test blog 5

We left some ashes of Gypsy and Clyde at Minnewaska State Park. We loved hiking there with them. Gypsy loved to swim in the lake; it was where we discovered she was a great swimmer! So we scattered some ashes in the lake, and threw some others off a lookout cliff. Allan left little piles on a high stone with a beautiful view of the lake. I told Buster that he must live forever, and that's final! He's very obedient and always wants to please me, so we'll see.

What are you doing to help defeat W? There are many ways to be more involved. Please do more than vote. Please.

Just back from ten days of relaxing in the country, I am dying to check the Buffalo Consulate website to see if there have been any updates, I click on the link and... nothing . Applications to emigrate to Canada from the US are processed at the Candian Consulate in Buffalo, NY. Buffalo's website had a page called "status of applications", on which it said something like: "We are now creating applications from forms received in in May, 2004 ... We are now processing applications created in October 2003." This was my only clue of how long the current wait time is. And they took it away! Now what will I obsess over? Of course the status of our application is only channel one of my three-pronged obsessions. The other two ? Do you even have to ask?

I had another letter in the NY Times this week. I wish it was this easy to get all my writing published! You can read the letter here .

goofy b enjoys the lawn serious faces waiting for treats sweet cody brown best photo ever: this is buster, a/k/a B

clyde and cody, their one trip together clyde & cody action photo great picture of cody

gypsy and clyde in fleischmann, our first trip upstate pookies in the kitchen pookies in the bedroom. clyde contemplates nature the little munchkin old butterhead we make faces at our dogs. note clyde staring at squirrels. my favorite picture of gypsy and clyde

This is our last summer going to the Catskills with our dogs. I'm not sad about it – I'm sure we'll find some wonderful place in Canada, hopefully a cabin in the woods, maybe near a lake – but it does feels momentous. I still get wistful and nostalgic about our time upstate with Gypsy and Clyde. We started going to the Catskills because Gypsy couldn’t tolerate the Fourth of July fireworks. It got worse every year, until she actually got sick from the stress. But we knew from shorter excursions that she also had extreme motion sickness, so we didn’t know what to do. Finally we felt we had no choice. We had to sedate her for the car ride and get out of town for Fourth of July weekend. I love the woods and we both hate the beach (at least in summer), and the Catskills are beautiful, quiet and nearby. I read about a bed & breakfast that encouraged guests to bring their dogs, and we set out for Fleischmann, New York. This was 1993. Much to our surprise, Gypsy had outgrown he...