Live and Let Di

A Day in the Life (in Boca)

Actually last night I finished reading Shock by Kitty Dukakis and Larry Tye but I have all these miscellaneous "Life in Boca" things cluttering my brain and I have to clear them out before I get down to blogging about this book.

1. Met the girls (Peg, Laura and Olivia...Peg you are going to have to give me a picture if I am going to continue to reference you in my blog...which I am when I review Laurie Colwin's books...Peg is Laurie Colwin's niece) at Starbucks to discuss world events, parenting issues and how we can be better housewives. Only kidding...met to bitch about our kids and husbands, gossip and compare the ways in which we are preparing our children for a life of psychotherapy. So we are sitting in Starbucks and poor Peg had her back to the door (haven't you seen those Mafia movies? NEVER sit in a restaurant with your back to the door, you are just asking to get shot in the back) when I said, "Oh.....my.....God". Laura almost got whiplash following my eyes to see what I was so stunned by and was greeted by a woman who obviously did NOT read Laura's blog about plastic surgery being one purchase where BOGO (buy one get one...Laura had to explain it to me) is NOT a good thing. From the neck up was a 50-ish woman whose surgeon apparently threw in an extra inch of tightening for free and whose hair stylist goes along with the belief that long straight bleach blonde hair and bangs is a good look for one whose AARP card is probably in the mail as we speak. From the neck down, she was wearing this with slightly less natural looking boobs. Now this is not one of "us" who might occasionally drive our 5th grader to school in our PJ's because the pants (we convince ourselves) really kind of look like sweat pants that are kind of OK to wear in public and a t-shirt...she had on FRESH MAKEUP...she thought through her decision to wear this outfit, put it on AFTER taking a shower and thought it was perfect for a jaunt into Starbucks on her way to...OMG...where was she going after??? As Laura and I subtly closed our gaping mouths, Peg (who is SO much less obvious than either Laura or I would have been in her situation) is sitting there not moving her head an inch to turn around and look but with her eyes darting back and forth hoping to get just a peripheral view...she had to wait until the woman had placed her coffee order and returned to wait for the Barista to prepare it (I still think it's cool that I know they are called Baristas, that they kind of know my order when they see me and that if I order for me, Laura and Olivia it requires me to use three languages...English, French and Italian!). Meanwhile, a regular looking gal in scrubs (which in my opinion are perfect attire anywhere, anytime...if you have to touch other people in any way in your job, you are entitled to wear your scrubs as a badge of honor!) saw our horrified looks and actually said to us, "Can you believe that? Isn't that lingerie?" OK, now you lazy people who didn't click on the link are going back and clicking, am I right? So...in five minutes we encountered a stereotypical Boca icon and a completely atypical Boca person who SPOKE TO STRANGERS IN A FRIENDLY MANNER...I thought I was in Ireland there for a minute.

2. Continuing in the anti-stereotypical-Boca vein (what I'm trying to do here is tell the world that Boca is more than just boob-enhanced, Mercedes-driving JAP's {Can I say that without being flamed? Is flamed even a word anymore...was it ever? Is it un-PC? Am I Mel Gibson in an Eddie Bauer cami, Rainbow flip flops and too-big shorts because I hate shopping?}). OK my writing friends...go ahead and critique my parenthetical parentheses. Anyway...my house was temporarily possessed today...don't laugh, my therapist who is a PhD from the University of Florida (Debbie if you are still reading my blog...Go Gators!) suggested it when I told her about my electrical problems. Long story short, more compelling than the lack of AC (it was 88 degrees yesterday) was the wet baseball uniform in my dryer which would not turn on...and the impending baseball game the next day. I made some phone calls and left some messages and within minutes had 3 offers of dryers to which I could bring the clothes! And I probably could have had more if I had called outside of Estancia! What a difference a year makes! I love my friends, I feel so blessed to have them, wish I had them last year and guess what, Beth folded my laundry when she took it out of her dryer!!!! Now I'm sure the stereotypical Boca babe would have had her housekeeper do the exact same thing, but it is so cool to have my friends!

