I'm sorry to have forgotten to post this but today is my fucking birthday. And if I transpose the numbers, I'm 26. And I look every inch of 26, let me tell ya.

We went to Whidbey Island where there is a magic dog beach (where we met a puppy almost the same age as Felix) and we threw the ball about a million times and Felix fell around and lept into the air and generally made a fool of himself. Puppies are effing funny. They're us when we DIDN'T CARE that we were goofballs with dirt and sand on our faces when we fell backwards onto the beach. The sun was shining, it was freezing and there was a bit of snow. The nice people with Oscar (the odd couple) told us to go to Gordon's on Blueberry Hill for dinner so we did and it was a beautiful sunset over a wee Puget Sound bay with wine and salad and chocolate decadence with a candle in it.

Perfect.

It was a perfect day and I'm grateful for my children and Milo and my whole family and my honey and everyone else who loves me. I had two glasses of wine and I can't feel my toes and I don't care.

Kiss kiss.

Felix Matisse

O dear what a week it has been. We lept into puppy parenting as soon as we returned from Kauai.

So.

We drove up to Canada to pick up the pup and I forgot my passport. So Deb continued on over the border while I cooled my heels in Blaine in a motel. For two hours. Then I was asked to leave ( I guess my time turning tricks was over). They let me sit in the lobby until Deb returned with the pup, who had thrown up in his crate. It was a pleasant drive home, with the smell of puppy barf wafting through the car.

Do you know that puppies are BABIES? They cry. They pee on themselves. They poop on the rug.

They're hilarious. Felix has been trying in vain to befriend the katz. Hugo is permanently insulted that we brought a 'thing' into the house. And we are feeding Felix and fussing over him too. Hugo is the house king, not some dumb baby dog. Felix doesn't care that he looks a fool when he hops across the lawn. He and Hugo will never be friends. Never.

Meanwhile, we've had another baby wave, three in the last 24 hours.

Even on vacation, I delivered babies in my dreams.

Um, this is where we were. And this is the beach where I SWAM WITH A TURTLE. Actually, I swam into her. It's possible. She was just there and I backed up but not before smacking her (gently) with my hand and saying (whoa) into my mask. Then I swam around and above her while she ignored me so she could snack on green stuff that grows on coral. O and there were fishes, all colors and an eel and more fishes and monstrous waves and really bad hair from salt water (who cares) and now I'm back with the katz and tomorow we pick up the puppy and the house will be in an uproar.

Three births in 48 hours, off to Atlanta at 3:30 in the AM. Sheesh. Way too tired. I threw a bunch of underwear in the duffle, my computer, ipod, headphones and an apple. Gawd. O, and two pairs of boots. Gotta have boots, don't I?

Where is my retirement? Where are my servants? I need a cool cloth on my head, a cuppa and a lie down.

Diet

I tell you
I wanted a cookie
one with butter and sugar
a special crackled surface
with bits of submarine and cheddar
not too tasty!

You brought me a burst appendix
radishes with the red rubbed off
a broken minesweeper you said was an heirloom
after they washed off the graffiti
you moved into the solarium

where you ravished the wild hyssop
bottled virulent sunsets in vinegar
brokered manufactured beeches
fletched mice and their harvest mouselings
sunk in the mire

I asked for honey
you proffered lapwings
I craved blunt icing
you fled backhand the arboreal spread
we played hide the sickle

the grass bled green
toads winked in your slippers
I limped back to the big house
with a pan of glisten
welts on my thumbs
and an appetite for rancor

We drove to Langley, BC in a downpour. We visited the lady who has our doggie. He's still a baby so we're gonna bring him home after Hawaii. He's cream colored and fluffy. He bounces, like Tigger. When we came back in the door tonight, the katz looked at us with distain because we smelled like DOG. In truth, we'd had a litter and their parents all over us for about three hours. So. Well. Yes. We smelled like dogs. The nice lady gave us a dog toy the katz can sniff. They were (properly) insulted.

Then we fed them and they were mollified, at least for now. They don't understand what is about to happen to their pampered world. The'll have to get along.

Now I'll have a boy I can go on walks with, o joy o rapture.

We're getting a dog. And no, we won't make him wear his hair in bows or put Halloween costumes on him. I promise. We're getting a dog because we're nuts. And I miss Yogi.

