Charley and Luci

 So today the shoe was on the other foot for Luci.  

I couldn't stand it any longer, and the day was beautiful, so I drove out to Helotes to visit for an hour or so with Bonnie, Nathan and Elena.

Conway is a big lovable klutzy Aussie, but Charlie is not much bigger than Luci.  After they'd done all the sniffing and whispery growls essential to getting acquainted, Luci was the one who was shy.  But Charley is lovable and persistent and he finally convinced Luci to run and play like the Energizer Bunny she is at home!

Then the three of the left for the rodeo and I came home to paint and to get some things arranged for my cleaning day tomorrow by Alfred.  

"This is paradise," Luci said.  "Two dogs and three horses AND two small people!  Let's come back here again!"

Carma and Luci

 Jan named her beautiful spotted puppy Carma, a caramel colored mix of collie and heeler.  Carma is very shy, but we took a walk with our dogs today and she did quite well on the leash.

Afterwards, we let them play in my newly fenced yard and Luci was so excited to have a pal that she showed off her running antics and made Jan and me laugh and Carma look on as if practicing mentally for her first run.  

Luci's Boundaries and New Next Door Playmate

Voila--fence is finished!  And starting tomorrow, Luci will have a playmate right next door!  Jan's puppy is younger but twice as large as Luci and we expect them to be great pals.  Her name is going to be Pinta.  

Luci is not particularly thrilled by the limits of her running track, but I am!

Kind of like romance if you ask me...

SNIPSA has an adage for adoptees: "Three days, three weeks, three months."  The first three days can be a honeymoon, little doggies on their best and most cooperative behavior.  They begin to show their humans who they are in three weeks, but in three months, they know they are home and can be themselves in all their glory.

In the beginning, I thought Luci was almost like a cat (or a boyfriend); she only wanted to be within inches of me at all times.  But of course, she'd been moved from one place to another who knows how many times?  She wanted to impress me with her affection.

I wasn't sure she was particularly smart, but I knew she was extraordinarily sweet and a keeper no matter what.  I told her so but she still watched visitors carefully in case one of them might pick her up and take her away. Now she's cool.  She knows we have friends and she knows they aren't going to take her away.  She knows people by name and can do anything I ask her to--except take the clothes out to the dryer and wash the dishes.  

She's even learned not to help me make up the bed and to wait on the floor until it's ready for her jump and land on top. She follows directions: stay, hop in, hop out, come on--all in English.  My bilingual- now puppy, it turns out, is plenty smart and still sweet as ever.  

It took her two weeks to show me that she's a haul-ass runner and I'm waiting anxiously for the fence, being built today, to be completed so I don't have to watch her every single minute for one of her impressive romps into and including the street.

I took her to the Bark Park today and she defended herself admirably against the four big dogs who came to greet her.  I don't think we'll go back there any time soon.  

Like any good man or woman, she has many aspects to who she is.  She's showing more sides of herself  a little more each day, and I'm still crazy in love!

Puppy Party

Luci was out of her mind happy today when Janet brought two adorable dogs for Jan to consider!  They played in my yard, Jan's yard, and we went for a walk together.  

Jan is sleeping on her final decision, but she can't go wrong with either Funyon or Frito--though the name will be changed in either case.

In the meanwhile, Luci is intent on getting all the love pats she can from Jan and Janet.  "Don't overlook me just cause I'm a teeny little ten-pounder," she says. 

Show-Offy Puppy

So today Luci decided to impress me again and make me laugh--until she ran out in the street and heard me scream!

The fence has been stalled and she ran her usual three rounds around the outside of the house.  "IF you think that's so funny," she said, "Watch this!"

That's when her circumference grew larger and into the street!  ARGHHH!

"Where's Ed?" I asked her--and she ran lickety split to the casita where Ed is painting!

We just got her booster shot and now are awaiting a prospective pet for Jan to show up for a look-see!

Janet is the matchmaker of matchmakers!  She has an uncanny ability to find just the right people for little rescue dogs.  

Puppy Town

It's been another fun weekend in Puppy-Town. 

Luci has a tendency to show off when she gets to know you.  Yesterday, with the company of Edward and Reyes and Jeremy building a fence and painting, she did her most astonishing show yet.  

