Max

Max Justice Dog, aka Max, was a party mix Cocker Spaniel who came into my life, in one of those small miracles that happen from time to time when you are not looking for them, while I was finishing a non degree in math at S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo.

A family friend who kept horses and critters on some acreage in Eden outside of Buffalo, decided to sell the farm and move to Montana. Before he left he mentioned to my dad that Max was available as Max wasn’t going west. I caught wind of this and Max moved in as my long time roommate. The alternatives for both of us would in retrospect have been much dimmer.

Max was a great adventurer and the picture at left was taken at Great Wass Island near where I lived in down east Maine.

Max Justice Dog’s Song

I took a number of takes this morning to get something that was more or less what I think the tune should sound like. At some point I will post one of the earlier recordings – I had several inspired takes over the years.

Max came to live with me in Indian River, ME in the sea captain’s haunted farm house. I painted this acrylic painting of Max galumphing through the field behind the house. The Grange Hall is visible across the road from the house, my neighbor Sam’s house is just out of the picture on the right.

Max had a hardy constitution and liked to swim in the frigid water around Addison and Machias. The water color at the left is Max at Carrying Place Cove, drying out on a boulder. This cove was nearby where the artist John Marin lived and worked.

We went to Quoddy Head one day and I set up my camera on a tripod to get a scenic overlook pic with Max.

Max followed me to Dearborn, MI and we lived at the dump on Lawrence Avenue next to Adenoid’s coney island and then relocated to the house on Horger Avenue a stone’s throw from City Hall.

This photo was taken of Max a day or two before he passed away> Max and my son Jake were watching out the back bedroom window of the lower flat on Horger one afternoon late in November…