And we're nuts.

No good reason for this photo

I know y'all were wanting a 'special' toaster.

The check engine light is on on my dash. I hope it's because the gas cap wasn't screwed on tightly. Please o please let that be the answer.

I have been remiss. I know. What with digging out and burning toast and the like. Tonight I go dancing again with my dance people. We take off our shoes and we let the music enter and we move around the room. I close my eyes a lot and go into an alternate reality. Like an acid trip in the Deep South without the sliver fish and Spanish moss. Humid, sensual, a bit slithery.

Holly and I went to Tiger Mountain and found this. All along 'our' trail, the Lingering Trail. At least 20 downed trees. We weren't hiking, we were on an obstacle course. Eventually Holly said the trees were 'spiraling' in the wind and we'd be clobbered for sure so we came back out.

My new life: hiking and dancing and swimming.

Amen.

I tried to make asparagus soup like the kind I had last week. You roast the asparagus til it's crispy, then into the blender with (soy) milk, then a generous dollop of (fake) sour cream. It was so delicious, I swooned in the restaurant. The waitperson patiently explained how to make it. He must have forgotten some SECRET ingredient. My honey said she thought it was good but it wasn't the same.

Pretty however.

The sun came to visit today and shone on all and everyone. We came out en mass to walk around the park and shade our eyes and exclaim about the numerous madrona trees that fell with the wind and ice. They have the most beautiful bark, smooth and tawny. I stroke their bark. Dogs and children and couples. Sabbath observers with their many offspring. Walking into the brilliant windy sun and whitecaps.

The tiny fist of winter let go.

Today I slid down the hill to clinic in time to rush to the hospital because one of our mommas was having her babe too early and way too fast. Missed the birth but babe and mom are fine. The streets are giant puddles of slush and ice. Cars still can't make it up hills, even wee hills.

There is nothing for it. We're gonna watch Blade Runner:Director's Cut. A pure Ridley Scott beautiful nightmare. And drink hot chocolate.

Still in bed. Just called all our clients to tell them not to come to clinic. The windows are iced up. Rain fell all night, then froze. No traffic, no kids outside. Just the sound of rain on snow on the skylight.

Today I wish we had a fireplace. Grateful we have power and heat.

Worried about anyone sleeping outside now.

Ok, now there's snow in my hood so I went for a massive ski, down the hill around the lake, to Seward Park, all around and back up the hill (big, gnarly hill) to the house where I collapsed with hot chocolate. And a hot bath.

The geese in formation by the lake, no visibility and calling to each other. O, I love them, flying into the snow.

Here in South Seattle, there is no snow, nada.

I can get to a birth if we can meet at the birth center. I could walk. Might take a few hours. I could do it. Seattle weather forecasters are positively delighted, de-lighted. Woohoo, big news, snowflakes.

From this Northeaster, sheesh. Really???

Sunday mornings I go dancing for two hours, then a hot tub, then lunch. Today it was a blizzard for about an hour, no really! See?

But. The best part. As I walked along in the hood, I was grinning because everyone was outside, building snowmen and playing with their children and dogs. One man built a lying-down snowman who was tied by twine to little snowmen, Gulliver's Travels style.

But wait. The best part. A man walked ahead of me on Broadway in a full length fur coat and Russian style hat and black boots. I turned to look at him as I passed and he was pretty near NAKED underneath. His coat was open. He had a criss-cross leather strap on his chest and a leather, um, codpiece on his area and thats it. Two girls asked him if he was cold and he said nope cuz he had a hat on. Well, of course.

Anyway, I fell down only once. I walked for about 113 miles and came home with wet boots. I love snow. And naturally, there are three ladies in labor tonight. The babies think it's funny to wait until the weather is interesting (snow storm, hurricane, 60 mile an hour winds) to make their grand entrance. Silly babies!!!

Last night we went to see West Side Story. Live. On stage. In person. All singing and dancing. Some of the songs and dialog are now in Spanish, as it was originally written.

I swooned in my seat. Yes, I did. I wanted to savor it; I wanted to turn it over in my hands and study it, slowly. The two hours went by in a jiffy. Way too fast. Jerome Robbins. Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein.

Sigh.

Two Against One from Anthony Francisco Schepperd on Vimeo.