Preakness 2008 in Mount Washington!

Well, Preakness lived up to all my expectations. Beth arrived on Friday evening with Cardiff - yippee!! By 7 a.m. Saturday morning, Preakness revelers were already parking on the street. But the fun really began when the building management company started parking cars on our property ($20 for a blocked space, $40 for an unblocked space). Beth and I took the boys down to the front porch where we joined my neighbors Paul and Lucy to watch the gentle beginning of the day.


Here are Beth and Cardiff!



Its morning, everyone is still sober, good times all around! The gates over at Pimlico open at 8 a.m. The race is at 6:15 p.m.!


More cars! Owain kept a close eye on things!



We returned down to the front porch for our very Marylandy lunch of crabcake sandwiches. Beth had a Natty Boh, which is the nickname of Baltimore's National Bohemian Beer. Beth loved their slogan -- "From the land of pleasant living!" (You can see that they parked cars right up next to the house.)




Here are the boys that returned to their minivan midafternoon to find their car completely blocked in. Of course they paid for a blocked space, so it shouldn't have been so much of a surprise. They spent a LOT of time debating with each other about whether or not they could squeeze out between the other cars. (They couldn't)



They were really convinced they could do it. Here they are with their car wedged between two others. We overheard one of the guys say, "Dude, you're hitting BOTH cars right now! You're hitting both cars right now!" Nice.



But maybe, if we rock and move this car, we'll have enough room to get out. (So $40 gets you an unblocked space AND messed up brakes/transmission!) Hm, still not enough room....



Maybe if we move THIS car too...



They formed a little bit of a small mob with some other trapped revelers and moved some cars closer to the house too. Eventually they did manage to squeeze out. It was unfortunate and obnoxious, but there wasn't much we could do. We called the police twice, but they only drove by THREE times without stopping. By the third time, the mob had freed themselves and left.

Aside from the slight car "wilding" that hit around 3, the rest of the day was interesting and fun! We did view 11 public urinations ("You're number NINE!!!" we'd shout happily!) on the property. There was a lot of trash everywhere, but by 8:30ish just about everyone had cleared out. and we were none the worse for wear.

Here's a bit of the trashy lawn.



So Beth and I went to Miss Shirley's this morning and had a FABULOUS breakfast! It's officially a tradition now! Here are Owain and Cardiff together before Beth and Cardy hit the road. Owain sounds GREAT on video!! Check out Cardiff's paw action! "I must touch your face, Owain!! I must!!"



I hope Beth and Cardiff come back for Preakness next year -- it was so much fun!

It's Mother's Day. We love you and miss you!

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile

One day I was coming home from work in a very bad frame of mind. It had been a very rough day, and it came during a particularly grueling travel schedule. I pulled up to my little home, and in the mailbox was a small package. "Oh great!" I thought. "Now I've started winning things on e-bay and don't even remember bidding!" So I plodded from my car to my door and pulled out the package. I looked at the address, and it said it was from England. I got so excited! I didn't know what I had won, but it just made my day to see something had come so far to land at my door. I could hardly wait to get inside to open it. To my delight, it was a package from an old friend from whom I hadn't heard in ages. TOOTHWOMAN!

It's hard to see, but the beautiful British post mark is there.

Toothwoman is an international woman of mystery and poor dental hygiene, who was born of the "Tossing" days of CoreStates. It was oh, so lovely to hear from her.


So as we mark time between May Day and Cinco De Mayo Celebrations, let us all join in and sing a tribute to Toothwoman. C'mon everyone (to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus)!!!

Here comsh Toothwoman,

Here comsh Toothwoman,

Right down Dyentishtry Lane......

Clickin' an' clackin, and lotsh o' lip schmackin'

She'sh almosht inshane..........

Thanks so much for joining in, even if you didn't know what the heck was going on....

Happy Toothwoman Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! click, clack

Happy Birthday, Mom! We miss you.

UK: Make Me A Supermodel - its a marathon, not a sprint!

Ok, it doesn't take much to entertain me with a reality show. I admit it. This may be a very rare exception. Recently, BRAVO ran a marathon of the second season of the UK's version of Make Me A Supermodel, hosted by Rachel Hunter. I programmed my DVR to record about a hundred episodes, and I proceeded to view them. Let me say this, "ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........................." I don't know if it was the pacing/editing of the show or the unbelievably dull and monotone interviews of the models, but it was BOOOOORRRIIIINNNGGG! But for some reason, I felt compelled to slog through and see who the winner would be. So over the course of two weeks, when I had some time, I'd fast forward through the boring parts (read: most of the show!) to see the pivotal moments of the show. There were a couple of somewhat interesting storylines, including the flirtation of the icy/boring Marianne and the handsome/boring Luke as well as the judges' and fellow models' brutal and continuing commentary on Jen's apparently gargantuan size 12 figure. What made that interesting was that the judges kept putting Jen in the bottom group and the UK public kept voting her back in.

So I continue trudging towards the end of the series on my DVR and I discover that I have not recorded the finale!!!!! GARGGGHHH!!! The final four were icy/boring Marianne, handsome/boring Luke, HUUUGGGGE/boring Jen and hairy/boring Albert (have I mentioned him? Boring.) So I had to look it up online to see how it ended. Marianne was eliminated first, then Jen (so she was the top girl -- Take THAT Rachel Hunter!), then Luke. So Albert was the winner. Eh.

Here are some photos:

On the left is Giantess Jen, on the right is the judges choice, Skelatal Marianne



And the winner, Albert




Please Bravo, do not air any more UK Make Me A Supermodel episodes. I beg you.

