Oh no, Papa! Not in the house.

Yesterday Kristin brought Laika over to hang out with Papa.

Around dogs, Papa isn't a highly social creature. She tends to be submissive. She can be submissive around people, too — she peed when Kristin came in the house. Twice. Oh no, Papa.

Meanwhile, good-natured Laika wanted to play play play. We all went outside, and Papa chased a Frisbee while Laika chased Papa, always letting her catch it. If we were inattentive, my poor mutt tried to entertain herself by doing the moonwalk. After we came in, Laika played with some of Papa's toys while Papa looked on, puzzled. Then, both of our furry friends got on the couch while Kristin and I relaxed with brownies and tea.

Alas, Laika was tentative getting off the couch (sometimes she forgets she has hind legs, Kristin says). Here she is trying to figure it out. Oh, Laika.

Calling all readers

My friend (and Kalmbach co-worker) Bill Zuback is shooting photographic interpretations of book paragraphs. (I'll be submitting excerpts from my two favorite books, a novel and a memoir.) I can't wait to see what he does!

If you’d like to submit an excerpt, check out Bill's blog post, What have you read lately?. You can also visit his blog to leave comments and vote on your favorite images. Don't be shy!

I'm also trying to convince him to put a series together for a show. Wouldn't it be cool to see all the images in one place?

Oh no, Papa! Not the air buds.

Papa has been a bit gassy. Not a big deal, but she likes to snooze next to me while I sit on the couch, working on my laptop. Typically she curls away from me, resting her head on the arm of the couch. Saturday afternoon, I was watching Air Bud when Papa let off an air bud. “Papa, why you gotta be so stinky?” I asked. She responded by turning around, then stretching out and falling asleep with her face against my leg.

I plan to spend a lot of time on the couch today. I took a vacation day, thinking we were going to have a blizzard and I could make scones and shovel and not leave the house. The snow hasn't hit yet, though, so I think at some point I'll go to the gym. So much for vacation.

Oh no, Papa, not the fence!

We’ve been enjoying mild weather lately, but a few weeks ago, we had lots and lots of snow. Most of it drifted into the corner of my backyard.

One day, my parents were playing with Papa when they accidentally threw the Frisbee into my neighbor’s yard. Papa ran up the corner snow bank and leapt over the fence. (Then she got confused and waited for my mom to go open my neighbor’s gate.) Oh no, Papa, don’t jump the fence!

In other news: A border collie in North Dakota climbed the snow to sit on top of the roof. That’s pretty much the whole story, but maybe you'll have the same, "Oh no, but that's adorable" response that I had, especially when you see the photo.

My shiny new ring

I just got one of these rings from Rene Escobar, who walked me through his beautiful designs when he was at the JA New York show.

I got the silver and amethyst ring. Isn't she lovely?

The right way

I’ve gotten a few suggestions to write more about tennis — mostly from Bob, my tough-love-without-the-love pro. So I offer you a summary of yesterday's tennis lesson:

“You are very right-side dominant.”
“Yes. I am.”
“For such a good player, you have a very incomplete game.”
“I know. I do.”
“You’re really awkward on the backhand side.”
“Yes.”
“The difference is glaring.”
“Do you think anyone will notice?”
(no response)
"Maybe I just need to get faster so I can run around to the forehand side."
"Some people do that." (Making a backhand chopping motion): "Do you do karate?"
"I'm not a stereotype."

And so on. After my astoundingly weak backhand volleying, I hit ground strokes for ten minutes (those went fine). Then Chris, a teammate from the summer, came for her lesson, and we hit while Bob critiqued both of us. It was a surprisingly good lesson. It's amazing how minor adjustments can make a huge difference. Aha! Also true in life, yes?

Anyway, I have noticed that I’m right-side dominant in most things: I’m right handed, my right leg is stronger and more developed than my left, and my hearing is better in my right ear. How do I know this? Only the left ear bud on my Shuffle works, and when I accidentally put it in my right ear instead, I’m always appalled at how loud it is.

Is anyone else plagued by one-sidedness?

Oh no, Papa and Luther!

Papa and I hung out with Christa and Luther (full name: Luther von Puppy) this weekend. Papa tends to be submissive; Luther is a playful guy who wants to be in your space. He followed Papa, sniffing and standing close by while she growled quietly. Politely, almost. She wasn't too shy to snap at treats, though.

The most difficult part: getting the mutts together for a photo. We corralled them as best we could, but they kept wandering away. I took dozens of shots and deleted all but these two.

Don't they look puzzled? Oh no, Papa and Luther!

All in all, play time turned out okay. By the end of the night, Papa was sleeping on Christa's couch.

I heart lockets

You know how my blog is sometimes about jewelry? I know I've been remiss, so here's a post that I just did for the BeadStyle blog.

By the way, I just started an advanced essay writing class. It will be a busy eight weeks, so have patience with me if I save all of my clever ideas for my assignments....