something I borrowed

I went to the Greenfield library to borrow "How to house train your puppy."  As the picture shows she still needs to learn her boundaries.  "Leave it" is the command of choice these days. She has decided that John's shoe is wonderful and too fun to be left alone.   She has already mastered "sit" and "come"  (well most of the time).  These books are funny.  What they say doesn't always work with my dog, and I imagine that they are like parenting books that give you great theory, but doesn't always work for your child.

We have been having a lot of fun these days.  She is a source of joy to my heart because she makes me laugh so much.  

She has made friends with most of the neighbors who have come out to get their mail.  She is not sure about dogs, who are they anyway?  She walks back home if she sees one. 

She made me laugh when she growled at the fire hydrant at the end of our street, then 20 steps further got freaked out and barked at her shadow.  She walked around a tree and couldn't figure out how to go back around the way she came and didn't understand why her leash wasn't letting her go further.  she looked up at me like, "what gives"  so I walked around the tree to untangle her.  She thought how fun and chased me around.  We went around and around until I got dizzy.  Silly dog.  She has taught me that it is good to play.

someone new

     Someone new came to live at our house.  Her name is Dulce which means "sweet" in spanish.  John didn't want a "people" name so we started saying the first things that came to our minds.  "Cinnamon"was a favorite, but that was Eleanor Moore's nickname before she was born.  I jokingly said, "how about a starbuck's cinnamon dulce latte?"  And Dulce stuck.  

      She is a Golden-doodle, half golden retriever and half poodle.  She won't shed which was one of John's requests, and she won't be a little dog for long either, also a request of John's.  I am thrilled to have a puppy.  I have been waiting for four and a half years to get a puppy.  Life is better with a dog.  Remind me that I said that when I say I am tired from waking up in the night to take her out to do her potty thing, or if she eats something I didn't want her to. I didn't sleep well last night thinking I wouldn't wake up if she needed to go out.   She is only 9 weeks old so we have a lot of house training ahead of us.  She is teaching me how to be a good dog-momma.

     She was born 11-11-08, weighs 11.6 pounds, and is tons of fun. 

something old

My friend Katie started the never ending blog about christmas memories on her site and it made me think.  Of all the memories that I have, I posted a comment about remembering german springerle cookies.  My great-grandma, grandma, mom and I would make them only at christmas.  I don't know if they are meant to be this way, but ours were always rock hard.  you could only ever eat one cookie because it would take an hour of dunking it in hot tea to soften it enough to eat it.  When I think of it they aren't anything special, they are a simple cookie with anise seeds.  The joy was in the process of making them.  That special time with my mamaw and mom, that was what made the cookies great.  The other wonderful part was using the special board to make imprints in the dough that we rolled out, then using the cutting wheel to cut them into little rectangles.

After thinking about all of this, I called my mom and we laughed and talked about the springerle and the process.  You have to let them dry out over night and bake them the next day.  To my surprise and great joy my mom brought the board and recipe when she came to visit for christmas.  She said "I think it is time to pass on the board to your keeping."  How lovely.  Who knows how many generations old it is. Hopefully it will be enjoyed for many more generations to come.