3. Those who know me very well know that I am an advocate for openly discussing illnesses of all kinds and it's time that the canine anal sac issue becomes something that can be discussed with others besides Dr. Butzer, the famous French kissing veterinarian. Yes, a good part of my day was spent dealing with Toby's oozing, grotesque-smelling anal sac issue. Turns out that 1 in 10 dogs has this issue, yet we talk openly about our dogs peeing on our carpets but can't bring ourselves to talk about their anal sacs. To those of you eating breakfast while reading this...sorry!

4. Keeping Up with the Steins...rent it now. Especially if you are planning, have planned, have ever thought about planning or have attended a bar or bat mitzvah. I watched it on the plane on the way back from Ireland (when we DIDN'T get our upgrade and had to scrunch ourselves into tiny little fetal positions to sit in, sigh, coach) and it is a must-see...very funny. Garry Marshall always cracks me up. Jeremy Piven plays faux-sincere slimy so well. Doris Roberts...well, she's Doris Roberts. It's funny, a little heartwarming and rated PG-13 and in my low threshhold of censorship, appropriate to watch with your kids. Think of it as something to watch while you are waiting for Little Miss Sunshine to come out on DVD.

5. JM Lexus Premiere at Muvico. I need to write this because as proven by a recent comment from Angie, this blog is read in Iowa. Here in Boca, in addition to the monstrous Muvico theater with a parking lot almost as big as the parking lot at Dolphins Stadium...I swear some Saturday night there are going to be people tail-gating there...we have the Premiere at Muvico. Now I have not been there, but I am absolutely aching to go. First and foremost, you have to be at least 18 or 21 or something to go...so no crying babies at R-rated movies, no text-messaging 13 year olds, etc. Second, all the popcorn you can eat! Third, they serve REAL food and drinks containing alcohol. Fourth, the chairs are really comfy (I've heard). Apparently the tickets cost twice what a regular movie costs, but worth it after what I've just outlined about it? Absolutely. So even though I only go to the movies (with the exception of taking my kids to movies I don't want to see which doesn't count) about three times a year, I am constantly looking at the Muvico web site to see if there is a movie playing there that I want to see (the movies are usually just there the first week or two of their run). So today, realizing that I am not going to Merritt Island for the weekend as planned, I went to the site. Now, I ask you...in Boca, where this Premiere place is actually SPONSORED BY THE LEXUS DEALERSHIP, do we REALLY need to have Jackass: Number Two (no, I absolutely refuse to provide the IMDB link...if you really want to see it, do it yourself) ELEVEN times in one day! So, once again, there's nothing playing there that I want to see. I think I'll take Hurley there to see the Blonde Bond when it comes out in November.

6. I'm several weeks behind in my Entertainment Weekly reading, so if there is something coming up that I really should watch, see, download or read, please let me know. Or if Owen Glieberman decides to publish my letter to him railing against his appalling review of the above-referenced Little Miss Sunshine.

Di

Tears of the Giraffe (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency)

How exciting! A series that I like that has lots more books to read! It's kind of like when I found that mysterious turquoise cami in my closet (turns out someone who stayed at my house left it) and liked it so much that I went to EddieBauer.com and bought six more (they only had six colors). Now, keep in mind, I don't wear these camis one after another until they are all in the same load of laundry. I wear one on Monday, wear a golf shirt or something on Tuesday, one of my "Life is Good" shirts on Wednesday and then maybe by Thursday I'm ready to wear another cami. Is anyone following the metaphor? I know they can be annoying to Laura (please disregard the two large growths on either side of her head...the one on the right will be removed in about 8 years while the one on the left will be with her for about 17 more years) and if I continued on to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I would have lost her. So, for those who think literally and never really got the whole Aslan as Jesus thing in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, you wouldn't read the books in this series one after another. You would intersperse more challenging literature, non-fiction books that allow you to converse at business functions leaving people agape that you are "just a stay-at-home Mom" or the occasional fluffy chick lit.

