Full and happy

Los Angeleno by birth, Northwesterner by choice, Second-hander by nature. Librarian, housebound chef, father, and lowly subject ruled over by the needs and whims of a very old house.
Partial to Mexican, Italian and Vietnamese cookery but will eat damn near anything. Collector of many strange things..the result is chaos and anarchy and a very pleasant place to live.
There is pleasure in accumulation, not just "collecting": music, books and film, in all their multi-formated glory. Outsider artists and those kinds of prints you would recognize if you took liberal studies classes in college. Cooking implements and gadgets for recipes still untried or those ventured. Glasses for most types of libations. Flowers in the garden, herbs in the pot.
It's a life of the senses and a good home life reflects that. Walking helps take in all the rest. Requires no special equipment, opens up the pores, brightens the taste buds, clears the decks for further adventures, puts on the miles, widens the eyes and helps fuel the imagination.

Live boldly, play graciously and love with all your heart knowing that true love comes only once or twice in this lifetime. Speaking of which..donde estas, Empress of my Heart?

Salud!

"Lack imagination and miss the better story" Yann Martel

"Life is a great adventure and I want to say to you, accept it in such spirit. I want to see you face it ready to do the best that lies in you to win out. To go down without complaining and abiding by the result....the worst of all fears is the fear of living." Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

"Not I - not anyone else, can travel that road for you
You must travel it for yourself" Walt Whitman


And above all, friends should possess the rare gift of sitting. They should be able, no, eager, to sit for hours-three, four, six-over a meal of soup and wine and cheese, as well as one of twenty fabulous courses.

Then, with good friends of such attributes, and good food on the board, and good wine in the pitcher, we may well ask,

When shall we live if not now?

-From Serve it Forth,
M.F.K. Fisher


Thursday, December 10, 2009

Dog of choice


Ah, Jane and her well matched pups! I think I'd like to get a couple of those myself!

Quite a number of years ago, when I was still with my third wife, we were gifted with two brand new chihuahua puppies. We named the brothers Vago (Wanderer) and Meil (Honey). Their names fit all too well with their personalities. Vago was the tunnel digger, as an afterthought I should have called him Bronson. He helped to keep my fence reinforcement skills up. And Meil, well, he was the lapsitter, the prototypical shakey small dog with the big eyes and the sad/happy disposition. Apart they were great, but when those two dogs got together, man, it was fireworks. You would have thought those two were pitbulls the way they behaved instead of Taco Bell spokesmen stand-ins. The would size each other up, growl famously and then have at it, fur and blanket parts and squeeze toys flying everywhere. Then, after their bloodlust had cooled a bit, they would sit around and lick each other's wounds, pride themselves on their oversized cajones, and then curl up to nap, pals and brothers once again.
Sadly, I had to give up those two when landed here in the Puget Sound. Couldn't find a house for them and so I put an ad in the paper, free to a good home. Tons of response. Finally found them a home outside of Snohomish. Old couple who had lost their chihui lately. Later found out that that sweet old couple ran a Chihuahua stud farm. I'm sure it never bothered those two oversexed dogs a bit.

So, I can easily say that I had a pleasant experience with those pint sized pooches to have wanted one in my life once again. My Chihuahua jones spiked about seven, eight years ago, but unfortunately that was at the height of their new found popularity. My neighbors had a connection to a breeder and picked one up for themselves. When my Estranged One asked if she could get the number of the seller she was told that "we had the babies, they got the dogs", something like that. Very snarky. No more Christmas cards for them.

No matter, I waited as I always do for these kinds of things to pass and now, it seems, that with a bit of driving and a small outlay of cash that this dog can have his day and a chihuahau, too. Hadn't planned on getting a dog but once my ship comes in and my new location is secured, know that Guapo is going to have to get used to having a canine brother around the house.

Operation Chihuahua, indeed. My grandmother and my great aunt both had chihuahuas. I've had a couple myself. Hell, that made me and my family cool long before Legally Blonde ever came on the scene. And my two tough barking perros would have laughed at that sissified character "Bruiser" in the film. Hmmm, yeah, they would have barked him right out of the doghouse.

Wee perros practically for the taking. Gosh, yet another reason for a nice long roadtrip to Cali.

Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chihuahuas10-2009dec10,0,4465673.story

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chihuahuas10-2009dec10,0,4465673.story

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