The Ultimate Dog Toy....

Friends, I have discovered the perfect dog toy. It's 100% organic, environmentally friendly, and I guarantee your dog will get hours of enjoyment out of it. What is it, you ask?

Simple. Another dog.

Our NS duck toller, Keisha (see previous posts), had been getting more and more bored with us and her daily routine. She is a high energy dog, and to give her all the excercise and stimulation she needs, we'd basically have to quit our jobs.

Enter Finn.

Finn is a rescue dog. He's a border collie mix-- very smart and high energy too. (He learned his new name in 1day!) He's such a good dog.. loves to cuddle, and loves to play with Keisha. Now, they run around, chasing each other until they drop, then have a nap, then do it all over again, and sleep soundly through the night.

I guess dogs are like kids: 2 are easier than 1!

The Beauty of Lamb Stew...

For the past 1&1/2 years, I have been getting allergy needles every couple of months. I was lucky enough to find a treatment for my worsening allergies, which were making my daily life difficult and dangerous, as they resulted in some serious asthma attacks.

I go to the Environmental Clinic in Fall River, same as my sister and my Mom (we're a family united in our allergies!). The needles themselves aren't really painful... but the four-day period around them are! This treatment, called EPD (enzyme potentiated desensitization) originated in England, and in fact that's where the clinic gets the syrum flown in from. A mix of low dose allergens are combined with an enzyme that goes around in your body, hunting and destroying mis-coded T-cells, which make you react to things your body has decided you're allergic too. Then, new T-cells grow in their place. Result: less reactions and a more normal life. Yayyyyy!!!! Right?

Here's the downside-- because the treatment makes you super sensitive while your new T-cells are growing, there is a 4-day critical period where you CAN'T do a lot of things like: be around pets (dander), read new books or magazines (because of the ink), exchange bodily fluids with your partner (you might be come sentitized to them), excercise, sunbathe, have a sauna or hot bath (it will raise your body temperature too much), garden (digging up dirt releases mold spores), do any housework or laundry (not that it's fun, but you have to get it all done beforehand), be in an office around printers or fax machines (yay! 2 sick days from work), or go shopping (too many smells in malls, etc), use toothpaste (hello baking soda!), use deodorant (hello baking soda again!), use shampoo or conditioner (hello icky smelling vegetable soap!).

But there is one thing you CAN do: eat lamb stew.

Because that's basically the only thing you're allowed to eat for 4 days. That, and bottled water. That's right, lamb stew for breakfast, lamb stew for lunch... you get the picture!

There's a good reason for it, it has to do with the enzymes in food and how sensitive you are during this time. Eating regular food might result in your becoming sensitive to foods that you weren't before. Which would be a pain. Of course you're also allowed to eat carrots, lettuce and celery. Makes for a nice salad, but no dressing of course!

Lamb stew is actually quite nice in moderation. The first bowl is quite tasty. So is the second. But on Day 4, that breakfast bowl of lamb stew is looking very unappetizing. At least it's only 4 days. And at least it's something you're allowed to do during the EPD treatment.

So, thank you, lamb stew. I really couldn't do this without you...

The Beauty of a Man Snoring...

You are at your computer, bravely plunking out words in the hope that they'll somehow make the world a better place. Meanwhile, your man is laying on the bed, snoring...

And there's beauty in that. Really! The beauty is this:

1) Millions of years ago, cave-men snored just as loud (maybe louder) as your Honey-Bun today snores, because according to scientists, snoring was part of a group defence mechanism to scare predators away from the pack. As the Alpha Male, this was his job, protecting the pack even while asleep. Cool, huh?

2) If there is a man snoring in your bed, chances are he'll be there in the morning.

3) If he's snoring, he's still breathing (this is important!!!)

4) You can say: "Honey, can you turn over?" and really mean it!

5) Depending on what kind of sound they're making, you can can quite a laugh out if it. A constipated moose... A frustrated goose... Talk about cheap entertainment!