Tears of the Giraffe follows Precious Ramotswe as her detective agency in Botswana continues to grow and attract new and interesting clients and her personal life develops as she deepens her relationship with Mr J.L.B. Matekoni (to my wonderful post-posting editors, apparently in Botswana they don't put a period at the end of the abbreviation for Mister). Alexander McCall Smith has an interesting way of constructing the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels. There may be one major investigation that winds its way through the book, but other clients and investigations are worked in to keep the reader interested and allow one to learn more about the major characters through their actions on the various cases.

In Tears of the Giraffe Mma Ramotswe is approached by an American woman who is quite certain her son died in Botswana many years ago but the body has never been found and his disappearance has never been explained. As Mma Ramotswe investigates she makes her characteristic moral and reasonable decisions that allow the participants to maintain their integrity and provides them with the opportunity to do the right thing.

I love Mma Ramotswe. I want CCH Pounder to play her in the movie with perhaps Danny Glover (although he may be a little too old...so a younger Danny Glover-like actor) playing Mr J.L.B. Matekoni. The small but growing role of Mma Makutsi, the talented and loyal secretary, could help to skyrocket the career of a black ingenue actress. I'm not really sure the series lends itself to the movies because there is no shooting, no speeding car chases and no nudity...but it's always fun to cast books!

What am I reading next? Shock by Kitty Dukakis and Larry Tye. Now THAT should be an interesting review from Di!

Di

More Vacation Stuff

(Written on Tuesday, September 19, in my optimistic naivete before my cyber world went dark) I’m writing this sitting in the terminal at the airport in Edinburgh on Tuesday. Hurley and I had this brilliant idea that since our flight was not until 2:50, we would take a leisurely drive from St. Andrews to Edinburgh and make our required visit to the Edinburgh Castle (go ahead click there, then you will officially have seen more of the Edinburgh Castle than we did despite the 15 hours I spent getting a room strategically located near the castle). What we did not anticipate was that we would be greeted by more typical Scottish weather than we had experienced so far...driving, dousing rain. So no castle for us. Somehow we always manage to miss a rather major attraction everywhere we go…the Impressionism Museum in Paris, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Diamondhead in Oahu and now this!

Last night after a pint or two at our hotel we wandered down the street and had some pizza…Scottish food not proving to be a very attractive option. Twice we have been referred to Indian restaurants and told there are more Indian restaurants in the UK than in Calcutta. Then we went back to my favorite place in St. Andrews (besides the golf course, of course), the Dunvegan.  We hung out with the guys from Oregon, including Larry (the one on the right) the groundskeeper of whom I had to take a picture for reasons that are obvious to at least one of my friends! He’s single and a 1 handicap!

The cab ride from the airport to our B&B  and our subsequent orientation by Dierdre, the owner of our B&B, taught us some very important lessons about English as spoken in Ireland:

1.The Irish speak easily twice as fast as the Scottish which is easily twice as fast as we talk which makes it about ten times as fast as English is spoken by Southerners in Fuquay Varina, NC such as Tom Beaird, our traveling companion who just said yes to everything because he had no idea what anyone was saying. He did however immediately understand that "chips" (AKA fries) are served with EVERY meal.

2. We can only understand about every fifth word, so if we are asking for directions we just hope that between the four of us we pick up at least which direction to head in.

3. The most popular word in the language seems to be “f***”. On the way here in the cab, we heard it used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, a gerund, a preposition and I’m pretty sure even once as a pronoun. Our orientation to the B&B was peppered with charming uses of “f***” mostly when talking about the proprietress’s teenage daughter, so we could relate! So if we come back with a bit of peppery language, please forgive us!

We caught up with Tom & Carol and had dinner at a pub before crashing (they had just arrived and needed to overcome jet lag…and frankly, Hurley and I could do without a night of pints!) So I did some reading…The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin (an Amy recommendation that I am enjoying…Amy redemption!) So maybe I will have a book to post on one of these days. Until then…cheers!

Thursday after a Wednesday of wonderful people and maybe one or two too many pints! We visited Malahide Castle…I think it’s a requirement of any UK vacation to visit a castle and since we missed Edinburgh Castle, this was ours. After a very scary ride (with Carol our intrepid driver) through Dublin, we found a place to park the car…for all we knew, we could have been handing the keys to a high school kid with a crack habit, but at that point we couldn’t have cared less! And off to a pub for pints and lunch. We met and hung out with people from Australia, New Zealand, England and the U.S. but met hardly any Irish! I think Dublin is a pretty international place.

