Potatoes in the Mist

After dinner tonight, I wanted a cupcake, so we headed over to Billy's Bakery, which was nearby. We passed a really cute dog tied up outside a restaurant. He had little doggy dreads -- soft, furry ropes of hair that made him resemble a friendly carpet. We both patted him and decided to visit him again on the way back from the bakery. At the bakery, we got a perfect vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting -- I think they called it a "Yellow Daisy" cupcake. The cashier took one look at my stomach and said it was on the house. (The cupcake, not my stomach ;) He also guessed that it was a boy. He was the first guy to guess correctly (the women always guess right). Some woman held the hotel door open for me in Miami and said, "It's a boy, right?" On the way back, the dog was still there and *very* fascinated with my cupcake-scented fingers. We spent some time with him, and after we walked away, he gazed after us, forlorn. Then he jumped up on the window of the ...

So last night was not that bad after all. In fact, it was much better than I expected. Maybe the key is low expectations ;) Although they say the opposite with childbirth pain - if you think you can't stand it, you can't; if you think it's manageable, you'll be okay. We had dinner with DG at a restaurant with golden walls and a very kind owner, who said, "Can I say congratulations?" after I took my coat off. They gave us some strawberries and biscotti at the end, dusted with confectioners' sugar, just to be nice. My eyes were closing at the end, I was so tired, but DG thought a change in venue would invigorate me. It did -- we proceeded to a party at a gorgeous apartment that costs $6700/month (sometimes the wealth floating around Manhattan freaks me out) and there was a sweet black Lab there who greeted us. This was the best-behaved dog I have ever seen. Most dogs bark, jump or freak out when there is company, but this one just wagged sedately, as if to s...

So here are some highlights or just noteworthy events from the holidays, '07: Sunday. D and I took Amtrak to get to Boston, and the ride was uneventful. However, the drive home from the Alewife T station was not. Mom has a penchant for getting lost on the way home (and blaming me for it!) So I micromanaged her driving from then on. She also collided with a snowbank and started heading to Providence at one point (though I averted that disaster). The high speed on the highway also made me nauseous. So, let's just say - I'm happy not to have to drive in New York! I'm a walking kind of gal. Mom told us a story about my aunt (on my father's side) and her cat. One night Mom went to check on my aunt, who is 91, and found her anxious about her cat, Sophia. Aunt: I'm going to stay up with Sophia. She's having a problem with her leg and she can hardly walk. [Sophia strolls by, without effort.] Mom: She looks fine to me. [Sophia sprints up the stairs.] Mom: I think yo...

So I just made an appointment for an initial anatomy ultrasound in 2 weeks! That will put me at 15 weeks, and the doctor said I could find out the baby's sex with an ultrasound at 15 weeks...so yup. If all goes well, on Dec. 19, I will find out the baby's sex (or as Liz sassily* put it, "the sex reveal"). What else has been going on? I've been putting on weight apace. I read in my pregnancy book that some women put on most of their weight in first trimester (the ones who don't throw up too much), so I'm hoping the pace will slow down. It actually has, a bit...but the amount I eat would still shock my pre-pregnancy self. I'm planning to close my eyes the next time I get weighed at the doctor's so I don't see the little metal blocks sliding into place. (Yes, I'm kind of serious.) Of course, the nurse always announces the number in a voice that would carry to Nevada. Also, D and I saw Enchanted recently. It was, well...enchanting! (Sorry, cou...

So we went to dinner at a place that was a bit stuffy. At one point, I slipped outside for some fresh air. There was a pet store two doors down -- they don't sell pets, but rather food and paraphernalia, including a book called How to Massage Your Cat and a volume on dog astrology. I consulted it and found out what I always suspected -- that my childhood dog liked my mother better than me ;) She liked me, mind you, but my mom was her favorite. She was the leader of the pack. Two really cute French bulldogs came in and I greeted them with cries of, "Hi, gorgeous!" and "How did you get to be so cute?" The mother replied, "I ask her that every day!" and answered for the dog: "Because my parents are Twinkle and Buttertoes." It might not have been "toes," but it was butter-something.

So I visited Rainer today. His new thing is to tilt his head back and stare at me till I pat him on the head, at which point he closes his eyes and he looks like the very picture of bliss ;) Some woman smiled when she saw him in my lap and said, "He looks just like my cat...minus twenty pounds." Now, Rainer is a sweetheart, but he is not a slender cat. I can't help wondering what Rainer Plus looks like ;) On the other end of the spectrum, we saw a tiny chihuahua on the sidewalk with its owner. A ring of people had gathered around it. It was strangely mesmerizing; you couldn't take your eyes off it. It was three weeks old. And I may have a new cat friend soon. He lives in a shop on my street, but it's unfortunately always closed when I pass by (at night). The door is glass, though, so I can see him. Once he was sitting right there, so I said hello. He got excited and pawed at the door, and also rubbed his face against it. It's funny how some cats love you, and ...