We were all gathered around the post holes and Jeremy, Reyes' teenaged son, was showing me a sketch he'd made of the fence, drawn with a marker on a piece of wood.  Maybe that sketch was getting too much of my attention and Luci wanted to divert us all to her racing abilities.  Quicker than I could say "Luci," she took off and ran around the entire house three times, lightning speed, without stopping between each round.  

Here she is with Edward, my painter for the past ten years: 

If we laugh, she keeps going and going and going--like the Energizer Puppy she is.  She looked like a streak of copper and white. 

I obviously can't keep up with her when she runs--thus, the fence.  But when she walks with me on a leash, she's sedate and well-behaved and never gets ahead of me.  I'm sending a big thanks to her former owners, whoever they were, for training her!

Luci may have had a picture in her mind of the perfect human, just as I had one in my mind of the perfect puppy.  She may have envisioned a lean young teenager who could run fast-- as I imagined a black and white poodle mix. 

But she got a woman of a certain age who doesn't run worth a damn and I got a copper and white pup who makes me laugh many times a day. The highlight of our Sunday was a walk to Freda's and a porch visit--and coming home with some delicious chili Freda made. Here she is getting to know Freda:

In spite of preconceived notions of this human, I wouldn't trade this funny little girl for any fancy pedigreed pup.  

This weekend we had several field trips: Home Depot, Tuesday Morning, and the Laundromat.  She is petted by most other shoppers and given treats by a few.  When we left the laundromat last night, three women called out, "Bye, Luci!"  As the old song has it, it's good to go where "everybody knows your name." 

Luci discovered another dog on the porch today--but the new dog wouldn't play with her.  Such a strange world this is!

Can we just please go to sleep now?

Luci and I have had a busy week--new washer and dryer, Edward here painting, Tony and his sidekick plumber clearing some pipes of roots, and Reyes starting to build the fence to keep Luci from going for solo runs on the street when she gets a little braver.

We are the ones who go to Home Depot to get more paint, a new set of blinds.  We're the ones who go to the scratch and dent for a scratched and dented matching washer and dryer for our outdoor Laundromat and then back and swap them because we didn't know the dryer had to be gas.

When she's on a leash, Luci seems confident walking through parking lots and into stores, holding her head high as if she's my big guard dog on duty.  She walks down aisles in Home Depot as if she knows her way around this place, maybe owns stock in it, observing the goings on of the employees and shoppers.

She loves it when the workers leave and it's just the two of us, me watercoloring, she hiding a bone behind the sofa for later.  She's waiting for me now to come to bed and turn off the lights so she can get her beauty rest.  

If on occasion, I wake at three and suggest a drive, she looks at me like I'm a crazy woman.  She may have--who knows?--come from a home where people go to bed at nine and stay there all night. (It's hard to overcome early puppy raising practices, but she's not too old to learn a few new tricks.) 

After coaxing her into the car against her will, sometimes resorting to picking her up and tossing her in, she sits on the passenger seat and sighs: "This is not what I had in mind at all."

But then when we get to wherever we're going, she perks up and wags her tail.  "I caught you having fun!" I tell her.  "You can't fool me." 

Amanda Gorman

America's youngest poet laureate is publishing a book for children, out in September.  You can pre-order it now!

It's a New Day 1/20/21

Birds flying high

You know how I feel

Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by
You know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
I'm feeling good

I woke up this morning to the instrumental version of this song by Michael Bublé.  The capitol was majestically illuminated.  

Luci watched the inauguration with great interest for six hours.  (Well, actually she woke up enough for me to catch her watching a time or two.)

I gave her a bite of cheddar cheese for a snack.  She politely and delicately accepted it, then hid it.  I assume that means she doesn't like cheese but doesn't want to hurt my feelings!

Elena made a list of her five opinions this morning: 

BOLD OPINIONS

* Lacrosse younger age group should be able to have same rules as older group.

* Pajama day ever day

* Ice cream should go to all neighborhoods

* School should start at 9:00

* Firefighters should be allowed to come home every night, YES THEY SHOULD. 

Hachi: A Dog's Tale

Richard Gere plays a professor who finds a lost dog, an Akita, at a train station. If you're looking for something sweet and wonderful to watch, watch this one!

Shopping with Luci

 

Today Luci and I went to the 99 cents store on West Avenue.  I needed bananas and eggs and knew Luci would not be welcome in HEB.  