So ladies, embrace the snoring.. welcome the snoring.... It's a beautiful thing. :>

Spring Has Sprung

The grass is riz... and better yet, my tulips are coming up! :> It was quite sunny here today, the warm weather has started (e.i. not snow) and our gardens are starting to stretch out a bit after a short winter's nap. (We didn't get much snow this year). The perennials are beginning to wake up as well, extending some green leaves and tendrils to let us know they've had their first cup of coffee, and are ready to get to work!

Now, any gardener will tell you that there are 2 basic motivators for having a beautiful garden: 1) Love of gardening, and 2) Making your neighbors envious. Each is very fulfilling. Some days, I don't know which I enjoy better. I love taking my dog for walks when everyone's gardens are in bloom, because then I can go around, mentally comparing all of them to ours, and walking home with a smug but satisfied smile on my face. Okay, it sounds conceited, but we really do have the best garden in our subdivision! :>

I just noticed our neighbor out in her backyard, digging some new beds. "Looks good!" I said over the fence. Then came her wonderful reply: "I might need your help with this!" For us, who are running out of room in our own yard, the idea of appropriating other peoples' yards or parts therein is a bonus. I have so many seeds, I'll never be able to plant them all in our gardens. And I just want the little guys to have a chance. Of course, I'll try not to make hers look *too* good... then we'd lose our spot at the top.

I think I'll go look at my seed collection and see which ones I can plant in my new garden (a.k.a. my neighbor's yard).

What Do Dogs Want???

Keisha The Wonder Dog

This is the burning question for all dog owners. According to the experts, dogs want--more than anything-- to be with other dogs. You would think then (if you were a dog) and your owners agreed to look after the neighbor's dog (whom you already know and have played with countless times, as well as stayed with them when we were away) that you would be happy, if not overjoyed that the easy-going Golden Retreiver next door was coming to stay at your house for four days of canine bliss.

Not so for Keisha.

Keish is a two-and-a-half year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever--a breed that was bred in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia for the specific purpose of luring ducks to shore for hunters. They are smart, funny, and quick to learn. Our dog is much more urbanized, and in fact, hates to swim! (But more about that later)

Anyhoo, if dogs can be in love, than the love of Keisha's life would be Hudson, the Golden Retriever who lives next door. A gentle giant, Hudson is agreeable, sweet and quiet. When Keisha sees Hudson out in the yard next door, she wants more than anything to be with him. When we went away to P.E.I. for a long weekend and Keisha stayed at Hudson's house, she was depressed for days after we got home, because she was away from her beloved Hudson.

You would make a logical assumption, then, that having Hudson over at our house would be the best present Keisha ever got.

Nope.

Our neighbors were going to be away for a few days, and we gladly said we'd love to look after Hudson for them. All of a sudden, our wonderful, loving and sweet dog became a little monster--prone to temper tantrums, whining, and upping the annoyance factor into the stratosphere. Every time we even talked to Hudson, let alone petted him, Keisha did her best to cause havoc. We tried to reassure her, but it made no difference. Keisha was jealous.

As for Hudson, he remained the stoic, brave dog that he is--putting up with Keisha's antics as much as he could. He never showed any aggression, but would merely retire to a safe place (like under the kitchen table) where he could have some quiet time.

Have you ever seen a female dog try to hump a male dog? I have. It's a pretty funny sight. We all hear that male dogs are prone to humping pretty much anything. To his credit, Hudson is a true gentleman. He never humped in our house. And when Keisha tried to hump him, he'd just sit down, and she'd slide off his back. (All the subtlety of a steam-roller, my dog...) Smart move, Huds.

Looking back now, I think I know why Keish was acting so crazy. When we first got her (she was a year old) she forged an immediate bond with my partner, Newt (the Alpha male), but was slow to warm up to me. She saw herself as the Alpha female, and didn't really care where I fit in! I had to assert myself over a long period of time to make it clear what the pecking order was in the house. I think when Hudson came into her territory, she went a little nuts because she didn't know where she stood anymore. Technically, Hudson out-ranked her, being bigger and being male. But she knew it was her house and she was next in line after me. If we were a dog pack, Hudson's presence here made HIM next in line after me-- not Keisha. She seemed to get used to it by Day 4, but that night, Hudson's owners were back and he had to go home. I miss the big guy!

