Wednesday 18 January 2012

Oh, puh-leeeeze take me out....



Minus 11- prodigious wind! Good day to stay inside

About to go outside...take Trudy for a walk. She comes over and starts nudging me and I keep hoping she just wants to play - so I get down on the floor and we roll around for a while - then I get up and five minutes later she'd nudging me again.

I think she wants to go out. Oh, here she comes again...pretend you're dead. Pretend you're...too late, she's seen signs of life. Took a photo...she does this thing with her stinky ball where she nudges us with it, then puts it on the seat and rests her heavy and disappointed head (leaden with sadness and unfulfilled needs) on it.

I'm doomed.

A very odd winter. Desperately cold, then rains and freezing rain yesterday - and overnight it all froze. Great for skating. Michael once fell and broke his wrist in weather exactly like this....so now both of us shuffle along as though our feet are attached to the ground. Do you remember the Carol Burnett show (fabulous) and that old man Tim Conway played who shuffled along an inch at a time? I laughed and laughed at that - and have now become him.

Invited to a wonderful soiree benefice which will be thrown by Blaise Renaud, of Renaud-Bray. They're a huge and influential bookstore chain in Quebec. He's assembling an evening with what's called 'coup de coeur' - in various field...literature, music, art, theatre etc, as a fund raiser. And he invited me (presumably not to make the dumplings). Unfortunately Michael and I will be in Jamaica. But it is an amazing feeling to be counted among the glitterati in Quebec - especially when for years so few Quebecois knew I, or the Gamache books, existed.

I called the very quiet resort and upgraded to a private cottage on the beach...steps to the ocean. I think I'm going to be sick with excitement! Which is most of the fun, of course.

Oh, the other photo is of one of the winners of the Maid of the Mist bright blue rain poncho. Michael and I gave ours away in the fall, in a draw on the newsletter, after we had a family reunion in Niagara Falls, and went on the boat that goes around the falls. Amazing fun!

One of the women who won is Linda (who is wearing the poncho) - and the other women are members of her book club - Kathy, Trish, Tina, Pam, Mary, and Moses (the dog) of The Most Righteous of the Righteous Babes book club. i'm not much of a joiner, but that's one book club I'd belong to!

Hope you're enjoying your day. Now it's time to take Trudy for a shuffle.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

O those eyes!! it's all in her eyes! clearly, you are just putty in her hands... er... paws.... and that's the way it ought to be. here's wishing you a safe, bracing Trudge!

Karen said...

My golden doodle walks over, lays her head sideways on my thigh, wiggles her red eye lashes, and gazes forlornly at me with her huge round brown eyes, and goes to find a ball to throw on the floor. I ignore her, I tell her to go lie down, I pet her....and I take her outside to play, but not so much today. Four or five inches of 27F snow, and I dragged her out for a walk, it was so quiet in the neighborhood. But, having curly reddish fur on her paws, she soon accumulated ice balls and we had to hurry home so I could clean her pads up. Half an hour later I went out to clear walkways, she followed, ran around, looked down at her feet, and fled through the pet door. She waits stoically to be dried off and have her paws cleared of snow gobs, and then throws herself resignedly on the new wool carpet, and off to sleep. Outdoors is not calling Zoe today. Peace...for awhile. Love her dearly, and those big brown eyes could shatter a heart of stone. My best friend.

Anonymous said...

My Pomapoo, Toby, has quite a vocabulary of barks and woofs. The most important is the very low almost silent woof that means "I have to go outside and go potty right now!" Another means he wants a walk, and a whine means John the Mailman is coming with a cookie for him. It is the high spot of his day.

Do you have Yak Trax for the ice? They are invaluable, so much so my orthopedic surgeon bought them for all his staff a few winters ago.

Ann In Rochester

danielle-momo said...

I couldn't resist Trudy too.
Keep safe.

Terry L. said...

Have a quiet, peaceful time in Jamaica. Nothing better in January than warm weather, white sand, blue water, and those tall adult beverages with the little parasols stuck in them. Enjoy it, mon. Hope it's not too warm; wink, wink.