Bath and Bed

As I sit and type this, the sweet aroma of dog shampoo is wafting up from my tee shirt, which is drenched.

Size and Fear

We’re approaching the two-year anniversary of our adoption of Mamie and we're still learning about her. At face value she’s a pretty straightforward little dog, even-tempered and undemanding.

From Doctors to Baby Dolls

When you’re out of town for months at a time, something’s gotta give,

Quirks

As the years stack up, I should be getting used to these moments but they still surprise me.

A Little Nature

I figured that Mamie must be bored silly by the same old walk around our complex,

My Dog the Introvert

I could use a good animal behaviorist.

Heebie Jeebies

Over the past week, Mamie’s gone from

Tube Terrors

It’s been many years since our own kids passed their driver’s tests, and the grandboys live four hours away, but we still may need to reacquaint ourselves with those parental-guidance warnings on TV shows.

Cold Memories

Mamie and I went to town yesterday, which means we drove one mile to the little village center for a walk. I thought it would be a nice break for her from the Mobius strip of sidewalks in our condo complex.

           As usual, we parked in the small shopping area that’s made up of a bank, a pizza shop, an insurance guy, and a hairdresser, and then we walked from there to the library in back to drop off some books. She was thrilled to have new places to sniff and pee and trotted ahead of me, tail in the air.

          Through the park with the Civil War statue, past the village coffee shop, and we were on the grounds of the private academy. It was a beautiful sunny day and the students were out in force, passing us on the brick sidewalks. A group of three were paused in front of one of the dorms and they caught my attention because two of the three were wearing camel hair coats, something I don’t remember seeing in a while and particularly not on 16 year-olds. An ankle-length version passed me a few minutes later. All I can figure is this is one more fashion trend I’ve missed, although it could be limited to the stratospheric income range of these students’ families.

          These coats reminded me, though, of a conversation I had with my son-in-law over Thanksgiving. We both remember winter as a time when you just resigned yourself to being cold.

I have a good twenty years on him, but we both grew up in the pre-puffy coat, pre-Thinsulate eras. As a general rule, you only had one layer of wool and a shiny rayon lining between you and old man winter and you would just deal. That’s the way it was - of course you were cold; you were outside.

 Maybe being cold from November through March toughened us. What with the need to get through the cold from point A to point B as quickly as possible, we might have even been in better shape since everyone probably walked faster then, too.

Leafing Home

If two straight days of lying on my side painting baseboards, coupled with being scrunched on the stairs painting risers wasn’t enough, I did receive a reminder yesterday of why we need to sell our house – and soon.

Rolling along

Condo living may be designed to simplify life, but it still requires some adaptation – even in the dog world.

Afternoon terror

     No, I'm not packing a miniature sheep for the trip to this weekend's Bar Mitzvah.

Country girl to city girl

Mamie is adjusting nicely to condo living, although I’m sure she misses her favorite patch of pachysandra back at the house. 

Stress versus a stroll with a little dog

So that snowball has started its roll down the hill and it’s picking up momentum and objects at an alarming rate.

A Walk and Random Thoughts

          The weather here being distinctly un-June like, I put on my fleece and took Mamie for her afternoon walk.

Fuzzy Afternoon

It probably says something about our social life that the highpoint of our weekend was a picnic for dogs.

Hoover Horror

Sorry – I didn’t mean to drop off the edge of the blog world. My absence is due more to mundanity and inertia than a madcap social life.

Rollin' Home

It must be the effect of those two 12+ hour days in the car that it’s taken me this long to announce that we’re back from Florida.

Bunnies, Inner Peace, and Murder

          Spring must even come to Florida, the land of perpetual summer. 

Public (and Publix) appearance

     Late in the afternoon I made a dash to the grocery store to pick up a rotisserie chicken (how, or how did I survive before they came on the scene?) to make a salad for incoming company.