She pointed out dog treats.  I bought her some jerky for doggies and she loved it.  After chewing all the jerky, she digs a hole and buries the remaining "bone" in the yard for a day in the future when she might want a bone. She's a forward-thinking puppy. 

We had a porch lunch with Aunt Kate--who's trained a lot of dogs in her time.  I'm pretty sure Kate was impressed with Luci's manners and Luci loved Kate's colorful porch and the opportunity to bark at the cat who trespassed onto the steps as we were eating chicken chili.

Later this afternoon, Jan and Luci and I took a walk.  She loves going for walks most of all, sniffing the ground, sniffing fire hydrants, sniffing trees.  She's very fond of Jan and thankful to her for introducing us to walking around the neighborhood. The world according to Luci is very fragrant and exciting. 

I could watch her for hours--and do.  Even with no dogs or kids to play with, she entertains me by running around the yard really fast, then putting on brakes and checking to make sure I'm still there appreciating her speed! 

Luci is good, very very good, but she does have a few little demerits on her report card: a shredded phone case, a broken strap on my pocket book, and chewed up rubber handles on my scissors.  

We went to PetCo yesterday and I bought her a substitute--a rubber chew toy Joy told me about. She likes it when it's filled with liver paste, but I haven't gotten around to refilling it yet, so she's chewing on a toothbrush I gave her.

I'm beginning Barack Obama's book, The Promised Land, today.  Kate gave it to me for Christmas and I've been saving it for inauguration week.

I also read an extraordinary novel this week: 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds by Elif Shakar.  It's my first book borrowed from Libby; I'm glad Pam finally taught me the nuts and bolts of ordering a Kindle book from the library.  It begins as a narrative inside the mind of a murdered sex worker in Istanbul and it unfolds in such amazing writing and detail that I couldn't put it down. 

Happy to report that Carlene is doing great; Day's COVID test is negative; and Jackson is feeling better.

I hope all of you and your people (and pets) are doing well!

Oh, and one more piece of news:  Luci doesn't like Trumpers!  Parked next to us at Petco was a big truck with Trump signs on it.  A man got out wearing a cap.  Luci growled her most menacing growl--and she can't even read yet.  At least I don't think she can.  

Bed time for Luci and Me

 

Luci bids you all a good night! 

When she sleeps, she curls up like a little fawn.

January 16, 2021

Luci has now been here for over a week, and I've decided that she's probably a Collie-Doxie, with maybe a bit of Corgi thrown in.  What a fantastic dog she is!

She's so glad to get back from our ride that she does a rip-roaring run around the house after sniffing the front yard for tigers.  When we walk from one house to another, she holds her head high looking very serious and focused as if we're doing something super important for which she has to be vigilant.  

To a nine-pound mutt (I mean Collie-Doxie) everything is big and important, as she must protect me from all potential enemies.  When she has to stay in the car while I get groceries, she greets me upon my return with way more enthusiasm than humans: "Oh there you are!" she says.  "You've been gone forever, forever, forever!"

When I pour dry food in her bowl, she looks at me with a look of reproach, 'Is that the best you can do?"

Maybe her former owners gave her steak?  Whenever I open the refrigerator, Luci looks so hopeful it kind of breaks my heart for a minute that she has to eat dry dog food.  

When she needs to go outside, she whimpers to announce the fact.  When she's done, she runs back to me like she's done an extraordinary thing.

The most unusual feature I've discovered so far is that she always walks two steps behind me just to the right, as if someone in her mysterious past has trained her to do so.  

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and Jan introduced us to the  Wonderful Concept of A Walk With a Leash.  Her first leash walk was impressive and full of joy.  We're going to make that a regular part of our days.  

As she walks, she does the doggie equivalent of reading her email written in animal language upon the ground.  

Update on family news:

Carlene said she had a very good time at the hospital!  After ten months of virtual solitude, it was fun to be so popular with the nurses and staff.  

She's home now and resting and we'll chat first thing in the morning.

Day is awaiting results of her COVID test so that she can follow up on her extreme mouth and throat pain. I'm hoping hard for a negative result and a diagnosis that can be easily treated!