Today was to be a day of golf and then going to the opening ceremonies of the Ryder Cup, but I woke up around 2:30, listening to the gale force winds outside the window and thought, “Hmmmm….how bad do I really want to golf?” We’ve been traveling for seven days and the seven days prior to that were STRESSFUL, so I decided to take today off and chill out so I could be at my best to cheer on the Americans! So I got up at noon and Hurley is still hanging out in bed. I’m hoping that later we’ll get to another town where they have an internet café and I can post this. Until then, I will continue reading The Children’s Blizzard which continues to redeem Amy!

I'm posting this at 5:50 a.m. since I'm still about two hours behind after my return and the prospect of trying to change the orientation of a couple of pictures I want to use is way too daunting since I haven't had my coffee yet, I'll leave you with this!

Di

The Children's Blizzard

The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin, besides a huge redemption for Amy as a recommender of books, was one of my favorite kinds of non-fiction…the kind that reads like fiction but conveys truth, information and experience about the event it describes. As I look over my list of non-fiction books, which number 184 since I began in 1997 obsessively logging books I’ve read, I see that most of my favorite non-fiction books are memoirs which tend to read like fiction because they are true stories usually told in a linear fashion. Historical non-fiction can have the tendency to wander in an effort to encompass every factor affecting the incident about which is written, so fewer of these appear on my list of favorites. But those that do are truly memorable, notably:

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle

The Children’s Blizzard is just such a book. I will remember the details and will remember reading the last page in a room in Greenlands Bed & Breakfast in Ireland while there for the Ryder Cup.

What do we (I mean me, you, our generation, etc.) know about the Midwest in the 1800’s? I think my knowledge begins with the concept of “Manifest Destiny”, a phrase and concept that have somehow stayed with me for the last 30-something years. From there I guess it was one part “Westward Ho!” and two parts the Little House books and several parts Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert as Pa and Half-Pint. The Children’s Blizzard brings a fresh perspective to those of us whose knowledge stops there. But who were the people who populated the Midwest? How did they survive and build a home? How did they build communities? How did they educate their children? And how did a monumental blizzard wipe out whole communities on January 12, 1888 and I’ve never heard of it? I’ve heard of Chicago’s Great Fire, the 1906 Earthquake that destroyed San Francisco, etc. Do we only know of them because they hit populace places or because the people they killed spoke better English and were not overwhelmingly immigrants?

The blizzard was not like any blizzard I have experienced, although I grew up in the snow belt in upstate New York in an insulated house with central heat. This blizzard hit with surprise and ferocity that left pioneers in situations they had no way to fathom let alone cope with. A mild day to start with had children in school with their teachers (who were themselves only teenagers or slightly older) while their parents and/or other siblings took advantage of the lovely weather to do chores around their homesteads. Then the day literally exploded with an onslaught of snow, wind, ice and cold.

David Laskin describes in well-researched detail the weather phenomena, the methods of weather prediction, the histories of the people who lived in Dakota, their daily struggles to survive and their lives during and in the aftermath of this devastating blizzard. Laskin illustrates with vivid acuity the physical effects of bodies large and small exposed to exceedingly cold air, frozen precipitation and whipping winds. Interwoven into the technical details are the true stories, documented through memoirs and direct accounts of survivors, of the people who lived through the blizzard and died during its course or in its aftermath.

So, I shall not take the credit, this recommendation is Amy’s! And it’s a F***-ing good one as they would say here in Ireland…since that word here is about as offensive as “dang” in the U.S. But I will take Amy’s recommendation one step farther…I think this book would make a good non-fiction selection for a book group. I know that many book groups alternate between fiction and non-fiction and are sometimes stymied with what to choose for the latter. The Children’s Blizzard provides many sources of discussion.

Di

AND IRELAND HAS NO STARBUCKS!!!!!!