So T and I saw The Jane Austen Book Club today. It was good, though it seemed a little long and disjointed. Sometimes scenes were glossed over, and we agreed that they probably ended up on the cutting room floor. I was pleased with the casting, though. Everyone looked and acted pretty much the way I expected from the book, although my memory of it was fairly dim after 3 years. On the way to the movie we saw about 80 dogs gathered on the steps of a church. I patted one West Highland terrier and stole a peek at its mother's flyer -- "The Blessing of the Dogs." Cute.

A lot has happened today already. I went to meet D for lunch and along the way I spotted a Boston terrier -- one blue eye, one brown. I stooped to pat it and then I heard an ear-bruising screech!! Everyone's head whipped around. Even the dog jumped. A taxi had squealed to a halt and there was a delivery boy on its hood. Somebody yelled, "Call an ambulance!" The boy seemed fine, even hopping on his bike to finish his deliveries -- but everyone persuaded him to stay. I took out my cell phone but another woman was already giving details to 911. After the woman finished the call, I was satisfied that help was on its way, so I continued. There were a bunch of rubberneckers/supporters gathered around the boy, so he wasn't alone. The dog stayed too. I was shaken by this, of course, but then something amusing happened. A few blocks later, I knelt down to pat a beagle tied outside a coffee shop, and it let loose with this big mournful howl: AROOOO. Everyone smiled, including a...

There's a trend in our neighborhood of girls leaving the bathroom together. Single-occupancy bathrooms. This titillates the men. They giggle and point. Curiously, afterward, the bathroom is smoke free. Hmm. We met a friend's new girlfriend recently. The two of them have the exact same speech patterns. Their sentences stop in the same places and trail off in the same way. So I asked her, "Are you from the Midwest?" (He is.) She nodded. It's probably a sign they're well suited to each other. The similar speech, that is. On the way home from dinner tonight, I patted several dogs, including: A yellow Lab who liked to sit on the sidewalk after his snack, i.e., "rest and digest." A foxy dog who licked me on the nose and forehead. We shared an elevator in our building with a chihuahua that I never dare to pat because he's got a fierce bark on him. Even when he sniffed my legs, I held still. The dog's not much bigger than my hand but his demeanor sa...

So tonight D and I were eating outdoors and a man stopped at our table with a camera. He asked if we wanted to be interviewed about our dining experience. D's immediate reaction upon seeing a camera is always NO. However, I kind of wanted to be interviewed, and by the time the second cameraman came around, I said yes. I blathered on a bit about the restaurant, my dish, etc., with the camera periodically zooming in on my lasagna or my face. I can only hope there wasn't sauce on it ;) Anyway, if y'all want to see the clip, it should be online sometime in September at nwhyc.com. The site has not been launched yet. We saw an adorable Akita (fluffy wolfhound-type dog) approach the outdoor tables. His owner called out to a tall waiter with a dancer's carriage: "I'll have a double Jack Daniels...and your phone number." Later, he lamented, "Where is that hot boy waiter?" His dog needed some water.

My library hired a 12-year-old. Last time I went there, he waited on me. My hold book wasn't on the hold shelf, so I suggested it might be behind the counter. "Books are never back there," he assured me solemnly. In fact, they always are. Maybe they should be on the hold shelf, but "should" is aspirational -- e.g., the president should be a good ruler, the war in Iraq should be over, you know. So I said, "I've been coming here since before you were born, son." No, I didn't. But he learned his lesson about the way this library is run...the book was indeed back there. So he waited on D today. Once we got out, I told him, "That was the 12-year-old!" He said, "Yeah, I was thinking, 'Is that the 12-year-old? Well, I'm doing something really simple. He can't mess it up.'" Aren't there child labor laws? I also went to the hardware store. Three things are always true about hardware stores: 1) They are cluttered 2...

I saw some cute animals today and yesterday, so I thought I'd share them with you. I was walking back from Pilates yesterday when I passed a gay porn magazine store. This is not uncommon for the Village. However, I saw something unusual: a stuffed animal tossed carelessly in front of the magazines, just behind the front windows. It's a very small space. Then I saw its mouth and realized it was a real cat! It was sound asleep, but its features were unmistakable. Then two older ladies approached and said, "It looks just like mine! I have a calico." "I thought it was a stuffed animal at first," I told them. "No, it's breathing!" And we saw its belly move, and it rolled over a little bit. It must have been a funny sight, three women (two over sixty) gazing rapturously at a gay porn magazine display ;) The cat was adorable but probably not visible to the casual observer. I also saw a pug with my name. I've encountered her before; she travels in ...

