Beach House in the Burbs

I wrote this for Petco Love's, the Petco Foundation, 2024 Petco Love Stories contest. The challenge was to write about a rescue pet adoption in 500 words or fewer. The winners would receive money for the rescue organization of their choice, along with swag like tennis shoes, t shirts and Petco gift cards.  My story, Maggie Rescues Mom , won $10,000 for Mostly Mutts, the rescue organization where we got Maggie (and our tripod Ruby) and where I volunteer as a dog walker once a week. It is an amazing organization of 300 volunteers and very few staff, who rescue, rehabilitate and adopt out some of the most loving dogs around. If you're looking for somewhere to spend your time or dollars in Kennesaw, you can't go wrong with these folks.  Now, without further ado, in honor of Mother's Day: Maggie Rescues Mom Dementia is a horrible disease that robs people of themselves. They forget events, loved ones, how to care for themselves and others -- and sometimes, they forget that ...

Like many, MANY people in the ATL, I spent a looooooong time--8.5 hours WITHOUT a potty break, which is really like 205 bladder hours--in my car last Tuesday trying to get home in the snow and ice. In that 8.5 hours, which started at 12:45 p.m., I ate a handful of tiny little chocolate candies that I grabbed out of my desk, just in case it took me a couple of hours to get home--because I hadn't had lunch yet. And no water--but that was actually okay, since I had nowhere to pee. Here's the first indication (besides, you know, the fact that I wasn't moving very fast on the interstate and it was snowing) that I wasn't going to get home for a while: Yes, that does say it's going to take 89-91 minutes to go 9 miles. But, it lied. It took me more than three hours. I'm not sure how many minutes that is, but I know it's more than 89-91. Here's my view for most of the ride. Here's the Delk Road exit (the one mentioned on the sign in the first photo...

Smiley belly!

You cain't sling a dead cat without hitting a really, REALLY old pile of rocks in Greece -- something that continues to amaze this Atlanta resident. Where I come from, old is the late the 1800s. If something from before THE war (you know the one I mean) exists, it's ancient. We just don't have a lot of old sh*t laying around. But, in Crete, you get such an appreciation for old, and for history, and for living with your past (we still tear a lot of old stuff down around here). Not to mention a sense of wonder for how anything Greek still survives, given a history that includes conquering and occupation by the Romans, the Venetians, the Turks, the Germans. The list seems endless. We think America is a melting pot, but you want to see a melting pot that stretches back centuries, go to Greece. Spend a week in Crete for a journey that will take you back thousands of years -- and that doesn't even include the Homo Sapiens Museum. When you land in Iraklion, it's the l...

One of our new across-the-street neighbors--a family of four. You reckon our property values will go up if we talk about the wonders of free-range, fresh goat cheese right here in the 'hood?

While the new royal baby, George Alexander Louis, has an awful lot going for him--a mouthful of name, money and his pick of fabulous castles to call home--his new parents may need some parenting tips, and I'm not sure they have the best role models to turn to. In case they want to swim outside the Royal Gene Pool for parenting help, I'd like to offer up these tips from my dad, who's been a parenting King for longer than I can remember! 1. Love unconditionally. Dad loves cars a lot. This was brought home to me when in the months following me getting my driver's license I hit everything in sight--and many things that were out of sight--poles, the garage, an MG convertible driven by a nasty man in a mustard-colored suit smoking a huge, smelly cigar. And as hard as it was to call Dad and tell him I'd hit something else, it was never because I thought he'd stop loving me. Keep this in mind when little George throws the royal crest, just to see if it will break ...

... in 37 minutes or less! This has been the summer of colossal, all-encompassing museum experiences. First up, was the ENTIRE HISTORY of mankind (not WOMANKIND, NO, NO, NO) in 45 minutes or less. Now, I've seen ALL the marvels of architecture -- from the Great Wall of China to St. Peter's Cathedral -- without leaving Cullman, Alabama. Ave Maria Rock Grotto at St. Bernard Abbey , "the only Benedictine monastery of men in Alabama" (If you'd have asked me, I'd have said there were NO Benedictine monasteries in Alabama, of men or women or even armadillos. How did they get past the Baptists?) "consists of 125 small stone and cement structures, the handiwork of creative genius (or obsessive fruitcake) Brother Joseph Zoetl, a monk at the abbey for almost 70 years." The quote is from the flyer you get when you visit the Grotto--expect for the parenthetical comments. Those are mine. And it pretty much sums up the works, but it does nothing to captur...

After 15 years, I traded my 17-year-old Mustang convertible this week for the more grown up, fuel-efficient (boring) car sitting beside her. It was a tough decision. I loved that Mustang, but her parts were going bad and dropping off. It was time to put her out to pasture. This is my baby being towed in the spring--just the first of several times this year she had to visit the garage in an ambulance. She was ready to relax, get out of traffic, have a nice cold quart of oil on the veranda. Funny how she got so old and I didn't! :) She carried small, squealing children, who now at 6 feet+, have literally outgrown her. She carried saxes and costumery and dogs and beach chairs. And she carried me; offering a ride home in the open air after a long day in a cube filled with artificial ligh Enjoy your rest, old girl! And thanks for 15 years of joy.

Happy 4th from the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable ! If you look closely, to the right of the fabulously tall stars and stripes hat and just behind the clarinet player in the bright blue shirt, I'm the sax player in the red tutu. I had no idea I could play Stars and Stripes Forever that FAST! Have a Stars and Stripey Day!

I started a new job today. It seems like I've said that WAY too many times in the last few years. A by-product of the down economy is how I explain it to myself and anyone else who'll listen. But, my new job, has these great sculptures outside the door. Look: It feels like a happy place, after just one day. Here's hoping it stays that way!

I dreamed the other night that you showed up at our band room to donate some of your fabulous costumes to our fabulous band, the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable. And I woke up thinking, "What a great idea! It's a natural fit." As a member of the Seed & Feed, I sometimes feel like a Rock Star. Not an Elton John caliber rock star, but a small, local bringing-joy-to-the not-quite-so-massive-masses rock star. (Though our rock star status got a big boost this week when we made the Huffington Post .) And in my band, we wear costumes—elaborate, Elton John in his best costume-wearing day costumes. Maybe you’ve seen us. We’re in Atlanta, where I know you spend some time. So, anyway, the point of my letter. I thought maybe the dream was a sign, even a glimpse into some fabulous future where you'd show up in our band room and present me with costumery to wear and share. And figured a letter to you, one of my costumery idols, might help that future along. I’m trying ...

I went to Greece last month, one of the most photogenic countries in the world. And would love to say I took fabulous, professional quality photos with my fabulously expensive, complicated camera. But, no. I could either afford to go to Greece or I could afford to buy the fabulously expensive, professional camera and stay home and take more pictures of the cat. Clearly I've done enough of that. Instead I invested a whopping 99 cents in Camera + for my iPhone and had fun with it all over Greece--taking perhaps not professional-museum quality photos of the lovely landscape, but taking decent photos, then having more fun editing/filtering/adding captions. Take a look: Before leaving for Greece, I practiced at Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary . This is the original photo of the alligator. This is it after I made it look like a cool, 1950s Florida postcard using the HDR setting to add the color and the borders to add the border--duh--and the text. Here are some other ...

The littlest nephew (who is now 6'2") and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden this past weekend to see the Imaginary Worlds exhibit--and all the other pretty stuff too. What a cool exhibit! Enormous, fantastical plant-covered creatures scattered throughout the garden. The Unicorn was one of my favorites. I loved the way the plants that make up her mane and tail waved in the wind. The Ogre was good too. You can't tell from this picture, but he had a tunnel through his side, like he was a bridge or a hidey-hole or a playhouse. But those two were only my favorites until I saw the Earth Goddess. At 29 tons, she is quite a woman! More ordinary critters such as butterflies, bunnies and cobras also were fun to see, but I loved the fantasy creatures best. They weren't the only bits of beauty, however. I longed to take home orchids from the filled-to-overwhelming orchid room, but settled for lots of pictures instead. And what would a day in the garden ...