Seattle 08: Reading to Addie

Seattle 08: "Uh-Oh" and "Up!"

Seattle Trip 08: Highlights

More photos to come, but here are some highlights from our Seattle trip!

Each morning, Addie was dying to wake up everyone in the house to play. When she was persuaded to let Uncle Mason sleep a little longer, she decided to camp out in front of the guest room door to wait for him. On her back is the little cheetah backpack we bought her at the Ljubljana Zoo. She named him "Philosopher," which impressed the heck out of all of us.

I was excited to get some kitty-time with Frida.

And there was LOTS of Guitar Hero, although I'm not exactly sure why that necessitated Mike's wig. :)

Woof!

I've caught/received a couple of very cool tributes to dogs on this Veterans' Day. If you get a chance, check out this sweet Pundit Kitchen item, as well as "Veterans Helped by Healing Paws," a heartwarming NYT article.

Both reminded me of Porkchop, a rescue dog profiled in the WSJ for his efforts following the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center. The article included a portrait of the blond Australian shephard -- in the Journal's dot matrix-looking style, of course. It's not available via the WSJ's online archives without a subscription, but I found it posted (sans portrait) on the United Kingdom Fire Service Search & Rescue Team's site. A sad story, but also one that reminds us how much good animals can bring to our world.

As Sam would say, "love and licks!"

First Snow!

It's falling very softly right now -- and it's expected to stick! November 7 seems early, but maybe it's not (there have certainly been snowy Thanksgivings since I've moved to MN). But I'm not too sorry that I'm headed today to Seattle, where it's a good twenty degrees warmer, for early T-Day.