Jackson is doing better, but he's not entirely well yet.  Even though he had a negative COVID test, the doctor says that he needs to quarantine for another week, just in case, as his symptoms are "COVID-y."

Today is Elena's 9th birthday.  This is the first of her birthdays I'll have to miss--but she's very excited about having a horseback riding party!

My first vaccine was easy-peasy.  Two weeks after the second shot, I should be able to visit more freely, travel, and relax a bit. 

1/15/21

Good morning, Everybody!

I just spoke to Bob who's in the waiting room while Carlene's pacemaker battery is replaced.  He said she had fun checking in, making people laugh as she tends to do.  She insisted that they guarantee another 8 years as that's when her drivers' license will expire! 

So she's in good hands as I get ready to go get my vaccine #1--and she has an appointment to get hers in the next couple of weeks.

Jackson is getting tested again today; his first test was negative, but he's been feeling bad and sleeping all week, so I, Yenna, am going to be waiting all day to hear from Virginia.

Also, Day is having some pains and will be tested along with Jackson. 

So you know where this mama, grandmother's, daughter's heart is today.....

I'll keep you posted.

1/11/21

There's a thing called color fatigue when you look at the same four (or more) walls 24/7 for ten months.  (I made it up, but it's still a real deal.). So in wall color, I'm moving back to quieter colors and Edward is assisting me in that endeavor while Luci and I are now camping out in the casita.  

Janet came over yesterday, ostensibly to see me and give me some color suggestions for light blue, but I suspect she also wanted a dose of Luci jumping gleefully on her!

 

For several years, Day and Carlene and I had a project called We Three.  Every month, we would write or make an art project related to a  theme.  Then we'd put whatever we wrote or painted on a page in a journal Day had made us and mail the whole journal to the next person, round robin style. 

Yesterday a beautiful fabric book arrived with twelve dividers.  Day had a brilliant idea and executed it beautifully to kick off 2021.  In each divider, there's a postage-paid envelope in which we're to include our page (along with a prompt for each month) and mail just that one envelope to the person it's already addressed to. I send January to Day; Day sends January to Nana, and Nana sends January to me. 

As we get our mail. we'll put each month's letter or collage or painting in the January slot.  At the end of the year, we will all have twelve pages in our individual journals made by the other two of the We Three Tribe.

I'm always amazed by Day's creativity.  This one is a real treasure!  

We came back into the house this morning for me to take a bath and Luci to observe and lick and whimper--either for me to get out or her to get in. 

Then we're going to scrape ice off the windshield and go to the UPS store to return a package.  I am no longer a solo traveler and it feels good to have a tiny passenger who now knows "Hop in" and "Hop out." 

While Luci was a bit lethargic her first two days, recuperating from surgery as she was, now she runs through the house like a little rocket.  She knows now that this is her home.

1/10/21

Well, it's been so long since I've had long term company in my house that I may be a little obsessed with having a new housemate. So I will try to low-key it on Luci and me for a bit after this.  (Maybe).  A man told me once that he wasn't going to start dating unless he met a woman who was as happy to see him as his dog.  I get it.

Just as I was bragging about how perfect she is, she decided to remove the case from my iPhone and chew it up.  Fortunately, the phone isn't damaged, but there is now one tiny demerit on her report card for behavior. 

When I brought in the laundry from my outdoor laundry room, she was so happy she made a whimpering sound, then jumped in fast before I could remove the thick blanket of towels.  I would have taken a picture but I accidentally left my phone (case-less) in the car.  I know it's there because I talked to Carlene on the way home from CVS, but it's too dark to find it.

Friends in the Hill Country are sending pictures of snow.  I wonder what Luci and other puppies in South Texas will make of that! When I open the door, she slowly sniffs the air and lets it be known, if it's very cold, that she's not about to go out in this.   Fortunately, she is very small and has to do what I say. 

Tiny little creature that she is, she prefers sunshiny days like the one captured above by Kate! 

Luci and Linda go shopping

 

Friday was a beautiful day.  Lorraine captured some porch shots as we sat outside and visited.

Today feels like a real winter day--rain and cold and even a few flecks of hail as we sat in the Petco parking lot getting ready for our shopping spree.

Luci now has some samples of different foods, a retractable leash (which she doesn't care for but will be trained to use when the weather warms and we go for a walkabout, a hair brush and a sweater.  I bundled her up and wrapped her in my jacket, which she liked very much.  