All is back to normal now. Keish is back to her old self, and we're glad of it! I'm sure Hudson is lounging around next door, praying that his owners don't plan any trips in the near future...

When in Rome...

They say do as the Romans do. This is also good advice when you're in a bustling city like New York. There I was, all by my iddie biddie self on the corner of 6th Ave & W 26th, on a really cold Friday afternoon. I had just come out of a meeting with my agent, the petite powerhouse Jodi Reamer of Writers House fame, and I needed a cab to get back to my hotel. My friend and I (who was attending the SCBWI conference with me) had walked down 6th from 54th. The natives were shocked! Now on my own, I decided I was too tired to walk back. I didn't want to take the subway in case I ended up in Brooklyn. So, cabbing was the only option.

I stood at the corner for a few minutes, watching a steady stream of yellow cabs whiz by me. People were actually running out into the street, hurling themselves at cabs in an effort to claim them! I was worried. What if they realized I was a Canadian? They might not stop at all...

I thought back to movies and television shows I had seen, like "Sex and the City," trying to retrieve an image of Carrie flagging down a cab. Of course, her wardrobe was much better than mine, which probably helped. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I needed a cab, and I was going to get one, even if I had to take precedence over a native New Yorker.

I staked out a good spot on the sidewalk, where the cabs could see me. I turned toward the oncoming yellow melee. Then, like I'd been doing it all my life, I took an assertive step forward onto the street, while simultaneously waving my arm straight up in the air. "TAXI!" I yelled.

No one was more surprised than me when a cab zipped right up in front of where I was standing, as if this was my personal chauffeur and he was used to this kind of thing from me. I jumped into the back of the cab. I'd done it! And it hadn't even been that hard.

I was proud of myself... I was practically a full-blooded New Yorker, now! As I whizzed through the city in my yellow limo I knew why they called it the Big Apple. And I had just taken a big, crunchy bite.

New Yaahk, New Yaahk...

Wow-- Just came back from a whirlwind 4 days in NY for the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators) Winter Conference. Amazing keynote speakers. Educational workshops. And Brian Selznick.

For those of you who don't know Brian Selznick, he is an author/illustrator whose new book, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is recently published by Scholastic. I was lucky enough to be in the audience of Brian's keynote speech on Day 2 of the conference. But it was more like a Power Point presentation. A really, really GOOD Power Point presentation. He had slides. He had music. He had us mezmerized from the get-go.

The book in question is part storyboard, part narrative, part graphic novel. The jacket describes it as an "entirely new reading experience." It is.

Brian was just one of the speakers I was fortunate enough to hear during this fabulous conference. (More about that later!)

But if you have a chance, pick up a copy of "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." It really does transport you to another time. The characters are real.. you feel them about you.. you see them looking you in the eye.... You hear the clock ticking....

The Sound of Silence

Ever thought about what this really is? Is there such a thing as complete silence? According to Merriam-Webster, silence is the "absence of sound or noise." Even when you sit as quietly as you can in silence, there is still the sound of your own heart beating, and the rhythm of your breathing.

To a person with tinnitus (like my boyfriend) his version of silence is roughly like this: "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." Seriously, he says it never stops. Which is why he likes static; he says it drowns out the screeching in his ears. I am convinced he's simply using his tinnitus as a cover-up for torturing me with radio static, fuzzy sounding walkie-talkies, and droning talk radio.

My version of silence is like this: (insert several characters talking, trying to explain their story to you). While this may not be actual sound, I'm sure many writers out there will agree that there is so much "noise" going on in their heads at any given time, that true silence eludes us, too.

My sister and I (also a writer) absolutely HATE the sound of dismbodied voices talking on a radio. People talking on tv or in a movie is okay, because you can see them. But for some reason, droning voices on a radio makes both of us crazy! She thinks it's because the voices on the radio are competing with the characters' voices in our heads. (added bonus to being a writer: you can have voices in your head and it's nothing to be alarmed about!) At any rate, she and I agree on this one.

