Great things about being blind. Swimming dogs continued.

My second guide dog was a little female yellow labrador retriever named Margaret. She did not like to swim or like the water at all. She did not like to get dirty. Years would go by before she learned to swim. One summer, Margaret and I were with a friend at a lake. I was swimming and was several meters from shore. My friend said that Margaret was watching me closely. I said that she would never swim. She didn't like to do it. My friend suggested I call her. I did. Tentatively at first, she came in. The first bit of swimming she did, she flung her head way back. My friend told me this. she swallowed some water and went back to shoree coughing. I thought that would be it. She would never enter the water again. But in she came very excited. She learned to swim that day and loved it forever. The friends who took her when she retired let her swim regularly and she loved it very much.

Swimming dogs continued.

My first guide dog, (black lab Gwenny) hadn't been swimming before I got her.  Since she really really hated the rain (another story for another day) I figured she would not like it.  I had gone out in  a boat on a lake and since the other people in the boat wanted to fish, I left Gwenny on shore with some relatives.  When I came back in the boat, Gwenny was eager to be reunited with me.  The let her loose and she came bouncing through the shallw water towards the boat as we coasted in.  She bounced and then suddenly, it was too deep to bounce and she just started swimming.  She loved it very very much.  she would swim whenever and wherever I would let her.  She was a fast swimmer and good retreiver.  And as most retreivers do when they swim, she would get out and shake all over me if I wasn't swimming with her, to ensure that I too got the joy of being all wet.
Tomorrow, the swimming adventures of my second guide dog.

Great things about being blind. Preparing for a show.

I'm getting ready for my hour-long guide dog stories, storytelling show tonight.  I know other storytellers do this too but this may be a bit easier for me.  I can prepare for my shows and go over material in the dark, when I am brushing the dog, eating breakfast, exercising.  Not while walking as I have to concentrate on traffic, directing my dog, etc.  I create material.  Partly by writing it out.  Partly by recording it.  Then, when I have a format and material I like, I record it.  Take a break.  Then listen with fresh ears.  Then, I write from my recording.  Putting in words and concepts that are missing.  Then, record again.  At first when I record, I am reading my braille material.  Then, I go off book as storytelling is more improvisational than a play is for me.  But still, I need the structure of the material and certain phrases and language I like.  I listen for timing also.  For the timbre of my voice.  Sometimes, I listen to just the text read to me on my ipod in the wonderful british accented voice I chose.  If I want to go over material quickly I speed it up and just listen to the text I've created.
This is like speed reading I guess.
Then at other times, I listen to myself.
Get my voice in my head.
So, I think in many ways being blind as a storyteller has advantages for preparing material, for listening, and besides being blind gives me great story material.

Great things about being blind. Paralympic experiences.

Some of you probably don't know that I was a competitive swimmer from about age 11 or 12 to 18.  I was honoured to represent canada at six national and two paralympic games.
I learned so much from this.  I am so grateful for the experiences I had.
Looking back, I realize how much I learned and how much these things have shaped me.
First, the dedication of competitive swimming, of getting  up many mornings at 5 AM, of being in the water before class, after class, having to have good time management and dedication has assisted me with many aspects of life.
Being in good shape is and always has been important.
I learned from meeting many people with many different physical disabilities, how people adapt.  How people thrive.  I leanred about people with disabilities in different countries and how they have had fewer resources than we have in Canada and in the developed world. 
I think meeting these wonderful role models at a young age, (I was 14 at my first paralympic games) helped me to learn to advocate for people with disabilities and to find my own style and way of advocacy.
I use a lot of humour.  I use the arts writing, blogging, storytelling.
I try to speak up for myself when necessary.
Today June 27 is the anniversary of the day I won my paralympic gold medal.
It is the only one I have although I have two silver medals too.
I cherish it!
Because I won it yes but also because of all that I learned on the journey.
I do tell olympic and paralympic tales if anyone wants to book me as a storyteller.
It's going to be hot here today.  Perhaps I should go for a swim?

Great things about being blind. The words our guide dogs know.

I interrupt the tales of swimming dogs, (or should that be tails of swimming dogs) to talk about something that happened yesterday and to answer a question someone asked me about that.  What words do your guide dogs know?  I don't mean the words they were taught in training.  Forward, left, right, halt, sit, down, stay, come, heel.  I mean other things.  Yesterday, while walking home from yoga class, Tulia gave me a gift which I picked up, bagged, and then I needed to find a garbage can.  I knew there was one at the next corner if I turned left and found the bus stop about half a block away.  I reached the corner and said, Find the garbage can.  Left."  Well, Tulia spun to the right, ranced up and down a couple of times, I put my hand out, and there was a garbage can.
I use the find the command a lot.
You have to make sure you use the same words consistently.
You an't say, find the chair, find the bench, find the couch, find the seat."  You have to pick one.
I say find the seat as find the chair is too similar to find the stairs which I also use.
Find the garbage can is another handy one.
Find the pole for crossing poles.
Find the bus stop.
I'm not always sure whether or not my dogs know them all of the time but Tulia sure did yesterday.
Oh yes find the curb if we seem to be wandering in the street a little.
They seem to know, do you want supper?
Do you want a treat?
Find a toy.
Leve it.
Let's go.
On your bed.
And man other phrases.
It amazes me how much they know sometimes.
Tomorrow back to swimming dogs.

Great things about being blind. Hearing dogs swim.

I have always loved listening to dogs swim.  They go so fast and so smoothly.
I grew up with a lab mix and she loved to swim from a very early age.  We spent summers at our cottage and that dog was never out of the water.  She loved to retreive rocks from the bottom.  She would stick her head in, blow bubbles, and haul the rocks out and want you to throw them for her.  If you didn't, she would drop them on your foot or hand and they could be quite large.  So you pretty much had to pay attention to her and throw them for her!
She also would swim out with us.  When we swam the river (about half a mile or so) she came along.  Swimming ahead of us, then back to us, around us, and forward again.  She must have gone twice or three times the distances we did and was ready to swim back.  And what can I hear when a dog swims?  The breathing.  Not usually the paws moving.  But the exuberant jump into water and that breathing as they move.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you about my first guide dog Gwenny and her swimming.
Happy summer!

great things about being blind. The sound of water.

When I was about six or seven, I announced that when I grew up and had my own place that I would have a fountain in my livingroom.  I always have loved the sound of running water.  There is nothing like the sound of the ocean waves flowing in and crashing and then the sound and hiss as they are sucked back out.  I'm sure the look of them can't be any more beautiful.  There is nothing quite like the sound of a water fall.  Even small ones can sound big to me.  I can be impressed with a small falls that sounds big.  I love to cross a bridge over a flowing stream and hear that water.  The little waves of a river or lake lapping against the shore.  The falling pouring rain or the gentle rain sounds especially if you are inside.  I am sure water does not look as beautiful as it sounds.