girl at large

Lighting My Own Fire

The skies opened up this week, the leaves are mush on the ground and winter is setting in...time to see if the fireplace works! Not as hardy as my neighbor with a stack of cord wood in her parking spot, I opted for the girly DuraFlame log-in-a-package, and yes, I updgraded to the "Crackle" model, complete with life-like crackling fire sounds.

And I love it! A few hours of crocheting in the armchair, feet up in front of the fire, poking at it with an old curtain rod (insert Christmas gift hint here: fireplace tool ) and a dog asleep at my feet...who doesn't love this time of year? Can you see the burning embers, can you smell the singed dog?

Happy Birthday Noodle!

Call her Patch

Miss Ruby had surgery this Monday morning, to remove a tumor from her eye. I wish I could have had a procedure to surgically remove my guilt--I never realized that the little bump on her eyelid (there as long as I can remember) was actually the tip-end of a big, gross and bubbly growth under her eyelid, pressing down on her eye.
The vet removed it successfully, but said it looked "iffy"--test results pending the lab test due at the end of the week. Don't say 'iffy' and then ask me to write a big check, that's just a little bit guache, no?

The clinicians said she was the "happiest dog to have surgery we've ever seen!". My co-worker said," Well, that figures--just like her Mama, the perpetual Pollyanna!"

The irony of having a dog so like myself is not lost on me--will she have the big C too?

Big Week

I was in North Carolina this past week, 'drinking the Kool-Aid' at a classic furniture factory; Hickory Chair.

We spent a day at the Biltmore Estate, viewing America's largest private home, then had dinner at a place that boasts the largest bbq platters, served on garbage pail lids.

In the Vanderbilt estate, we viewed master portraits by John Singer Sargent, then later in the trip some of our party visited Priscilla's Adult Gifts.

It was quite the heady cultural mix.