This is a shot I took of Lake Michigan while we were at the Shedd Acquarium in Chicago. The Shedd Acquarium was fantastic. We hung out with the beluga whales for about a half hour and got to see all sorts of fish from around the world. Also, the rock hopper penguins were awesome. They move so distinctly. I told Mara that I guessed Danny deVito studied this type of penguin when preparing for his role in Batman Returns. Anyway, I like this shot because the sky is perfect and the boats are so orderly. If it wasn't for that pesky railing in the lower left... 

My brother's new dog. It took my brother much less time than I'd thought to find a new dog. His is Bailey. I helped name her. She likes to stand up on her back legs. She can walk like that and turn in a circle. I call her "Circus Dog" sometimes. My cousin suggested "Barnum" as a name, and so I countered with "Bailey." She's a little turd sometimes because she loves to jump up (all the time), but I really like her and she likes to play. Last time I went over there (Thursday), she'd been pacing, waiting for me to come. Dogs are so cool. They are so honest about who they like and who they don't. Bailey is a cross between a Norwegian Elkhound and a German Shepherd, they think. And she is about 2 - 3 years old. My brother got her from the Humane Society. I can't imagine the person who would give up this dog. She's a real sweetheart. 

This is my first dog as an adult. I got Maggie on August 10, 1993, after being dogless for about 10 years. She was a big deal for me. She had a rough puppyhood with a terrible eye infection, bad allergies, and a condition called puppy strangles, which is growths in the throat that essentially strangle the dog to death as they grow. The vet said most owners don't catch the puppy strangles before it's too late, but I'd noticed them and Maggie was okay. Now, 12 years later, Maggie has a massive throat tumor. It's not visible. This picture is from just a few weeks ago and she looks normal. But I can feel the tumor. We've talked to three different veterinarians and they've all said different things about WHAT it is, but not about what CAN BE DONE about it, which is essentially nothing. It may or may not be cancerous, it may or may not be surrounding her trachea, it may or may not be growing or shrinking, etc. But the consensus was/is that it is inoperable and will likely cause her death. 

Northern Ireland along the Irish Sea. This is the greatest, most awesome natural site in the world. From above, here, all three pennisulas can be seen. We hiked all around these and then up to the cliffs where this shot was taken. This was by far the best day I've ever spent on a vacation. 

One of the three main pennisulas at the Giant's Causeway. 

The seaweed and other life among the rocks at the Giant's Causeway. 

This is our new yellow Labrador puppy. We've named her Riley, which is incredibly confusing to the vet technicians who insist on calling her a boy. We've toyed with the idea of putting a pink bow on her head, but so far she eats EVERYTHING, so we haven't gone to these lengths as of yet.  

Riley has been helping us with our yard work, mainly trimming the hedges and keeping the grass from getting too long. 

Shelby used to really want a puppy. She even puppy-napped one from our neighbor's once and carried the puppy into our house. Now that we have one, however, this is how she feels about it. I think her expression says everything. The puppy, of course, loves her. And Shelby, despite her feelings, has been an angel, playing with the puppy and letting the puppy bite her, etc. 

Simon Says

I've been reading this YA book called Simon Says for a little while now, a little to long. I have a hard time reading more than 20-30 pages at a time. The author repeats herself frequently, just with synonyms to make it seem fresh, but really the main character Charlie has told me a thousand times that no one understands his paintings. I get that this is part of the premise of the whole book and the crux of why the other main character ends up dead, but really, I think after the second time I really understood. When Charlie's mom didn't want him to show the paintings to other people because they might be scared...when his first "girlfriend" was shocked by them and then made fun of them...when all of his art teachers hated them...and on and on. I get it. Move on. Tell me something else about Charlie.

He's not a flat character by any means. And his motives are clear. I like that the whole reason he wanted to go to the arts high school was to meet Graeme Brant who wrote a YA book that Charlie read and revered. That was interesting. But I want more of that. Charlie gets close to new revelations and then he's sucked back into no-one-likes-me and no-one-can-see-my-paintings.

Graeme also is not very interesting. Charlie discovers that despite the fact that Graeme has written a masterpiece of fiction which depicts the flaws of human kind--mainly how everyone does what everyone else expects them to do or wants them to do/everyone follows that status quo--Graeme actually is a victim of this flaw as well. Graeme is the worst victim of following others. In fact, Charlie draws him surrounded by mirrors and casting no reflection. But Graeme's journal entries (luckily only a fourth of the book) are trite and overly telling and completely transparant. The only interesting thing Graeme writes is his suicide note to Charlie.

Anyway, I've been working on this book for weeks now and still have 50 pages left. It's only 280. I haven't read nearly enough this summer and school starts in a week. I never have time to read during the school year. Oh, the plans I had for the summer months...