Not a Good Morning

Something is dead under the deck.

I will say no more.

Applied Gymnastics

Good Morning!

I love to look at Mommy's gardening books in the morning. The bright sunlight, the sense of possibility...it's all just so exciting.

Daddy doesn't feel quite so chipper.

Sooooo Jealousssss...

Above and below, I'm sorry to say, you see a group of friends enjoying the sordid aftermath of a dim sum feast. I could be happy for them. After all, they enjoyed a sumptuous repast, basked in each other's company, and learned all about bulldog breeding from Norton MacSnorton's mom (pictured in black, mocking Andrew Jackson, above). What could be finer, on a sunny Southern California Sunday?

But in my heart I seethe with jealousy. Their soy and ginger-flecked tablecloth triggers my inner yearnings for dumplings and fried balls of indeterminate seafood paste. Ah, dim sum...how I love thee. AND, as if it even needs mentioning, there's the company of a group who can talk about structuralism and post-structuralism, Oppenheimer and Stalin, Catalina Island and the Jewish intelligentsia. At least one of them can do it in Russian or Turkic, too.

This demands immediate action. No moping. I'm going to:
1. Buy a steamer so I can learn to make dim sum.
2. Kidnap everyone you see above and bring them here for a week of fun.
3. Go shopping for a New Daddy gift for Norton MacSnorton.

Renaissance Woman

She reads. Serious books, too. None of this junior fiction crapola. Philosophy, linguistics, critical race theory, conceptualizations of nation-building. Important stuff, Mr. I Just Learned to Like Ollie the Stomper. Serious books.

Of course, she's afraid of the vacuum. Because, deep down, we all are.

And she sets all the fashion trends. Here you see the one-up-one-down style of leg warmer. In the 80s, icons like Pat Benatar tried to rock this look, but failed. They wore both leg warmers up, or both down. Maddie has solved this problem. Remember: Love is a Battlefield.

What's dad doing? Spraying the yard. No, what's he doing with that thing on his head? Oh, that.

It's a diaper. Duh.

Juno

It's bad enough when you spend $603 at the vet. But you know, that's the price of loving a couple of doggies.

When they give you a little spritzer bottle and tell you to spray the little pooch's booty twice daily for a week - that's just bad times. Bad. Times.

HaHa!! My Spies Are Soooo Useful

My spies returned with more photos, this time of the crucial Driveway Rose Bed. Note that the new owner has taken out my iceplants, which acted as an underplanting and shielded the roses from the heat. Of course, they were kind of mutants, dribbling all over the driveway. but I liked them.

Also, if you look closely you'll see that the lemon tree has lemons hanging over the pavement, and the kumquat tree is bearing loads of fruit as usual.

Here's the same area, from a distance. Yes, Gastronomer, this is our old house in Altadena. I loved this house, and based on the presence of a car in the driveway, I guess the new owner isn't going to call and beg us to take the house back for $2. Oh, well. We don't live there anymore, anyway. I just miss all that fruit and - of course - my roses.