The rain delayed the fence-building but it's on its way when the weather cooperates.  In the meanwhile, she's attached to her human by an invisible leash. 

Puppy has a name!

On this cold gray day, I drove out to Helotes to deliver presents for Elena's 9th birthday--since I can't go to her party this year. 

Ever since I got this puppy, Elena has been calling every day to Face Time with her and she said from the start her name IS Lucy. 

So today she came running out to the car to get her and said, "Ahh, she's the sweetest puppy ever!  What are we going to name her?  Lucy?"

I said, "I'm calling her Puppy but that just might be it, Elena!"

"Yenna, it IS Lucy.  That's who she is! I already know it." 

Coming from the Animal Whisperer of all time, I believe her!  So her name is now LUCY--but I'm going to spell it with an I--Luci!

Elena wanted to cancel the party she was going to and come home with me and the sweetest puppy ever, but we're still keeping our distance until I get my vaccines.  I get the first one on Friday, then we will have sleepovers again after I get both!  

On the way home, I stopped by B Daddy's Barbecue and got a brisket sandwich to go--on a sourdough bun.  Will had been raving about it and he was right--best barbecue outside of Georgia.

Luci got a taste of it and she'll never go back to dry food again!

1/9/21

Puppy: good a name as any name.  

Mostly, she observes the norms of behavior that a grown-ass dog does, but it occurred to her last night to leap up on the dining table.  (Nobody uses it for eating anyway right now.)   I mentioned to Puppy that this was not normally done inside the house--though she's bound to be confused as it's just fine to sit atop tables outside.  

After photographing her in said position, I grabbed her a little firmly and said no in my sternest voice and placed her back on the floor.  Kate had just reminded me yesterday that she is, after all, a dog and needs to be trained.

There is so much to learn if you're a puppy.  English.  Manners.  Names. 

We headed out to get a morning drink this morning and I put Elena's baby seat in the front passenger seat.  She has already learned that my lap is not the ideal position for driving around and she curls up in her puppy seat all ready for a road trip.  

When we got back and I said, "Hop out" and she didn't, I closed the door and went inside and left her alone.  She did not like that idea.  So when I got back, she was ready to hop right out.  She's learning.

9/8/21

Well, it's been a busy day in Puppyville!

Puppy has met lots of friends and neighbors and revisited her foster home (Janet and Bill's) to get the adoption completed.  Whatever I name her, I'm pretty sure I'll keep calling her Puppy.

I was wondering why she didn't COME to the word, COME, and Janet and I tried it in Spanish and she responded with alacrity!  

When Lorraine, Jan, and Freda stopped by, we got to hear that indeed she can bark.  She barked at some big dogs walking by but they were unfazed. 

She's very polite, potty trained, and a little shy.  

So now we're working on "Hop in" and "Hop Out" and "No." I need to learn more Spanish!

Reyes is coming to build a fence on Sunday, so she'll get to explore without supervision.  So far, she prefers to follow me around the house and stray no further than three feet from me. 

1/8/21

My friend Janet often fosters dog from SNIPSA, and she falls in love with every one of them.  When I started talking about getting a puppy, she insisted I get a "grown ass dog," not a puppy.

So yesterday she sent me a picture of a little caramel and white dog who'd recently been transferred to SNIPSA from a shelter.  Okay, I said, I'll take a look.

I am now the adoptee of an adorable grown ass dog! She's tiny and delicate and follows me everywhere I go.  At ten pounds, she jumped right up on my bed and slept with me!

She reminds me of a fawn and curls up to sleep just like a deer does.  We think she has some Shelty in her bloodline, maybe some dachshund.  But who knows?  She's a pretty little mutt. 

She doesn't have a name yet.  We just took our first middle-of-the-night drive and she sat right on my lap the whole time.  Percy said I should name her Shiloh; Elena says Lucy; Jocelyn says Clementine.  So far, I'm trying out all suggestions and have a few names in mind myself, but she isn't clambering for a name, just a lot of affection. 

First order of business is to get a fence built so she can play outside.  I tried a leash at the pet store when we went for dog food, but she said, "I prefer not to wear that.  I'll just follow you, okay?"

She's not interested in toys so far; she's just a sleepy little lap dog, just what I needed. 

