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Dog Reality

KarenLeave a comment

Extremely long-term readers of the blog will know I was thinking about a dog before I ended up with Toby. Now that Toby’s gone, I just don’t think another cat can compare with him, so I’m back to dog thoughts.

I’m currently in the phase where I try to list out all the cons of dog ownership to see if this is something I really want to do. I hadn’t really considered eating random stuff? This is a thread from 2019 that I found again, and wow is it vivid:

screenshot of a post that says "What's the weirdest thing your dog ever ate and didn't need a trip to the vet for? Asking for me."

Screenshot of a post that says "In no particular order; deer legs, baby birds, tampons (used and new), rocks, diapers (used and new), plastic wrap, pizza boxes, 10-15 clif bars in a setting, three sticks of butter (along with those clif bars), fecal material (deer, cat, dog, human, bird, mustelid, bear...), etc" with a reply that says "Living the dream"
Screenshot of a post that says "Half a bottle of canola oil plus a whole fresh roll of toilet paper. If she hadn't barfed it up all over my bed we would have brought her to the vet." and a reply that says, "My dog ate an entire box of dishwasher tablets ..."
screenshot of a post that says, "Foam earplugs, goat poop, horse poop, hoof trimmings, lip balm (duh), used paper napkins, and a whole bird (maybe a starling) that she caught like a ninja and gulped down super fast."
Screenshot of a post with a happy dog and this text: "My name's Bentley and I love rocks, chocolate chip pancakes, lipstick, and used tampons that my mom has to pull out of my ass"

 

Of course, cats can be gross too: Screenshot of a post with a cat picture and this text: "This idiot once ate an entire bag of dried lentils (he thought they were cat food?) right before I had to leave for the airport. He then proceeded to vomit the lentils all over my suitcase."

Flowers

Karen

I noticed some bookended purple flowers at the care center where Doc’s mom is getting better…
Purple freesias on a nightstand in a medical room.

…and on the trail in Millcreek.Purple violets on the forest floor

The first flush of green is still in the mountains but it’s already starting to dry out–good thing the violets got a chance to bloom.
A grassy meadow in front of towering pine trees

A Theme, Perhaps

Karen

A slightly burnt blueberry pie with colorful candles in it Two lengths of patterned fabric laid out on a rug pad Not shown in this weekend’s pictures: my meltdown over getting the pies my nephew requested too brown; my meltdown over not being able to actually fit the intended patterns on the fabric I laid out for cutting; my meltdown over making a grocery list so we can go to Trader Joe’s. HMMM…

At least today is a new day?

Semi-annual Cookie Fest

Karen

We did the new Easter tradition of brunch and cookie delivery over the weekend. Six dozen cookies and six pastry tips this time!

Cookie decorating workstation with 6 piping bags and trays of cookies

Decorated cookies with pink, yellow, green, and orange frosting

I took today off too, because it’s so slow/I decorated cookies most of Saturday. Time to eat cookies and sew!

Pizza Hut Nostalgia

Karen

I had no idea Pizza Hut is remodeling some older stores to look like the 80s and 90s “Pizza Hut Classics.” The New York Times had a feature on it, which linked to a comprehensive list of locations from The Retrologist newsletter. Who wants to go to Lander, Wyoming and order a pan pizza with me?!

Dissonance

Karen

I might have posted that Kafka quote too early last week, because I was really feeling it this weekend:

“Every day I watch the terror grow and every day I have to work, run errands, do chores—how to describe that contradiction, and how to survive it.

Germany has declared war on Russia. Swimming in the afternoon.” 

Except the modern version of his postscript would be, “We started a war in the Middle East. Hanging art and sewing on Sunday.” 

It’s hard to know what to even say. It’s hard to not worry about, well, everything. It’s hard to take a few pictures because you’re really happy with your new space and then think about missiles hitting cities and destroying someone else’s space.

But I got my amaryllis bulb to send up a bud for the second year in a row? I guess that’s something. A blue pot with a small stalk and flower bud growing

 

Seven Years

Karen

 

A woman in shorts stands in front of a giant tropical plant

 

We said goodbye to Mom seven years ago today. Sometimes it seems like it happened decades ago; sometimes I still think, “I need to call her and tell her this!”

Grief does change, though. It doesn’t get “better,” but you get more used to it. Your loved one’s loss is (usually) less of a surprise, and you get more used to thinking about them without your heart breaking all over again.

It doesn’t go away, though, and I’m realizing that I don’t want it to. Because:

Screenshot of a post that says, Grief is perhaps the last and final translation of love. This is the last act of loving someone. And you realize that it will never end. You get to do this to translate this last act of love for the rest of your life.

 

Weekend Of Food

Karen

I fully intended to post some seasonal links on Christmas Eve but I started cooking and didn’t even remember the blog until the afternoon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here, have some proof that I was cooking:

The traditional sugar cookies, a three-day affair (dough, baking, decorating).

 

Baby’s first coq au vin, a dish I’ve always wondered about.

 

Blanched green beans as a side dish (they died tragically in the oven upon reheating).

 

Cranberry orange rolls for Christmas breakfast because I thought eating cookies for breakfast would be anarchy.

 

And! We finally got snow on Saturday–last weekend was 60 degrees, yikes–so that was fun to hike in yesterday.