He may be politically incorrect, but he must be real because he was at my house yesterday!

We had a potluck at work today. I made a big pot of chili on Sunday, and I bought a bag of Fritos to go with it.

When I got home from work yesterday, I realized that someone had apparently broken into my house and stolen the bag of Fritos and eaten them all! The Frito Bandito left the evidence (the torn up bag) on the loveseat where Leigha likes to hang out. The nefarious thief tried to frame the obviously innocent dog!

I am sure she tried to fight him off, poor thing, but he must have cleverly lured her into the powder room and locked her in. How else can we explain the crime?!

Sleeping single in a double bed... with a dog.

Sunday morning I woke up quite literally on the wrong side of the bed. At some point in the night Leigha had gotten into bed on my side and skooched me over to the other side - her head on my pillow, snoring.

This morning I woke up teetering on the edge of the bed, Miss Leigha having claimed most of the bed and skooching me right off the edge.

I have a door. If you think I'll use it, you don't know me very well.

Nothing unusual to report. Well, other than the whole grandchild thing. So, yeah, there's that.

Things are going unexpectedly well at work. I feel no immediate need to run screaming from the building.

Things are going well at home. The dog has made friends with the cats. Maggie and Viv have stopped their constant bickering. I'm not sure what precipitated that, but it seemed to coincide with my trip to Denver.

I should blog, or at least post pictures of my trip to Denver. Here's one:



That is the multi-talented Brynn, daughter of my new daughter, new daughter of my son, and therefore my grr... gran... grrrannn...

Give me time.

Actually, I had a blast doing the grandma thing. Brynn is brilliant, charming and beautiful, and we work puzzles together like it's our job. We also played Crazy 8's and scored a 98 in Beatles Rock Band.

The card she made me is on my fridge, the cutout she made me is on my file cabinet at work and pictures of her frequently find their way onto my desktop as wallpaper. I am completely smitten.

I also enjoyed visiting with those other people... I think their names were Josh and Cat. They were nice.

Happy Mother's Day!

I spent a pleasant chunk of Mother's Day with my mom, my sister and Joanna. We decided not to brave the crowds, so we went to Harris Teeter and got sushi. We ate around a card table, since my mom sold her dining room table in preparation for her move to San Antonio.

She is moving down there to shack up with her boyfriend. Parents these days! No moral compass!

Anyway, I borrowed a cargo van from work to bring home some chairs and end tables and such. I didn't think I was taking that much, but right now it looks like I just moved in. I will be getting rid of stuff to make room for better stuff.

Two things I brought home are treasures. One is the rocking chair my great-great-grandfather made. My great-grandmother was rocked in it, my grandmother was rocked in it, my mother was rocked in it, I was rocked in it, and Josh was rocked in it.

I remember sitting in that rocking chair for hours reading books that were way above my grade level. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Walt Whitman's O Captain! My Captain! stand out as favorites.

I was an odd child.

The other treasure is Frank.



St. Francis to those of you less aquainted. I have a special affinity for St. Francis, as some of you may know. This particular representation of him has always touched me. It is a primitive wooden sculpture my mom and Bill had, and he just always represented what I love most about St. Francis and all he taught about unconditional love and humility.

I find the face of this particular statue very moving. I can see the love and compassion for all living things in this carving. It is one reason why I love it.



The other reason I love the statue are the feet. The beautiful, sandalled feet.



Our feet are where we are grounded to the earth. St. Francis is the patron saint of animals. He was the original ecologist. Frank was a shaman. No question about it.

Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon of St. Francis of Assisi

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.

To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.

Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon for love of You and bear sickness and trial.

Blessed are those who endure in peace, By You Most High, they will be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.

No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.

A post completely unrelated to my pets!

So, last Friday I'm driving to work when my car starts being all wierd. I managed to get off I-40 and literally (yes, I am using the word correctly) coasted into a parking space after the engine shut down.

First, I called my boss. Next, I called Building Maintenance Guy, because I know he worries. Then I called my mechanic (a man I trust for a variety of reasons) and I called my new teammate so she would know I would be late. Sweetly, they all called or emailed each other.

Then I called AAA. Funny thing, that. I had let my AAA membership lapse for a year and a half or so, but last month I randomly decided to renew it. Because you never know and all.

Long story short (too late), the engine was blown. There was no warning. It was long overdue for an oil change, but there were no warning lights, no oil puddles, there was no smoke. If I had not had 185,000 miles on the car I'd have been shocked.

My mechanic, Mickey (Raleigh Tire and Auto ) took great care of me in the most non-judgemental way possible (very decent of him, as I am notorius for neglecting the apparently necessary oil changes and other somesuch maintenance cars so selfishly demand).

Mickey found a reconditioned motor with a 6 month warranty and, long story short (wayyyy too late), I picked up my sweet ride today and drove her home. She purred like a kitten. I am happy.

A good time was had by all.

Laura and I had talked about going camping this weekend, but it turned out not to be a good time for her and Matt. Friday night I decided I wanted to go anyway.

Around 7:15 am Saturday morning Leigha woke me up with the usual cold nose snuffling in my ear, and I started to brush her off until I remembered that we were going camping. I headed out to get supplies and fuel (and somehow managed to buy two really cute sweater sets and an indoor electric grill in the process).

We got to the campsite at 10:30ish and started to set up. The guy at the next campsite was starting to pitch what was, based on the footprint, the biggest tent I had ever seen, but it was obviously brand new, as he was reading the instructions.

I began unloading my stuff and got out my nifty pop-up tent, which took all of 30 seconds to pitch. I pounded in two stakes, inflated my air matress and by the time this poor guy started to get his tent pitched I had set up my whole campsite and was eating a bacon and egg brunch. I felt bad for him and smug all at the same time.

Laura and Matt joined me for the day and made sure I has sufficient firewood for the evening, and we had a lovely day. We took Leigha down to the water and it was clear that she knew she was supposed to be in it. She cavorted around in the water with the most pure joy I think I have ever seen.

Laura and I talked about whether Leigha could be trusted off leash in the water and determined that it might take a couple of years for her to mature enough for that. Sure enough, when I woke up for a wee-morning pee, the clasp on the lead did not engage (there was sand in it and it didn't close).

When I came out from behind the tree I'd chosen as my latrine, the dog was gone. After the initial panic subsided, I remembered that there was a dog two campsites down, and sure enough, she was sniffing around that site.

Crisis averted, we climbed back into our tent and went back to sleep. It was cold, but between the extra quilt I brought and the silly dog who insisted on sharing the air matress with me, I was quite comfortable.

I woke up again at sunrise and enjoyed the birdsong and the magical quality of the light at that time of day. This was Ginnie's favorite time of day.

I took Ginnie's ashes down to the lakeshore, and as I scattered her ashes I thanked her for being my best friend during some trying and some joyful times of my life, I thanked the Universe for bringing such a sweet and good friend to me, and I thanked Ginnie and the Universe for bringing me a new friend.

This was a good weekend.

A (mostly) Peaceable Kingdom.

Last weekend I observed the first interspecies grooming between the cats and Leigha. Maggie approached Leigha and started grooming her face. After a few licks, Leigha returned the favor, albeit a bit more damp and more... enthusiastic. Fortunately, Maggie is used to damp and enthusiastic.

Maggie and Leigha have bonded well. Gus-Gus is beginning to bond with her, too.

As for Viv...

Well, Viv's perfect world is my lap, Viv and unlimited cat treats.

No dogs.

No other cats.

Just Viv and me.

And cat treats.

What can I say? Viv is a diva.