Here's what's-her-name.  

1/7/21

But of course, happy days are for smashing under Trump's watch.

I'm not a historian or scholar on authoritarianism, but I'm listening to some who are,  Anne Applebaum and so many others who have told us it would come to this. 

We've all felt helpless to do anything--but vote--as the crazed Trump has smashed norms, insulted the press, broken laws and pardoned others who have.  He's a smasher, a destroyer, a denier of science, a pathological liar, and a mob boss .

But, as someone just said on a fascinating discussion on MSNBC, "He couldn't have done it alone."  Every person who voted for him, every congressperson who lacked the courage to speak up, and every arm of social media that has perpetrated conspiracy theories--all are complicit.

James Baldwin, in The Fire Next Time, said, “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”

We all knew what we got on Election Day 2016.  We got a wanna-be dictator who set out to harness all the hate and fear of his base. 

A small minded angry man, he's tapped into and been created by angry people who loyally wear their MAGA caps, carry Confederate flags, and pledge allegiance to one man, Trump. 

Four people were killed in the capitol break-in yesterday, others injured.   Even in his mild rhetoric to his "very special people" to go home peacefully, his message continued to maintain that he was the real winner and he "knew how they felt."  "We love you," he said.  

Now what?  Experts in authoritarianism insist that even in these last few days, Trump must be forcibly removed from office.  A great deal of damage can still be done if he is allowed to stay 13 days longer.  

1/6/21

My fingers are black and yellow, blue and pink, the kinds of stains it will take another couple of scrubs to get off. I have one paper cut on my index finger.  If I were a nail biter, I'd have no nails left at all!

Yesterday was my most fun and productive day ever of making things, all day, only stopping for a quick grocery run.  I am close to completion on six collages on wood, three layers sanding between each.  And I am loving making some new patterns on matte paint on the gel press, then adding stains and splashes of sprays that sink in to the matte finish, giving a look to the paper that reminds me of old walls in Venice.  I got this idea from Robyn McClendon on You Tube. 

My energy was unstoppable for one full day into the night, with election returns running in the background. I'm afraid to jinx anything, but it looks very much like Georgia did its part in making the words of Leonard Cohen's song come true: "Democracy is coming...to the USA!"

Once competent adults are back in charge, I hope not to watch political news so much--but the past four years' reality show of outrageous behavior is almost over.  

Humming "Georgia on My Mind," this is one happy day!

January 4, 2021--Pandemic Time is a Trickster

Before COVID, Joy, Freda, Bonnie, and I used to take little day trips to Hill Country towns.  We'd find a nice restaurant (remember restaurants?) and we'd share a long leisurely meal and conversation, then poke around in little shops.  

Here's a photo Bonnie took of Joy and Freda and me.  We were in a yarn shop in Comfort after lunch in Comfort Commons.

Wow! I thought--we look so light and happy, so free!  We're wearing jewelry and are dressed up for a friends' day out.  Looks like I was even wearing a dab of lipstick! (Oh, how I miss those days!)

That must have been at least seven years ago, I thought.  But no--it was 2018, just two short years and one lo-o-o-n-g year ago. 

This photo reminds me of all the unexpected changes that have happened in all our lives since 2018.  Especially the last ten months!  Who of us could have imagined a pandemic and the nearly 350,000 Americans that would lose their lives to this terrible virus?

As I've done the mental gymnastics required to decide whether or not to adopt a dog , I've been thinking about all the canine friends I've had. I can't even count them all--but I'll never forget my favorites: Tony and Ivan, Black and Sasha, Cookie and Pollo.  

We sold some knives and forks from our wedding silver to buy Tony because he was a registered German Shepherd and he cost a whopping $65!   Here we are in front of our house on Huisache, Tony a year old. 

On one occasion, he saved my life right here in the Huisache house.  Bandits (who called themselves The Thieves of Baghdad) had a long spree of breaking into houses, raping and terrorizing people.  Our friends one street over were among their victims.   

A week or so later, two men matching the description of the  men appeared at our door posing as magazine salesmen.  Tony and I were home alone that night, and Tony took over the situation with an impressive show of force. He bared his teeth and growled ferociously, and the men were gone in a flash.  Then Tony wagged his tail and licked me, "It's okay, Girl, we got rid of 'em." 