This is Diane's friend Amy (hereafter referred to as amy) writing.  The above title is copied and pasted directly from an email that was sent to me from Diane, so as to establish her frame of mind for you, her loyal bleaders.  Here's some more wit and wisdom from that same email: 

I CAN'T STAND IT AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO UNCAPLOCK THIS THING. AND I CAN'T GET A WIRELESS CONNECTION FOR MY MAC. IT IS A SERIOUS ISSUE. I NEED A 12 STEP GROUP.

Ok Diane, take a deep breath.  The CAP thing IS a serious issue, as it makes it sound like you are shouting...but perhaps you are?  If you scream in cyberspace, does it make a discernable noise?  What if you are mocked for it by your loyal friends?  But i digress.

Finally, Diane added this in her email:

AND BLOG SOMETHING, ANYTHING. TELL THEM I AM BEING HELD PRISONER IN A COUNTRY WHERE TELEVISION AND INTERNET SEEM TO BE OPTIONAL.

I noticed today that Diane was able to post and did so quite calmly and with prudent use of both upper and lower case letters, so I assume that at least some of her technical issues have been resolved, or she has found a Starbucks and hijacked someone else's computer, preferably one that has the all-important shift key.

Since Diane was not able to blog as she might so desire, she apparently feels that she can vicariously mitigate her cyber-withdrawl symptoms by having me surrogate blog for her.  I guess we'd call that "surroblog".  It's right up there with "bleaders" in my book.  You may find it equally as painful to read this as a surrogate might find birthing another person's child, but I will try to use capital letters when appropriate and not fall into my usual ee cummings mode, and I'll also not bore you with the minutia of my life, but I will take this ONE moment to boast about the fact that I FINISHED THE SUNDAY NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE ALL BY MYSELF!!  This is a MAJOR accomplishment because I usually have to call Diane and beg or barter for helpful hints, and if i still can't figure out the answer, I move on to gentle threats, but given her current out of country status, i was forced to rely on my wits and Google and I DID IT!  Granted, Diane can finish the same puzzle in 45 minutes, but I think 6 days is reasonable for a 4th time puzzler, don't you?  At least it looks better than my first attempt at the NYT Sunday puzzle 4 weeks ago, which ended up looking like this (i hope a picture appears with that word, i'm new at this and just guessing at what to do!)  (plus, i'm still flush with my success over FINISHING THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE ALL BY MYSELF!  Maybe i should send away for something like this).

So given that this blog is mostly about books, and I am an avid reader and actually DO have good recommondations and am on the road to redeeming myself in diane's eyes as someone who can digest more mainstream fiction than my previous suggestion, I am going to write about my latest favorite book, You're Not You by Michelle Wildgen.

The story is about a young woman (Bec) who is in college but drifting through it without focus or purpose.  She lives with her best friend from high school, is having an affair with a married professor, and working as a waitress in a mediocre restaurant, all with little passion or meaning.  When her friend decides to stop partying her life away and buckle down on college courses and the married professor makes it clear that he is non-commital about all parts of his life, Bec quits her waitressing job and answers an ad for a young couple who are looking for someone to help with the wife, who has ALS.  The novel is about Bec's relationship with the wife Kate, Kate's husband, the other caretakers who are helping with Kate, and how an unfolding series of events affect Bec, Kate and all those around them. 

I loved this book on many levels.  The writing is spare but at the same time wonderfully descriptive.  The author does a lovely job evoking the smells of spices Bec uses in cooking, the colors of the walls in Kate's house, and the state of Kate's body as the ALS takes hold more and more.  You are privy to Bec's thoughts about Kate and her husband and their marriage, and for me it brought back memories of being in my 20s and thinking how glamorous and "grown-up" people in their 30s were who were married...and then discovering that their lives are not so perfect as they look to my naive eyes.  Ethical issues are raised in the book--what would you do if you were in your early 30s and given the diagnosis of ALS, what if you were married to someone who was--how would you conduct yourself, how would you spend your time, what would you do as you became increasingly more infirm and confined to a paralyzed body?  Each character in the novel grapples with these questions in different ways, and I loved how the dilemmas were not black and white, but presented in the shades of grey that are more part of the real versus fictional world.

