Sweetie.....

is going on 4 years with us. He's semi-paralyzed now on his left side and can be found floating sideways most days or curled up in a fetal position playing dead. He swims still, lopsided but exhuberantly, he eats enthusiastically, he recognizes those he loves and floats over for a listen, but just approach with a camera and he rallies and strikes a healthy looking pose. Still the best looking beta pet around these parts and not yet ready for the big sleep.

Ice Cube

alone

with a reflecting pool

This Week My Roses Were Yellow...

but they were also amazing in black and white.....

Noyes Street Station by Wintry Night..The Platform

Noyes Street Station by Wintry Night

A Day at the Races Part Five

A Day at the Races Part Four

take their picture, please....

and another....

and hmmm, maybe another...

happy at last.....?

A Day at the Races Part Three

Watching the racehorses loosen up before the race.
Listening to the wonderful clopping sound of hooves on cobblestone.

A Day at the Races Part Two

Not the Jockeys

A Day at the Races Part One

the racetrack do-si-do

flight

Mike's Shoe Repair Shop
Evanston, Illinois

Just Another Obama Girl on Inauguration Day

'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on
to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace.'
Abraham Lincoln

'Ain't no sunshine when he's gone...

it's not warm when he's away.
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone,
and he's always gone too long
anytime, he goes away...'
(sorry Al Green)

'Damn, Damn, Damn.......

I've grown accustomed to his face, he almost makes my day begin.
I've grown accustomed to the tune, he whistles night and noon, his smiles, his frowns, his ups, his downs,
are second nature to me now, like breathing out and breathing in,
I was serenely independent and content before we met...surely I could always be that way again and yet,
I've grown accustomed to his looks, accustomed to his voice, accustomed to his face...'

(apologies to Lerner and Loewe)

Almost a Week's Worth of Good Boy Bones...

the puppy really only likes the chicken in the middle of these bones. You can see that he's been a REALLY good boy. If your dog likes slightly chewed teensy rawhide bones, drop me an email and they are yours, as the puppy is flying to Los Angeles tomorrow. This pile could actually double by then.

When the LA dogs don't believe his tales...

of snowdrifts higher than his head, of running outside with temps at 14 below zero in three layers of puppy jackets and t-shirts, the puppy can send them here to my blog and show them proof positive. Don't ever let it be said that this teensy pooch is not a trooper.

Don't Adjust Your Dial

Perhaps, it's like Puppy TV...and yes, that is snow sprinkled on that poor cold bunny's face.
The puppy now can clearly say ' Grandpa' and 'Alan' and when I attempt to teach him to say 'poor bun' he
says '@#~^*#@' or something sounding horridly rude.

LILLSTREET ART CENTER

before final glazing/firing

before final glazing/firing

Lucy and I took a tile making workshop at Lillstreet Art Center in mid December. We were allowed to make the designs we wanted to, glaze them the way we wanted them, and the instructors would then apply a final clear glaze and fire them in the kiln. I think Lucy's was way better at the end, and mine was way better in the beginning before the final glaze and firing. You can decide whose is whose and which is which. Lillstreet, is a GREAT fun place for art classes and workshops.

The 5 a.m. tiny puppy blur

zooming through the backyard snowpaths between snow piles that are way taller than he is...