the beauty of an ordinary life
"This could be her last Christmas," my daughter said, speaking about the dog -- one of our dogs -- last Christmas, in 2020, the first pandemic Christmas. Another of our dogs had died earlier in the year, in mid-March before everything shut down. He, the one who died, and she, the one who remained behind, … Continue reading Thoughts go astray.
Charlie Brown, best known for his outrageous bark and signature limp, has died. He was possibly 12, though also possibly not. His early life will always be a mystery, but it likely included an unkind man who walked with a stick and who remains the prime suspect in tossing Charlie and two canine companions (who … Continue reading You were a good dog, Charlie Brown.
They didn't know their names, much less how to walk on a leash. They weren't housebroken. They were heartworm positive and required treatment. You said: Put your dogs in the car, and let's go. We had driven down to a rescue group's house in rural Mississippi to check out a pair of chocolate Labs I'd … Continue reading 9
Dear friends at Frye, A long time ago, around the time my first child was born, I adopted a simple, highly efficient approach to footwear: sandals from April 1 to September 30; boots from October 1 to March 31. I am a sensible, practical, predictable sort of woman in this way. Boots being a staple … Continue reading An open letter to The Frye Company.
After her fifth or sixth miscarriage, my mother, resigned to the reality that a baby might not be in the cards, went with my father to the animal shelter and came home with a puppy. Without much debate they named the small, black-and-white ball of fur Happy, partly because the dog's mouth was shaped in … Continue reading Happy.
The dog ate my boot. Understand that it is the nature of many, if not most, dogs to chew things. Sometimes they chew the things we human companions give them to chew. Rawhide bones. Squeaky plastic toys. Greenies for good breath. But often dogs also chew the things we humans absentmindedly leave lying around: Treasured … Continue reading The story of everything.
It was Ella, and not I, who first fell in love with Bernard. It happened this way: We were walking along the snowy trail next to the Snake River, in January, a few months after we met. Bernard was throwing sticks for Ella to retrieve. She was a puppy, full of energy and mischief. She … Continue reading Of dogs and men.
The cat lives upstairs, in a three-compartment suite comprised of two bedrooms and a bathroom. The bedrooms each have human-sized beds, and the bathroom has two small cat-sized beds that formerly belonged to Build-a-Bear creations and now belong to the cat. All three rooms have sunny windows and secret hiding places and the comings-and-goings of … Continue reading A room with a view.
jenny's lark 