks are passable (no major flooding or mud traps were encountered) and the sun shone brightly. A fine close to the month of January.

The Dog-Walking Experience

It was a year ago today that the Trusty BoulevarDog left us. She has been much on Your Boulevardier’s mind on this anniversary weekend, in part because the Subcompact Loaner is spending a few days Chez Boulevardier. To re-enter the rhythms of dog ownership -- the joys and the complications thereof -- has been an eye-opening reminder of the Trusty BoulevarDog’s absence.

The now-absent dog-owning experience comes into particular focus in the twice- or thrice-daily walks that the Subcompact Loaner requires. She has been an enthusiastic walker these last couple of days, particularly for an animal of her tiny size. Walks of three miles have been undertaken without complaint or signs of exhaustion. The walks require the packing of poop bags (and a flashlight in the evening); the constant scanning of fellow pedestrians to determine those who do desire, or who do not wish, canine contact; the instant camaraderie that a dog-walker shares with other dog-walkers; and more. These factors, and others, make walking with a dog more complicated, but also more joyful and mindful, than walking on one’s own.

(On these walks, both on Stanton and Anita Avenues, our town’s patchwork of sidewalks, and the complications therefrom, have also become painfully apparent. But Your Boulevardier has complained enough about that subject of late.)

There’s an outing-related complication with walking the Subcompact Loaner that did not exist with the Trusty BoulevarDog: the Subcompact Loaner is tiny and, frankly, snatchable. The Trusty BoulevarDog was a good companion for a walk to the grocery store or the barbershop because she could be tied up outside without issue or complaint. She was mellow, but because she was medium-to-large in size and bore markings similar to those of a German Shepherd, she was not messed with by strangers. The Subcompact Loaner, by contrast, is less than 10 pounds in weight, light-colored, fluffy, and just plain cute. Sadly, a dog with those characteristics cannot be left outside a shop for 20 minutes without tempting fate. Sadly, not all people who claim to be dog-lovers are upstanding citizens. Look at all the abandoned dogs at the pound if you disagree.

This is a roundabout way of saying that walks with the Subcompact Loaner tend to be single-purpose outings: to walk the dog. They can’t be combined with dining out, or shopping, or other errands. That is a shortcoming of the Subcompact Loaner -- not a shortcoming of her own making or fault, but a shortcoming nonetheless that must be considered.

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Rereading this post from the top, two things strike Your Boulevardier. One, the post is more about the Subcompact Loaner than about the Trusty BoulevarDog. That’s as it should be. The Trusty BoulevarDog is remembered with love, but she is no longer here; the Subcompact Loaner is, and therefore deserves the attention. This does not, in Your Boulevardier’s opinion, take anything away from the Trusty BoulevarDog or her memory; it simply acknowledges the real world in which some of us are fortunate to live. Memory is a lovely thing, but life is more lovely.

Second, this post might be interpreted as complaining a bit about the Subcompact Loaner. That is not Your Boulevardier’s intention. She’s a fine dog and an entertaining companion. She has many positive attributes, including a skill for lap-sitting that Your Boulevardier finds comforting. She has a joie de vivre that's hard to match.

People frequently ask Your Boulevardier if he plans to get another dog. The stock answer -- which is true -- is “Not for now. It’s nice to be able to simply turn down the thermostat and lock the door when leaving the house. And it’s nice to not have tumbleweeds of dog fur rolling around the floor.”

But it also must be said that having another heartbeat in the house is life-affirming, and by re-experiencing it this weekend its absence is more clear. And there’s nothing that compares with the welcome a dog gives one when one returns home, even if one has ony been gone for a few minutes. There were countless delights in living with the Trusty BoulevarDog, and it’s a delight to host the Subcompact Loaner.

So, the next-dog question remains open. This post will close with a favorite photo of the two dogs. The contentment of them -- and, frankly, the humor of one large dog pouring out of its bed while a tiny dog disappears into its bed -- gives Your Boulevardier a happy feeling on a rainy, melancholy day.

Donut Forget

Your Boulevardier hosted the Subcompact Loaner over part of the weekend, and walked the pooch on Sunday morning to Lee's Donuts. He purchased a cinnamon roll and left a gratuity; he inquired as to proprietor Sam Nouv's well-being, and was told that he is healing from the criminal beating he received last month.

Word on the Boulevard is that eight teams are now signed up for Saturday's Donut Hole Open Bocce Tournament, to be held at Adobe Park in Castro Valley, to help defray Mr. Nouv's considerable medical expenses. The tournament organizer would prefer for there to be twelve teams. (There must be an even number.) The entry fee is $100 per team.

Information can be found on the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce Calendar. (If that link does not work, go to the chamber website and click about until you find it.)

Sunday Buzz

Your Boulevardier and the Subcompact Loaner walked to Valley Java this morning. We have three observations:

1) The construction of the 238-Strobridge interchange seems to have stopped at about 90 percent of completion. Though the ramps themselves are finished, cones (or whatever one calls those upright orange pylons with the black bases that are glued to the pavement) and striping are all that, to this layman's eyes, remain to be completed. Along with regular trash removal, of course.

2) The congregants of the Neighborhood Church may be fine people, but they really don't seem to care much about pedestrians and small dogs who are trying to cross Castro Valley Boulevard. A little more observation and courtesy would be appreciated. Please, friends: at least pretend to stop at the limit line -- that's the first line of the crosswalk -- before turning right onto John Drive.

3) The activity level at Valley Java was, at least at this visit, considerably lower than it used to be. Maybe Peet's has siphoned off some of the business, or perhaps the decamping of Judge Peggy Hora to parts east has caused her klatsch to find another place to gather.

Boom Town

Your Boulevardier sat on his back deck for a while this morning, watching the thunderstorm over the hills east of Castro Valley. The storm is great free entertainment, though one suspects it makes the organizers of the Fall Festival a little nervous.

Addendum: The Subcompact Loaner is my houseguest this weekend, and on our morning walk we saw a white opossum. A bit of Googling reveals that "An albino variation is not an uncommon sight" in opossums.

Still, between the weird weather and the unusual wildlife encounter, it's feeling like a strange day already.

Suburban Foraging

Alas, due to professional commitments, Your Boulevardier has not been able to take advantage of the visiting Subcompact Loaner for extended dog walks. However, they took a brief stroll this morning and checked the blackberry bramble on Strobridge Avenue, east of 580 and below Strobridge School. The berries are just becoming ripe!

Your Boulevardier knows of at least one other place in town where a prolific fruit tree on public (or abandoned) property shares its bounty with all comers. Do readers know of others? (Perhaps you're unwilling to divulge; Your Boulevardier understands.)

Dog Walks Coming Soon!

Your Boulevardier will be hosting the Subcompact Loaner for a few days next week. Mon Petit Chou has been conditioning the chien for longer walks - unlike the late Trusty BoulevarDog, she's a tiny animal - and Your Boulevardier hopes to get the SL onto the Boulevard a couple of times during her stay.

Humble Thanks

Your Boulevardier is grateful for the outpouring of support and kindness he has received from you, the readers, over the untimely passing of the Trusty BoulevarDog. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. Some more photos of her will be posted here in the coming weeks, beginning with this one; she's relaxing with her friend, the Subcompact Loaner, last summer. It's amusing to note which dog took the big bed and which took the small.



Her departure does not mean the end of this blog. Indeed, a goodly amount of material has been collected for future postings, and more regular installments should begin appearing soon.