Good Dogs

Dogs are currently in the news!

The Obama children finally have one. The new First Dog, a gift from Ted Kennedy, is a Portuguese Water Dog. Named Bo.

I'm not a real dog person. I like them "OK." It's been suggested to me that I have a farm mentality when it comes to animals. Others have referred to me as the "Dr. Kevorkian" for animals.

But I absolutely "get" the relationship that many people have with their animals, especially dogs.

Dogs save lives every day - mostly by just being there and loving with no strings attached.

My brother and his wife just lost their little dog, Ashley. She was about 15 years old and about as big as a snowball.

Sometimes they dressed her up. She was really cute. She, along with her little companion dog- in their Santa hats - adorned their Christmas cards.

But she bit the heck out of anybody (other than them) who touched her. So you would start to pick up this beautiful little ball of fluff and all of a sudden...."WHAT THE!!!!!"

I know that they're both heart sick about losing this little member of their family.

Last year I talked with a lady vet who told me that she and her partner were starting a hospice for dogs. This sounded like a wonderful idea to me. Like with "people" hospice, it might spare a lot of pain for the patient and the loved ones as well.

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Easter Bonnet

I've never been much for hats but if you want to wear one, Easter is the day.


And this year "the Aretha" was the hat.



Since Aretha Franklin sang "God Bless America" at the inauguration in January, Luke Strong, the designer of that now famous hat hasn't been able to keep up with the orders.



Over 5,000 of them!



The lovely lady in the b/w phote is Theresa Poole wearing her Easter bonnet. She lives in a beautiful little town in Florida call Mount Dora. But she used to live in Detroit so she has a special connection with Aretha.



If you ever want to see the original again, it's in the Smithsonian.

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Fun Books

I used to read books constantly. But when my husband died I couldn't read books for a couple of years. Couldn't concentrate.


After I met my boyfriend he encouraged me to read books just for fun.


What a concept.


He introduced me to mystery writer, John Sanford. His protagonist, Lucas Davenport. solves murders in the twin cities - so it's been fun to read about these places I've just learned to know since meeting my boyfriend.


This week I picked up a fun mystery by Thomas B. Cavanagh called "Head Games." The plot takes place here in my city. I know everyplace the protagonist, Mike Garrity, goes.


Arlene suggested meeting at an Irish pub in Winter Park...I knew it well. Dark wood, Guinness on tap... A crowd of mostly upwardly mobile young professionals and rich kids from nearby Rollins College.


Well, yeah. I know this place. And it has a special connection with my church.


Mike Garrity is surprised when he goes to interrogate a person who lives in Isleworth for the second time and learns he's been put on the permanent visitors list.


Have you ever been nervous about going to visit somebody in one of these super swanky neighborhoods that have sprung up in the Orlando area (like Isleworth) - and that the uniformed guard at the gate might take you to jail or something? Only to discover that you've been put on the permanent visitors list?

Woo hoo!


Garrity has been hired to find a missing member of a boy band called Boyz Klub - by the band's founder/manager and all around tyrant.


Now who does that sound like?

Of course, we all know, like Garrity, what's available on OBT or what it's like to turn the wrong way on South Street from I-4.


The coolest part of this fun book is that while Garrity is fighting the bad guys, the boy band manager, the police force where he was formerly a detective, his daughter who's in love with the missing boy band member and two ex-wives - he's also battling a malignant brain tumor.


The first lines of books always intrigue me. What do you think of this?


I have a tumor in my head. I call it Bob. Bob is the boss. He controls everything I do.

Aside from dealing with the cancer issue, this is not an important book. It's a fun book. Especially if you live in Central Florida.


Last week I read an important book. "The Gravedigger's Daughter" by Joyce Carol Oates. It was long, depressing and confusing. I'll tell you more about it after I get a little more insight from my book club members next week.





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Sometimes I Want to Ask Steve Martin, "What Were You Thinking?"

One of my favorite entertainers of all time is Steve Martin. When he won the 2005 Mark Twain Award, I agreed with some reviewers that Mark Twain should have won the Steve Martin Award.

I love his obscure articles in the New Yorker and elsewhere.

I love all of his books. I loved the fact that he wrote a book called "Shopgirl" in the voice of a depressed shopgirl. (I didn't see the movie because, while I liked the book, it depressed me so much I thought the movie might send me over the edge.)

Early on I loved the balloon animals, the magic tricks and the banjo. I love that he's going to play his banjo on the Grand Ole Opry.

I loved King Tut.

He's made (wrote, directed and/or starred in) many movies. Some I've loved, others I haven't so much - but that's show business.

This afternoon we saw "Pink Panther, 2." It was very upsetting to me. No subtly whatsoever. His character destroyed everything in sight. I had to avert my eyes when he set restaurants on fire and demolished every (beautiful) room he entered. In my mind he did a great disservice to Peter Sellers and Inspector Clouseau.

I understand that these movies make money so he can make as many as he wants.

The cosmic question is: Why?


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Lessons From the Creation Story

Two of the most important insights in the creation story, to me, are:

Learning about the nature of God
Learning about the nature of human beings

It's a cautionary tale.

God set up Adam and Eve in this really cushy garden, sort of like heaven on earth, and told them to have fun and do anything they want, except, don't eat the fruit from this one tree.

Of course they did just that. And they get kicked out of the garden.

Here's another cautionary tale.

There was a a star receiver for the New York Giants named Plaxico Burress. Rich and famous beyond his dreams. God said to Plaxico, you can have all of this and more. Just don't carry a gun in your belt into a crowded nightclub and accidentally shoot yourself in the leg.

Of course he did just that. And he got kicked off the team.

This, to me, is how the creation story gets played out over and over again.


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What Me Worry?

Some of my best and dearest friends are worried. While I try to stay full of good cheer I find myself falling into a state of doom these days over the silliest things. And it doesn't help that bad news constantly surrounds us.

Yesterday, in a wave of optimism, I put a chunk of my meager savings back into the stock market. Today I'm second guessing that decision.

Worry. It does us no good whatsoever.

My favorite teacher, Jesus, says, Don't do it.

One of my favorite poets, Emily Dickinson, says that the experience of worrying is worse than whatever it is we're worried about.

While I was fearing it, it came,

But came with less of fear,

Because that fearing it so long

Had almost made it dear.

There is a fitting a dismay,

A fitting a despair,

T is harder knowing it is due,

Than knowing it is here.

Getting Repaired

This morning when I had the (synthetic) oil in my 2000 Camry changed the guy told me that I need over $2,000 in repairs. After thinking it over for about 20 seconds, I said, "Fine, order the parts."

This afternoon I had my yearly check up with the dermatologist. He looked at a spot on my neck and said, "What happened here?"

I explained that an ugly wort had appeared so I bought some Compound W Wort Remover but not only did it not work but it burned the surrounding skin.

He looked at me, then laughed and said, "That's because it's not a wort, it's cancer."

He cut it off and sent it to the lab. Whether it's cancer or not, it's gone.

How do I feel about this day? Great. I'm grateful to have experts to handle the repairs to my appliances, car and body.

I'm grateful that I have the resources to keep us all in good repair. I want us to last a while longer.



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