2014

I've never been able to overcome a childlike excitement when a new year rolls around. It's an opportunity to review what I've accomplished in the year just past (not much) and what I hope to achieve in the brand new year.  It's always a new chance to succeed, even when experience dictates that this is not likely to happen.

As I get older, time seems much more precious, and I don't want it to pass without acknowledging the joys of life.  Unfortunately, with joy also comes sadness.  As I prepared my holiday cards this year, I was sad to eliminate some names of those who are no longer with us.  And, I'm afraid, this will happen more and more as I and others age.  I've yet to know anyone immortal and yet our finiteness is something that we don't even want to think about, let alone dwell upon.  So the best antidote is to try to be in the moment and enjoy every ounce that I can wring out of life.  I will dedicate the next year to emulating my puppy Annie, who seems to enjoy every day to the fullest.

I wish you all a healthy and joyous new year.  I haven't written on this blog as much as I used to.  That is due, in part, to having less new things to experience in Denver as we passed our third anniversary here.  After moving from state to state, I feel like it takes about two years to feel comfortable some place, so we have passed that mark.  Once I stopped posting on a regular basis, then I felt like I had to write something brilliant and insightful to make up for the lack of posts.  This is a high standard that I can't seem to measure up to, so I don't write at all.  Please forgive my laziness as I think of my friends in various places quite often and fondly.

I believe that 2014 will be a year of great change for us, and change is always exciting.  We have yet another move to look forward to and, after that, I hope that we can stay in one place for a while.

So, I would be remiss in failing to report the national news story that is happening all around me here in Denver.  New years day marked the first legal sales of recreational marijuana in Colorado.  As we walked Annie early morning on January 1st, there was already a line at a dispensary two blocks away from our apartment.  As we walked further, there were new rules of conduct posted on the Sixteenth Street Pedestrian Mall.  This will indeed be an interesting social experiment to watch, and I definitely have a front row seat.  So I will let you know how it goes.

Here are two photos from new years day:

The sign for the dispensary is on the side of the building with the green cross.  Initially, only dispensaries that previously sold medical marijuana will be licensed for recreational use.

Sixteenth Street Pedestrian Mall

A Most Happy and Grateful Thanksgiving to All

Happy Halloween from Annie (the Princess)

End of Summer Vacation

We spent last week in Estes Park, Colorado, which is the home of Rocky Mountain National Park.  It's scenic, so not much to say and will let my pictures do the talking.

There was a double full rainbow but it was raining too hard to stand outside and take the photo of the whole thing.

Annie walked around with a pine cone in her mouth, looking like an idiot.

Is it possible to be too cute?

Well, the summer is fleeting, and, for me, it has definitely been the Summer of Annie. Not much else has been accomplished as our puppy settles into our family.  There is much to do on a daily basis to care for a puppy - 3 meals a day, a couple of walks, some training, some playing, some holding chew toys to stem the chewiness of teething, taking her to the vet, groomer, puppy school, etc.  But she is so worth it.  Her puppy exuberance is delightful, and she is a big, big presence in our lives.

Since we live downtown, we must walk her where there are sometimes a lot of people. When she was smaller (she's now 4 months old and about 12 pounds), we couldn't go more than about two steps without someone stopping us to ask if they could pet our puppy or to tell us (and Annie) how adorable she was.  It was so common that when Annie heard the words "so cute", she actually answered to them by greeting the person who uttered them.  She was so used to being stopped that, if someone walked by without acknowledging her, she would turn around and look at them as if to say "didn't you see how cute I am?"

It actually got tiresome to make so little progress as we were walking.  By the time the twentieth person (and I'm not exaggerating) asked to pet her or what kind of dog she was, I wanted to brush them off but couldn't be that rude.  It made me understand what it must be like to be a celebrity who is constantly barraged by fans seeking a photo or an autograph.  So it made me wonder if there is actually such a thing as being too cute.

Now that Annie is getting older, she isn't stopped quite as much, although we still get a lot of comments as we walk by folks.  I wonder if she is disappointed in the drop in interest.  It also made me think about what it must be like to be a person who is terrifically good looking and how it must feel to be this person as he or she ages.  I personally wouldn't know what this experience is like but for those who trade on their good looks in the early part of their lives, getting older and less attractive must be truly devastating.  Perhaps they, like Annie, think that they were just "too cute" in their good years.

For the first two months we had Annie, all that was required of her was (1) that she look cute and (2) that she pee and poop in the right place.  But now that she's maturing, she is expected to follow commands and actually behave like a good dog.  What a bummer for her but she is slowly accepting that her cuteness will only get her so far now.  I wouldn't say that she is a star pupil in puppy school, but she is coming along.  

All in all, we are happy to have this cuteness in our lives and apologize for boring the non-dog loving readers.

Puppies and Other Memories

Annie and her Porch Potty

As I write this, I have a pile of puppy in my lap.  It's amazing how a 6 or 7 pound puff of fur can be so life changing.  Annie has been in our home for 19 days now and has turned life as we knew it (calm and quiet) upside down.

We realized some changes would be required in getting a puppy.  After all, it's been 5 years since we had a canine in our lives and 18 years since we had a puppy.  We still and will always miss our wonderful beagle Zoe.  Even after she's been gone for 5 years, it's just as likely that when we call for this new puppy, we will say Zoe instead of Annie.  I'm afraid that Annie will actually think that her name is "Zannie" because we so often start with a "z" before realizing our mistake.

Having a new puppy has made me think more about Zoe, but it's odd that when I think of her, it is always as an older, overweight and cranky dog, not as a dog in her prime of life.  She wasn't nearly as lovable in her last years, yet I loved her so much.  When we would come home, there was no excited greeting like there used to be.  Instead, she would merely look up and give us the equivalent look of "oh, it's just you" and resume snoozing.  So I find it strange that I don't have a clear memory of what she was like when she captured my heart.  Sure, there are photos, and I especially cherish the ones of her as an adorable puppy with her big flapping beagle ears and too small body.  But a lot of the years with her are now just a blur to me.

Unfortunately, the same is true for humans as well.  My mental image of my father, who died about 10 years ago, is him as old and frail as he was in his last years, not as the robust man he was as I was growing up.  I'm not sure why these are the images that come to mind, but I'm hoping to change this cycle, starting now.

Emily, Chew Toy, and Annie

So I'm trying right now to savor the puppy moments - both the good and the bad - in the hope that they will be emblazoned in my mind.  The times when she's just a puddle of puppy in my lap, so limp and relaxed that she's like a dish rag.  The cute little pink tongue that can't wait to lick my face or licks off the water from my feet and legs when I get out of the shower.  The rascal times when she goes back to chew on the very same thing that she was just scolded for chewing.  The sitting for what seems like hours holding a chew toy for her.  The racing around the room at break-neck speeds for no particular reason, climaxing with a flying leap into her bed.  The praise that we give her when she goes potty in the right spot that compares to the accolades she might get for discovering relativity.  And the manic victory lap she does after this effusive praise.  I hope to take this all in and remember.

This is part of a constant effort to be more in the moment, to enjoy now and to keep these memories with me.  I hope I can achieve this, but it's questionable as the puppy is so darn exhausting that there are times when I wonder if I'll even remember my own name when this puppy period is over.

Aaahhh - some needed rest for Mommy

Denver Chalk Art Festival 3.0

I've done a blog post of this event since we've been in Denver so here it is again.  I always look forward to this because it is colorful, artistic and yet so very temporary that I can't go and not take pictures.  We went early in the morning so the drawings are not in a completed state and some of the shadows were challenging.  Here are some of the 2013 entries:  

You can see the building where we live in the upper right corner