Evening stroll along the Victoria Promenade...

Really wasn't sure that tonight's "stroll" was even going to happen after spending the day in bed with a pretty substantial migraine but Laz and I were going a little stir crazy being inside all day so I dug deep and we ventured out for a wander around.

So happy we did because when you wander around with a really lovely dog you always end up meeting really lovely people and this is such a great distraction for me from the unrelenting pain. Plus Laz had eaten a "foxtail" yesterday and even though he had thankfully thrown it up he was still acting strange and had me in such a worried state all day which only makes him worry more about me so we can turn into a proper neurotic mess together if I am not careful. His behaviour always changes when I have a migraine so I wasn't sure if he was just worried about me or something was going on with eating the fox tails.

Robert says I think too much for my dog and that he is just a dog...but Laz is not just a dog he is Laz and I know he knows and that I know he knows so it can get pretty tricky sometimes.

We met Sue and Karen and their little dog Rochie who bless her little heart is terrified now of other dogs after being attacked a few weeks ago by two big dogs but she was such a brave and curious little thing and my big sweet hairy dog seemed like a safe bet to her I guess.

Turns out Sue is actually from Ireland so we had an interesting chat about the difference in cultures and how when she now goes back to Ireland she feels more Canadian than Irish and really only has "a strong Irish accent when she drinks" which you have got to just love the Irish. She has actually lived here in Canada now for 20 years but goes back to Ireland often and I explained to her that I sometimes have a hard time in Canada because I don't feel very Canadian here I am different now from living so long in America and Ireland and I really miss the Irish culture. It was very interesting to swap reverse perspectives.

While we were talking along wandered Susan who lives at the senior home up the street that Laz and I always visit and after Sue and Karen continued on with their walk Laz and I joined Susan on a stroll back to her apartment.

We then met a lovely Korean woman named Amber who had a big very terrified dog who not only had been horribly abused before she adopted her and actually had to have surgery to repair wounds from the abuse but several weeks ago was attacked by another dog so she doesn't know if she is coming or going she is so afraid of everything and everyone but she ventured out of her comfort zone stuck to her Mama's leg and actually played with Laz!!!

They are going to be buddies now and Amber just lives nearly beside us so we are going to get together and see if we can get poor Snow to not be so afraid of the world anymore. For a severely abused dog she was just so sweet I hope Laz and I can help her not to be so afraid. Really just breaks my heart that anyone could do that to an animal and thank goodness the man who abused her is actually in jail because the abuse happened in America and it is a crime to hurt an animal in that country.

We had a very interesting talk about the different cultures again and it was interesting to learn that now when she goes back to Korea she finds it difficult to "fit into Korean culture" since she has been in Canada for so long and now feels more Canadian than Korean.

She learned English in England and lived and travels regularly to America so it was very nice to talk to someone who has similar experiences to me. Not that I had to learn a different language, although it did take me awhile to "suss" out all of the Irish expressions and words that I had no clue what they meant.

I guess traveling and living in different countries just does that to people and here I thought it was just me who found it confusing sometimes.

We talked about the differences in food and even smells between the different countries and it made me really happy that somehow I ended up in this extremely diverse and multi cultural area of Edmonton, Alberta Canada. It just really suits me and my traveling service dog Laz to a tee. We just love to walk and wander so much and as long as Laz is with me he is pretty happy no matter where we are in the world. Plus he doesn't act like he doesn't know me like my kids do when I stop and chat for a long time, he just lays down at my feet and takes a nap.

He actually knows the difference between the clerks at our local shop we go to and if it is Harry or Amit he just automatically lays down at my feet by the cash register cause he knows chances are we are going to be there for awhile where as when it is Siad or Rafi who don't really speak that much English he may as well just stand cause we just exchange niceties and it doesn't take us very long.

When Riley and I walked to Shoppers Drug Mart today to get some water I of course got distracted talking to some of the people there and never made it past the front door where everyone that came in thought Laz was the "greeter" dog and he got a lot more attention than he even usually does. We even ran into Cameron our new friend who "absolutely hates dogs" but he says my boy is very sweet and he even pet him today which was amazing because usually he stands about 10 feet away from him.

And who knows where the wind will take us next...but that is another day another adventure for now it is back to bed with some serious pain medication four walls do not distract me the same way interesting and lovely people and their dogs do.