Pup and Pumpkins

Wee and I carved pumpkins last night:

I toasted the seeds, and they turned out great. They're really easy to make... just rinse all the pumpkin goo off of the seeds; drain them (it's cool for them to still be wet - in fact, it's better, since the salt will dissolve and dry onto them as they cook); drizzle some olive oil on them and mix so that they're all lightly coated; add a liberal sprinkling of salt (I add seasoning salt as well); spread them out on a cookie sheet; and bake them at 325 degrees until they're light brown and toasty. One tasty snack, size you!

Anyway, jack-o-lanterns at hand, we are now officially ready to ritually distribute sugar to the neighborhood youth. I'm tempted, however, to see what happens if I tell kids "trick" when they ask me to choose between that or treat... and to ask them to elaborate on what, exactly, they have in store for me as a result. I wonder how many kids actually have tricks on deck in case anyone asks calls them on it? I never did...

Indy loves Halloween. She really digs all the excitement of the repeated doorbell ringings and sniffing the kids and their bags o' loot. It's also kind of funny to see the sudden startled glances of the little ones when a big dog pokes her nose up to them (well, it's Halloween, they're supposed to get a little spooked)! Either they rally right away and become interested once they find out she's a nice dog, or if they stay nervous, I'll shove her back inside.

Indy's really gentle when kids are at the door; she doesn't stay defensive like she does at first when adult strangers show up. This reassures me that she'll be fine when we have our own kids. She was a little grumbly when she encounted Zac and Mandy's kids at my in-laws' house - but she was on unfamiliar turf then and probably felt a little threatened, and her lip-curling proto-snarls seemed more like warning than true threat. She does the same thing with other dogs when she feels her personal space is being invaded. She's never actually bitten anyone, human or animal; the worst she's ever done is accidentally glanced a tooth off someone's hand when they've riled her up with rough play, and she's always contrite when it happens. In fact, the overall level of control she has over those nasty fangs and powerful jaws of hers is incredible to me. Last night we watched her snap through some thick pork rib bones like they were Chik-o-Stix... yet she can be whipped into a jaw-snapping playfight frenzy, and should you put your hand in her mouth as it's closing, her teeth will still barely touch your skin before she pulls back. In times like that, you have to marvel at the fact that you live with a powerful carnivore who could kill you quite readily if she chose - yet there's a bond of trust that assures you that she would never willingly hurt you or anyone she loves.

Some may doubt a dog's ability to love; I do not. Almost every night when I get into bed, Indy will come over to my bedside and rest her head on the mattress beside me. I put my head next to hers and scratch her ears for a couple of minutes, watching her huge polar bear eyes squint sleepily, then send her to lay down. She came up with this goodnight ritual of her own accord, and it seems important to her. That one small gesture is enough to make up for all the hair-sweeping and poop-scooping and vet bills, a hundred times over... let alone the myriad other things that make our lives better for her being part of it. She's intelligent, loving, expressive, friendly, obedient, protective within appropriate bounds, possessed of no major behavioral problems... and, of course, she's the supermodel of the dog world. It's likely we'll never have another dog as excellent as Indy. I'd clone her if I could.

Anyway, enough about our superior pup... Happy Halloween, all y'all!

New Look!

Oh, yeah - we switched weblog systems, so welcome to the New and Improved TessNews. As an added bonus, you can leave comments if you want now. w00t!

Mind the Gap

Hello, strangers. Yes, I've been dismal at updating. Anyone who knows me knows that expecting anything in the way of regular communication from me is futile and confounding. It's not that I don't want to stay in touch. It's just that it's hard to rely on my good intentions, when I miss so much that requires attention. (Name that band). I get distracted; time passes; I think about people, and forget that it's not enough to think about them but that sometimes you have to contact them to let them know you're thinking about them. I think about my journal, and write little proto-entries in my head, and then forget or let myself be too lazy to refine them and post them. More time passes. I assume that people forget about me when I'm not around; it honestly does not occur to me that anyone might miss me or want to hear from me more often. (Aside from my parents, but they're sort of obligated in that respect).

In the same vein, it's hard for me to believe that anyone checks this journal regularly enough to care if I haven't updated recently. Mostly I think of it as a purge valve for clearing out random thoughts that swirl around in my head, or for saving the memory of a moment where I laughed or was sad or felt strongly about something and wanted to codify my thoughts about it in written words. It's also a place where I can feel relatively comfortable using a word like "codify" simply because my brain thinks it's the right word for the job and not because I'm trying to be all snooty and hyperliterate, whereas if I said it out loud, there'd be a decent chance that I'd get mocked or that the person who heard it wondered why I'd want to turn my thoughts into a salt-water fish.

Anyway. At this time I'd like to issue a blanket apology for any inconvenience or inadvertant ill-will my neglectful communication habits engender... coupled with an advisory that I doubt I will ever change. This is the last time I will apologize for not updating more regularly. So there! =)

In other news: it turns out that we're going back to London for Thanksgiving. We did the same thing two years ago, and it was excellent. Rainy and dark and cold as hell... why, yes it was, and we expect nothing different from the weather this time. However, we'll have warm coats, and brollies, and there are plenty, plenty of dry and adequately-lit places to be - the Tube and the museums and the pubs and the churches and the stores (Christmas shopping at Harrod's!), and the lovely hotel where we ended up by happy accident the last time, which has showers with actual water pressure (a rare commodity in England) and big bathtubs, and towel-warming racks... These things make the weather quite bearable. The fact is, fares to England are outstanding at this time of year, especially at Thanksgiving, for obvious reasons. We're getting the room at a decent price as well - not great, but it's in a great location just north of Hyde Park, and we've stayed there before so we know it's a great place to stay. So we're going to London. Fish and chips, mind the gap, bangers and mash, queueing up, jolly good, roundabouts, lager and lime, pence and pounds, Bakerloo Jubilee Piccadilly Waterloo Victoria... Here we come.