Here we are four years later (we'd moved to Helotes), Baby Day and me (first two on the left)  and some friends.  Tony's in the back seat not about to get out--in case we decided to go someplace. If anybody said "Go" or "Car," he'd race to be the first to get in. 

Ivan was an ugly little Red Heeler--who like most of our dogs in the country--was a drop-off.  A heeler bred to herd cows, he had to make do herding us humans.  Ivan was a wonderful dog who lived for nineteen years.  

Cookie and Pollo were also drop offs, almost identical white terriers who showed up years apart. When I come across a picture of one of them, I ask Will and Day, "Is that Cookie or Pollo?" 

Black was the happiest little guy of them all.  A Cocker Poodle mix, I spotted him in a pet shop for $15, a week before Day was born.  He wagged not just his tail but his whole curly body.

Sasha was also a pregnancy puppy. Just before Will was born, I got the breed I'd always wanted--a blue eyed Siberian Husky.  Unfortunately neither Black or Sasha made it from puppy to dog, both losing their exuberant lives to tires. 

There's nothing quite like a good dog--the way they intuit feelings and comfort you when you're sad, the ways they understand human language, and their uncanny ability to tell the good guys from the bad guys.  

Whenever a new dog or cat joined our tribe, big macho Tony would look at them as if they were not real dogs like himself.  He'd watch their antics and look at us as if to say, "What are we going to do with this stupid-acting excuse for a dog? Do we have to keep him?" 

Tony would have liked Ivan--but they missed each other by a decade or so.

Friends have wisely warned me not to get a puppy.  A puppy is so much work! You have to train them and get up at all hours, they chew up your stuff and pee all over the place. 

They're right.  Funny, though,  I can't remember those parts. 

Seems like in those days you just told 'em not to do the bad stuff and they didn't and we just went on down the road.  

January 3, 2021

 From this week's On Being podcast, with Mary Catherine Bateson (daughter of Margaret Mead.)

In a sense, human beings remain childlike. They’re open to new learning and even very deep learning that changes your personality, really. Right through the life cycle, human beings remain playful — and play is a very important part of learning — and experimental. Most other species, they figure out how to be a rabbit or a chicken or an owl or a fish, and that’s what they do for the rest of their life; so learning is us.

January 2, 2021

Even in so-called normal times, I tend to have a meltdown every so often. I want to be alone; I want to have conversations.  Today was one of those days when I felt buried under the demands of the day, too many things to pay attention to, not enough time to follow through on my plans, working in the casita,  following my breadcrumb trails. 

If enough of these days happen back to back, I get frustrated with myself for not sticking to what I wanted the day to be about.  

In the interest of my mental health, I'm going to start a little retreat tomorrow morning, going to the playhouse first thing in the morning  to see where these projects are going. I got ready for it today, got gas in the car, checked things off the to-do list, and decided to leave the phone in the house and take a look at it when I've finished some projects.  

Photographs are way more interesting if there's a focal point.  Try to put everything in one frame and it's a jumble; the eye doesn't know where to land.  Days are like that, too. 

January 1, 2021

 I have just begun a six-week class called "Creative Jumpstart" hosted by Nathalie Kalbach. Every day for six weeks, a different artist teaches a class in his or her media.  I took it last year and enjoyed it so much I signed up for more inspiration for 2021.

2021--How I love saying 2021~

As the workshop begins, three of the teachers do a group discussion.  Nat is from Germany and lives in New Jersey, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer lives in Boston, and Birgit Koopsen lives in The Netherlands. These three friends have traveled a great deal together and it's fun to see how their friendships began and flowered over decades.  

Julie referenced this video which I posted years ago, but I'm going to post it again because it is so good!

The danger of a single story

The theme of this year's CJ is "storytelling," so this is apropos to the ways that different artists tell stories--some with visual art, some with screenplays and fiction, others in poetry. 

It's also appropriate to our times in America--when we see how the allegiance to a single story, or a single point of view, can limit understanding of people who come from different cultures or have beliefs so different from our own.

How do we make sense of all the many things that have happened to us?  How do we tell the stories of our own tender times and adventures and growth?  

Whether we do it with words or notes or brushstrokes, the telling of stories is what connects us and enlarges our understanding of this great big world and its people.