I wonder if cavemen writers had the same problem?

Top 10 Reasons We Like Vampires

I'm currently working on a new book about vampires, and so decided to compile this handy-dandy list about why we like them:

10) Vampires are good-looking. You never come across this sentence in a book: "The ugly vampire came into the room and bit everyone."

9) Vampires are strong. You also never come across this sentence: "The fat, lazy vampire sat around all day (or night, heh-heh) and did nothing."

8) Vampires are smart. Nada on this one too: "The stupid, dull vampire sat in the corner, mumbling incoherently and drooling."

7) No wrinkles. Unless the vampire was bitten at the age of eighty (which almost never happens), they look like they all use Clinique.

6) You don't have to cook for them. Upside: huge saving on the grocery bill, and you don't have to worry about them stealing your chocolate. Downside: you may become anemic.

5) Vampires are well-dressed. You never hear about the shabbily-dressed vampire shuffling down the road in his wrinkled suit.

4) They can fly. Imagine never having to travel coach again! Though to my knowledge, there are no snacks on their flights.

3) Vampires have nice teeth. Just watch out for the pointy ones.

2) The immortality thing. In our busy world, we have less time to do the things we really want to, like travel to exotic locales or make a quilt. Vampires have literally forever to get around to doing something.

And the number one reason we like vampires:

1) They're cool. "Bobby, the Nerdy Vampire?" Never heard of him...

Peeps vs. Chocolate

I just came back from grocery shopping, and couldn't help but notice the huge mountain of Easter candy which was set up in the middle of the store... you know, the kind you dreamed about diving into as a child and eating your way out of?

I shopped. I tried not to think about the mountain of chocolate that seemed to direct its mind-numbing power toward me. Lulled into this false sense of security, I shopped on... despite my resistance, a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs found its way into the cart. Now at home, chowing down on the wicked little things, I am once again reminded of how dangerously addictive they are. You CAN'T stop eating them!

My old roommate, Chris, and I used to polish off a bag in an evening. The next day, we'd get more. We prayed for an intervention, but wisely kept our door bolted. It was just us and the mini-eggs for awhile...

Until one day, we brought home Peeps.

You've all seen these strange marshmallow and colored sugar concoctions cleverly shaped into little chicks, bunnies, and eggs. But have you ever tasted one of them?

Chris and I would advise against it.

They are Horr-i-ble! The marshmallow tastes like spun plastic, and even the sugar is second rate! Peeps are not for the discerning palette. We figure they're more a decoration than tasty treat.

But, Peeps do have something chocolate doesn't: staying power. Chris and I, mystified as to Peeps' popularity, decided to conduct a comparison between it (our least favorite candy) and chocolate (our most favorite candy). After a lengthy experimental process, here's what we concluded:

1) Peeps are impervious to weather. We set the Peeps (in our case, 2 little yellow chicks) out on our third floor balcony and left them there for 2 months. Neither rain nor wind nor snow nor hail seemed to have any effect on them. They held their shape and retained their yellow color.
Chocolate, while yummy, is not impervious to weather.

2) Even animals will not eat Peeps. While out on the balcony, the Peeps were not touched by any passing birds. Birds will eat chocolate, however.

3) Peeps have many uses. These strange confections are NOT just a candy! Since they never, ever break down, they could have a myriad of uses. Peeps could be used by NASA as both a repair kit for the shuttle, and as food for the crew. Peeps can also be used as a cost effective decoration for an Easter basket, or as a gift for people you don't like. Chocolate, on the other hand, would NOT plug a hole in the shuttle, and should NOT be wasted on people you don't like.

4) Chocolate has mystical powers. Much has been written about the magical properties of chocolate. Chocolate is dark, mysterious, sweet and hypnotic. It pretty much always puts you in a good mood. The only power Peeps have is that they stay forever unchanged, no matter what happens to them.

My vote goes to chocolate. But I think I'll keep some Peeps in my glovebox in case my car breaks down...