Bush's Leg

I promise to stop putting up "how cute is my dog" posts, but I just got my movie viewing softward up and working. When they had the office shower for him, they gave him a t-shirt that said "I'm probably not listening to you." He probably wasn't! But the funny thing was that one of his most favorite toys when he was little was what was left of a George Bush chew toy. He carried the leg around for days. Sayles the cat is about 20 years old, so she isn't really interested in Cardiff or Bush's leg.

OH! I get it NOW!

I could not figure out this commercial. Why were his clothes all shredded? Why would they hit him for Skittles? So I actually had to look it up online...










OOhh, he's a Pinata! Now it seems so obvious. Sigh. And I don't know what to think about chocolate Skittles -- it seems to fall into the YooHoo drink category -- I'm uneasy about it.

A Cardy Tale

After some tough love and not-so-tough love from CG, here is finally the tale of my little Norwich companion. Colleen found the breeder and at 4 weeks we got to choose him.





I could hardly stand the excitement. Everyone knew that while I missed Miss Gibbs terribly, I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of my little Norwich. They had a shower for me at the office because I had been so quiet about expecting him.



Then we got the official notice of the time Cardiff's flight would arrive. He had to fly from Missouri to Detroit and from Detroit to Elmira. So we discovered he had been flying around for two days. The flight arrived, everyone's baggage came out, and we heard nothing about our little package. FINALLY, after about 30 minutes, we go to the ticket counter, and on the floor is the tiniest crate we have ever seen. Colleen and I both let out a groan that was a mix of relief and wonderment at the cuteosity of the tiny crate! I opened up the crate and way in the back was little (3 lbs.) Cardy. Then we realized we knew true cuteosity. He was adorable! I thought he would be traumatized from flying, but he simply looked out at me, and when I backed up from the crate, he came bounding out to explore the airport! Talk about love at first sight! I was smitten. So here are some random shots of his arrival.








He has grown quickly, gotten much more blonde (!) and has been very busy. He has come to work with me many times. Now, no one really cares if I'm at the office if I haven't brought him.



He has been invited to dinner and shown himself to be a polite yet insistent guest!







He helps with laundry.







He is a wonderful lookout.





He also loves his Elmira pals.




He LOVES the snow. I'm almost (very ALMOST) sorry the snow will be going away because he has such fun in it. We had another surprise two inches this morning simply for his frolicking pleasure!




And he wonders what I'm doing with the camera sometimes!





So that's my little guy, and I can't wait for you all to meet him in person!

Happy Easter! (Part Two!)

We've been talking about how Easter wasn't such a big deal in our house, but I found this evidence to the contrary!





















Wow. Just looking at the backgrounds and details of the older photos is so trippy!

This is just so wrong...

Happy Easter!!



Thanks CuteOverload.com

You May Think Its All About St. Patrick's Day, But You'd Be Wrong!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWAIN!!!!


alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178712472923741026" />


Here is a message Owain received this morning from one of his big fans (Dad!). I think it sums it up perfectly:

"As we celebrate our Irish forefathers (and foremothers), let us also celebrate the fact that eight years ago, in upper Montgomery County, there was brought forth among us a Welsh corgi without peer - adored among cats, fearless consumer of mouse poison, bane of UPS drivers, a true sweetheart of a corgi!!"

Owain is two weeks younger than Gus, one of Owain's favorite people!



Owain and more of his fan club!



Good Friends!



My intrepid traveller!



An earlier birthday (before the food allergies!)


Three friends in Baltimore!




Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!

I see a knitalong project!!!!!!

Just go here.

Since no one is going to comment on the Obama video, here is a funny blog post.

Mmmm, bacon........

Yes We Can!

I know this is a little political. For those who disagree with the above video, I hope you'll indulge me.

The Christmas Tree

I love this! It's so delightfully bizarre!

Merry Christmas!

Let's just say that Winston is a VERY good sport!
Bess would have totally torn me (and anyone else close enough!) into shreds if I tried to put her in an outfit like that!!!

(and I don't think we should even mention the Michael Jackson Thriller doll. What's up with THAT!?)

Just a quick note

I owe a much longer version of "Cardiff Tales" and will do a proper entry sometime soon, but I've succumbed to CG's pressure and so here's an updated photo of my little buddy. He attended our office's Birthday/Holiday party and charmed everyone. He managed to sneak a taste of canoli. He licked off his whiskers, ran to the table and looked at me as if to say "What's up with you - you never give me anything good like this." So my rep as Cruella DeVille was cemented.



Also, the stockings for CG's whole Baltimore crew were awesome. And they look so lovely hung with care.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Ok, so I've been feeling a little blue about the whole Christmas thing this year. In the past, I have LOVED Christmas -- I love decorating, celebrating, the carols, the neighbors' lights, being with my family. This year, of course, has had different vibe. I'm in Baltimore, Dad is in Wayne, Mom isn't here, the house belongs to someone else. So when it comes to decorating I've been feeling a little like, "what's the point?"

Until I got these in the mail on Friday. -- Beautiful personalized stockings for me AND my pets!!



The person who sent these shall remain nameless (CATHY! THE BEST FRIEND A GIRL CAN HAVE!!!) It was so thoughtful and caring. She knows what a tough time I'm having. So I couldn't have these beautiful Christmas stockings and not make the most of them. I went out yesterday, bought a tree, and VOILA!



This is the first artificial tree I've ever had, and I kind of like it! It set up pretty easily, and I don't have to water it!

Remember these?

The Bess Angel Ornament



The Bess Shopping Ornament




And one of my favorites, the little weird pink-haired ornament!




It's still a tough adjustment, but knowing that I have a friend like Cathy makes everything a little easier.

A Swimming Sloth??? A SWIMMING SLOTH???? Who knew?

Since we may never see adorable photos of Mr. Cardiff, I will post this from Cuteoverload.com.



Hm...