On a side note, for those who receive the New York Times Sunday paper (no, this is not another crossword plug!), Michelle Wildgen wrote the "Modern Love" column in last Sunday's paper. She wrote about life with her husband, who is an alcoholic, and how their lives have been changed since their wedding and honeymoon.  She is a great writer and I look forward to reading more of her books.

This concludes my guest spot on Diane's Books, etc. page.  Diane, I was going to entertain your bleaders with sordid stories of our younger days, but then I remembered that your kids read this...so Haley and Rory, your mom was a saint and always studied really hard in school and never, ever did anything illegal or immoral.  If i could, i would cut to a picture of diane from those days, but as you can tell from past blogs, she has them all.  I've burned mine.

Diane, we (that's the royal "we", i speak for all her bleaders) miss you terribly and look forward to your return!

Missin' Y'all in Swords

Today is our day off the Ryder Cup...which is one more instance of Carol being brilliant since it is pouring down rain there and we are in a pub watching it on TV. Another instance of Carol's brilliance was her recommendation to wear golf shoes while walking around at the Ryder Cup! With the wet mud, it really made a difference. Yesterday in the afternoon matches Hurley and I staked out our places on the grandstand at the 16th green and had the most amazing view of some of the most exciting holes. The Europeans who surrounded us stood up and clapped for our guys' amazing shots and we for theirs. I don't think I have ever been in a more friendly place in the world!

But I am in severe internet withdrawal!So this is just to say that I miss everyone and as much as I am loving this vacation, I am looking forward to next week having some downtime to chill, read and blog!

Di

More Vacation Days (Lost Count)

Here we are in St. Andrews ...unbelievable!!!

We were able to walk the Old Course at St. Andrews...treading over divots that Tiger or Jack Nicklaus might have left!!! The bunkers were unbelievable...I love this picture of the two of us in a bunker!

Sorry...I can't get it to rotate...no time...we're on vacation!

 

Yesterday we drove here from Edinburgh and checked into (AKA drank a few pints at) The Inn on North Street. While dining there, we had a lovely time talking to John whose son was coming here to the university as a Freshman from Middlebury. He told me about a Canadian author he highly recommends, so come on John, leave a comment! I'm dying to read that trilogy.

Later it was off to the The Dunvegan Hotel which purports to be "just a 9-iron away from the Old Course"...now I'm not sure whose 9-iron it is, but it's probably my driver. We met some guys from Oregon who are here for a several week UK golf odyssey. (Special message to Sharis...one of them is the head greenskeeper from the club in Oregon!)

Later on, when we had returned to our room, I popped down to the pub to get a soda and a water and I was wearing my jeans and NC State sweater...and a guy stopped me telling me that he was the captain of the NC State Golf Team in 1994!!!! Small world.

Today it was off to ...the Eden Course. We played 18 holes of beautiful, wonderful golf. The high point was when a foursome of men (and their two dogs) let us play through. I happened to hit the drive of my life and a pretty good second shot leaving me a chip and a putt for par. As I was standing over my chip shot, one of the guys said, "It looks like you gave your husband a golf lesson on this hole!" These are the moments you live for!!! I made the up and down for par and can now officially say that I have made par on a golf course at St. Andrews. That will be the end of the discussion about my score! But we hit some great shots, had some challenging moments and have some memories that will never fade and we may even have a picture of BOTH OF US on "the bridge" when the guy behind us took a picture of the two of us just as my batteries died!

All from here for now!

Di

Marley & Me - Guest Blogger Shirley

I am delighted to introduce my friend Shirley who is my Guest Blogger today (and whose picture I couldn't figure out how to enlarge without my cappucino going cold). First of all because we share a love of books in general and this book in particular and a love of dogs. But also because it's 9 a.m. here in St. Andrews and I would feel guilty spending too much time blogging.

Shirley lives next door to me in our little slice of paradise in Fuquay Varina. During the summer she tantalizes me with fresh vegetables from her organic garden. And throughout the year I look forward to her e-mails because I know they will be full of book news, news from the neighborhood and great stories. She is also my idol because of all her travel experiences....she was a flight attendant so has lifetime flight privileges and has been EVERYWHERE! So here's Shirley's take on Marley & Me by John Grogan. (By the way, for my Boca readers, Grogan was a reporter for the Palm Beach Post and much of the book takes place in Boca including a truly memorable and hysterical moment in Mizner Park.)

Several friends (Diane included) and relatives told me I must read this book so I eagerly delved into it. One of my biggest passions is a love of animals and I’m so lucky to have a tolerant husband and animal loving son to help with our 4 dogs and currently 13 cats. (You’re probably thinking what a trashy smelly abode they must have. They’re not all in our house but spread inside and out over 1 1/3 acres). 

I wasn’t won over at the beginning of the book when grogan talks about wonderful backyard breeders, one from which they found Marley.  I’m an ardent supporter of animal rescue and sheltering organizations and I volunteer twice a week at our local SPCA.  I believe, and many of my fellow volunteers agree, that with only 1 in 9 dogs and cats born in the U.S. ever getting a home there is just no need whatsoever for breeders of any type.

Once I got past my ranting over his praise for breeders I enjoyed every page and couldn’t put it down. They definitely had a dog that demanded more patience than most folks can give when shoes, furniture and even jewelry was eaten. While in postpartum depression wife Jenny wanted to get rid of Marley and sadly that is the typical fate of many animals in our country. But, she got better and Marley stayed and lived to a ripe old age.  Get your Kleenex handy when you get to ole Marley’s final days. While progressing through the book, I found myself always flipping to the inside cover photos of Marley at various stages of his life. 

If you are a dog lover or considering becoming one, this is a must read book because it gives a realistic view of a commitment you must make to your dog.  Just don’t go with grogan’s use of a choke chain!  They are bad news (think car accident whiplash on a daily basis!)  Instead I recommend a harness or a gentle leader if the harness isn’t enough control. And stock up on Pedigree Marrow Bones- dogs like them best!

Note from Diane: see, I knew this would be great! I must add that Haley (my then 12-year old daughter) read it and loved it. I was up reading on the couch while she was reading it in her room late one night. She would come out laughing and say, "Did you read the part about...?" She did this several times...then when she came out quietly weeping, I knew she had finished the book and dealt with the eventuality that we all have to deal with when we bring a dog into our lives. And by the way, Toby (although a pure doberman) was a rescue dog and is the best dog in the world.

Thanks Shirley. My cappucino is almost gone, so I'm almost caffeinated enough to get on with a day of sightseeing.

Di

Scotland (Vacation Day 1)

First day in Edinburgh...majority of the time spent catching up on sleep and drinking beer  so far. All in all, a typical Diane and Hurley vacation.

The flight was great and as Hurley and I were sitting side by side with our mini-DVD players, him watching a Clint Eastwood movie for the 47th time and me watching Best in Show, it occurred to me what a wonderful marital aid twin DVD players would be! No more rolling my eyes when he wants to watch ANOTHER Clint Eastwood movie AGAIN!!!! Togetherness, but no need to actually agree on what to watch.

The drive from Glasgow to Edinburgh was only mildly terrifying with the whole steering wheel on the right, driving on the left thing. It was funny and embarrassing....after we loaded our car with our luggage and I just got in the seat on the right side...thought something was odd, then realized that the steering wheel was there.

We had this moment of "Toto, I don't think we're in Boca anymore" when we realized we were hopelessly lost and called the The Knights Residence at which we had a reservation and the concierge, Charlie, realizing we were just a block or so away said, "Stay right there. I'll come meet you and bring you back to the hotel so you don't have to try to find your way." Wow! Talk about service!

After a much-needed nap, we went on a very touristy but entertaining tour called The Real Mary King's Close, taking us into the bowels of Edinburgh to see what it was really like back in the days of the plague. Now, of course, I want to find a book about Edinburgh during the plague days. So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Went in and out of various shops and thought of Amy when I saw this. Sorry Laura...apparently there is no tartan for "Askowitz".

At our first pub, we met a lovely couple (I am going to be saying lovely a lot...with a Scottish accent because that's what everyone here says and it sounds, well, lovely) named Ian and Fiona. We chatted with them over a couple of pints. I gave them my card with my blog on it, so, Ian and Fiona, if you read this leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

There are lots of bookstores here...lots of used bookstores. And even this sort of lending library just outside of our room, where people leave books they've finished and you can take a book you want to read.

Di

Leaving on a Jet Plane

In case you haven't read every single post I've written over the last couple of weeks, you may not be aware that my husband and I are leaving today for 10 days to Scotland and Ireland. Since I would no sooner be without my MacBook as without my antidepressants, antianxiety meds or make-up, you will be hearing from me. However, the past several days have been chaotic, crazy, and generally F-ed up (sorry, just can't use the full word because my Mom reads this an my Gramma Miller would probably read it if she were still alive...she would have SO embraced the computer age!) Now, I have mentioned my travel plans excessively because it is still unfathomable to me that I even have a passport, let alone that it is stamped from more than one or two places (probably because I immaturely insisted at the Mexican or Canadian or West Virginia border). I mean, I took my first airplane flight at 16! And we are not in the habit of jetting off here or there more than once every year or two.

So, in case you are ever in this position, I would like to give you a list of the smart things I did and the really dumb things I did over the past few days...that collectively led to a crying jag this morning when I could not find my passport.

SMART THINGS
1. Flew my Mom down to take care of the kids. Even though handling Toby, the big red Dobie, is going to be a challenge, she's up for it, she raised two kids of her own who turned out pretty well and she's way more organized than I am.
2. Enlisted the aid of every parent of every one of my children's friends who might owe me even in the slightest to be "on call" and compiled an exhaustive Excel spreadsheet of every possible phone number at which they can be reached. I considered attaching GPS locators to all of their cars, but thought that might be a little excessive.
3. Compiled a 28-point list of every possible eventuality and how to handle it (obviously forgetting item 1), including a school bus strike...which is about as likely as a lightning strike or my children doing their chores without being reminded.
4. Listed directions to all local places that my Mom might want to visit...grocery store, kids' schools, movie theater, etc.
5. Made friends with Laura (who did send me a picture, but I haven't packed yet, so I don't have time to upload and link it) who has agreed to be "on call" if something arises that my Mom can't handle...like Haley wants to go somewhere my mother is uncomfortable driving her. Laura, in her best concerned voice asked, "Crack parties are OK, right?" to which I responded, "Of course, I just draw the line at intravenous drugs...you know how those track marks can just ruin how you look in a tank top."
6. Prepared a detailed schedule for my Mom as to where the kids have to be when and who is picking them up.

DUMB THINGS I DID
1. Prepared an exhaustive itinerary for our trip which officially took me more hours than we will actually spend in Scotland and Ireland. The itinerary will immediately be abandoned when the rental car for which I have a confirmation number is not available and we decide to just wing it and hang out at a pub.
2. Believed that my husband would not spend the 15 minutes after which he gets home today and when the car comes to pick us up asking me, "Did you bring...?", "Did you pack...?" etc. All while he is packing and asking me why such and such is not cleaned, findable, etc. I'll get back to you on that one.
3. Was confident that making the photocopies of our passports and sticking the copies in various pockets of our baggage would somehow ensure our passage through security, not realizing that at 9:30 this morning my passport (of which I have SEVERAL copies) would be completely lost. My Mom and I looked through everything, including my purse several times. Apparently sometime between the third and fourth exhaustive search of my purse, the passport reappeared floating around the bottom.
4. Bought tickets for Mom, Haley, Haley's friend and me to see Rent the night before our departure with the show starting one hour and 45 minutes after Mom's flight arrival. Naturally Mom's flight was delayed requiring a complete reconfiguration of the plans. The remaining three of us did see it and it was wonderful! You haven't gone to dinner and a show until you have gone with two really ENTHUSIASTIC 13-year old girls!

Am I asking for sympathy when we are going on a golfers' dream trip? No. Just asking for your realistic acceptance of my strengths, weaknesses and foibles. And yes, in the 20 terrifying minutes when the passport was lost, I cried.

Di