So D and I had lunch with P and his new girlfriend. P is a long-time summer employee of D's and friend of ours; he lives in London and goes to film school during the rest of the year. P made a great choice of lunch place and girlfriend. I thought they were both fabulous. I told him they should get married. I have a very good sense of when couples should get married ;) I won't push it too hard, however. Mentioning it once is enough, right? As for the lunch...awesome. They served everything with a light touch, and yet it was utterly satisfying. Small, delicious portions. I had black bean soup, a red wine poached pear salad, and a petite piece of carrot cake. The carrot cake was served with ice cream, which formed a lovely little lake at the bottom of the plate :) On the way home, I saw two of the cutest dogs ever. They were frisky golden doodles. The girl had a pink leash and the boy had a purple leash. The boy settled down on the sidewalk so I could pat him for a while. "Oh...

Here are some pics from my birthday on Saturday (a day early, but Saturday is more festive, don't you agree?) Well, first is a very fuzzy picture of the bunny in my backyard, taken on Friday: Two pics of my sister's dog, with one of my nephews and my niece: D with two of my nephews: D with most of the kids: A necklace my sister gave me:

So D and I went to my hometown for my birthday, which is Sunday, but we're celebrating it tomorrow. The morning was a little crowded because D's business colleague and his wife were in town from the Netherlands. I was worried about the tight fit -- brunch 2 hours before our train departed -- but I was glad I went. The colleague's wife is very bubbly, a little flashier than most of my friends (with bright yellow hair and a lot of chest on display), but a really sweet person. Did I mention that brunch is one of my favorite meals ever? I ordered a fresh fruit crepe, which arrived drizzled in strawberry sauce. D's colleague looked at it and said, "I'll have one too!" He'd already had French toast, but that didn't stop him ;) The colleague's wife entertained me with stories of how she travels a lot, and went to Johannesburg last week. She forgot it is winter in the southern hemisphere, and said, "It was cold, and I am like this!" (gesturin...

D fell off his bike last night when he was trying to pass some guy (he needs to slow down!). He didn't break anything, but he fractured his clavicle and is wearing a little sling on his arm for support. They prescribed Oxycodon (probably similar to Oxycontin, which is addictive) as a painkiller. The nurse asked if he had an addictive personality. He told her he has an anti-addictive personality, because it freaks him out if he gets addicted to anything bad. Then he takes a step back. He counts bike riding as a positive addiction. So at dinner he was tossing back the Oxycodon, and got a glint in his eye. "I can tell why people get addicted to this," he said. "I got this little wave of --" "Euphoria?" I supplied. "Yeah ." If he gets hooked, I'll flush the rest. On the way back from dinner, we saw a cute-as-a-button West Highland terrier. I stopped to pat him. Then a waterbug scuttled by and the dog jumped a mile! It really freaked him out. ...

Today D and I ate outdoors at this cafe; we had veggie burgers and watermelon (!), and there were two dogs nearby. One was sitting on his owner's lap; the other was lying, sad-eyed, on the floor. I went over to hang out with it and the owner let her off her leash. The owner's friend explained, "That's Emma. She likes you!" Emma came over to our table, wagging her tail, and sniffed the onion on the floor but didn't eat it. The friend went on: "Joe [pointing to the lap dog] is a different story. He's a whore. He's a MAN WHORE. He just wants to be patted. But Emma is very particular. You know how you can tell when she's excited? She raises an eyebrow." Afterward I went to the library, where I took out The School for Husbands (by Wendy Holden, a fun British writer); Touchy Subjects (short stories by Emma Donoghue, whose novel, Slammerkin, was very good but dark); and The Raw Shark Texts (which is huge, and I managed to drop it on my ankle). I...

I was on my way to Pilates and I saw a little rainbow of cocker spaniels: gold, brown and black. The black one made a beeline for me. He looked exactly like Liz's dog Alex. Anyway, he came right over and lay on his back across my foot. The messages: "You're not going anywhere" and "Pat my belly." I complied. Has anyone noticed how dogs don't like to share attention? If there are multiple dogs, they'll all rush over to you, but when you pat one of them, the other two slink away. They are, however, keeping their eyes peeled and they're ready to swoop in the second you stop patting the first dog.

So I finished my sweater today: The neck was a pain in the neck. I feel like I'll never want to knit a V-neck again. Of course, I probably will. I saw the cutest dog today. It really looked like a friendly bear...black, with an abundance of fur. Everyone was stopping to pat it. I was hugging it and hanging out with it when the owner/father said, "Gotta go to work! Sorry!" I realized they can probably never go on a straight line from A to B without being stopped. Another girl was patting it before me and I saw some more women smiling at the doggie. It's probably a bonanza for the guy if he plays his cards right ;) I still haven't decided which dress to wear to the reunion. I'm leaning toward the black. I guess I'm feeling understated. Also, an author I like is coming to the reunion! She graduated 10 years before me. I'd love to talk to her, but I don't want to stalk her. Hmm.

So I ended up taking quite a few pictures during the weekend (Saturday through Monday, to be precise). Swampscott... Bearette and the fabulous, beautiful Iggy: Iggy and his brother: The sea: The beautiful bike we bought, to use when we go to MA (it rides like a dream): The super-cute pink camera my sister gave my mom: The hat I finished making for D: