Lambiedog

Back from medical leave

    

A couple of weeks ago I had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor. It hadn't metastasized to key organs, but watchful waiting is the new world order.

   The experience brought me down.  All that poking and prodding. The pain. The anesthesia. The meds. The anxiety.  The Elizabethan collar.

 

    I was miserable.  For a while I lay low and let it all roll over me. 

Finally I rebounded.  On our 'walks' I stopped asking to be carried. I relocated the spring in my step.  Now I pal around with Snoopy, sniffing at this and that. I race down to visit Buggsy and Beverly.

 Sadly, however, Buggsy is actually no longer there to visit:  In July he had a fatal accident. His family misses him a lot -- he was dearly loved.  Below is a photo of him from 2014.  He's the dog on the left, standing next to Beverly and David.

    When I go to their house I still always search for him.  First Beverly gives me a treat, and then I do a check of the house to see if I can find him.

     

Fresh air dog

My owner was going to visit her father at his home in New Hampshire, and I was not invited. Instead, I went to spend the week with Aunt Margie and my country cousins, Ella and Leo, in Ojai.

     As would anyone who falls into a roiling sea, I followed my first instinct and jumped onto something that seemed secure -- in this case, Aunt Margie's sofa -- from which I reviewed my new surroundings and companions.

    Being an only dog, and a citified one at that, I was a bit intimidated by Ella and Leo's wild ways.  Yet at the same time I found myself intrigued by their food.  In fact, I refused to eat my own food, while covetously eying Leo's. Meanwhile Leo was interested in my food. It was a classic greener-grass situation, as we both pined for each other's dish.

Aunt Margie couldn't stand the idea that I might starve on her watch.  She cosseted me, tempting me with little morsels of Leo's food and putting my dish next to her while she worked, so that I could eat at close range.

   

That helped.  After we had a Skype session with my beloved, I felt better still.

With the encouragement of my empathetic hostess, I began to venture around the property.

 By my owner's return I had loosened up quite a bit.

  

 

  

Still, any new environment is stressful.  Though I had enjoyed my fresh-air stay among the country folk, it was a relief the day my owner came to pick me up and bring me home to my own sofa and my very wonderful bluffs.

So what has the Most Important Guy been up to over the past two months?

I was hoping you'd ask.

At the end of March each year, when the sun stops setting over the ocean and moves behind the Malibu hills, my life takes on a different pace.  The feverish evening social scene of winter abates.  

No longer bound by the traditional rhythms of sunrise and sunset, I take the opportunity to let my hair down and try some new things -- for example, going collarless, as I did in the photo above.

And I focus on appreciating long-held pleasures: 

  A Passover visit with Charlie.....

 
  A hike to Inspiration Point.......

     

A sleepover visit from Aunt Margie.................and a stair walk with Teresa.

Additionally, I took up yoga.  To the right you can see me as I come out of a Down Dog pose.

My obligation to the next generation

I was out at the bluff when I was approached by a petite fan.  

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bugsy walking past.  It would have been nice to join him, but I knew I should not pass up an opportunity -- nay, a duty -- to help acclimatize this impressionable young person to the canine world.

 The very next day, I was gratified to see my young protégée paying it forward by coaching a contemporary as to how to relate to me. 

Hard loss

 

Howard's beloved dog Molly died on Thursday, after twelve-plus years with him.

 

 

Getaway weekend

  This past weekend we took a trip to San Francisco.  

 

 

 I had been missing Charlie, and wanted to see him in situ.

He took me around his neighborhood and his city, and welcomed me to his Campus house. 

  

We went on a picnic in Duboce Park with Laura.

We also fell back effortlessly into the comfortable habits created by years of joint sofa-sitting.
   

Seeing that Charlie has a good set of sofas to work with was a great comfort to me.  I find it reassuring to know that, though he may be four hundred miles from home, he can still drink from the same well of respite that has provided such succor for him (and me) in the past.  

Scheme Engine in town

    I just found this photo from my reunion with Thomas at the airport last month.  He was on the west coast with other members of the Scheme Engine crew documenting Beyoncé and Jay Z's On the Run concert tour.  

    While the team was in L.A. they stayed with us.  Though they were out at the concert venue for long hours, when they were back here we had some nice moments together.  

To the right you can see Ben and Yip enjoying our legendary Nespresso hospitality, as Thomas and I lead them to the end of the bluff to look down at the crumbling fire road.

An especially nice element of the visit was that T's 'old' friends -- Genny, Dustin and eb -- were in town, enabling him to introduce them and his 'new' friends:  Devin, Ben and Yip.    

One night eb brought a canine guest, Copper, along to dinner. Copper is a recent adoptee and got anxious when separated from eb by more than six inches. That made him my favorite kind of guest: someone with zero interest in grabbing  my stuff.  But I monitored the situation closely, just in case he got any ideas.

 

There were many more great moments, but finally the fabulous visit had to end.

  I was sad watching Thomas pack up, yet buoyed by the hope that he and his compatriots will find more reasons to come visit me again.  

I think my shimmering lifestyle could make a good topic for a Life+Times piece, for example.

Summer days

Charlie and Laura came down for Independence Day weekend. 

                 

 We took some sunset walks, had friends over on the Fourth, and generally just hung out. 

 I hated to see them leave.

 

Chance encounter with an old love

At the hardware store, we ran into Kim, Charlie and Riley.  

Catching up with them was bittersweet, as it reminded me of how much I've missed them since they moved away. I gave Kim some licks, and we arranged that Willy and I will get together soon.

In which I meet Laura

Part One - The Cap

When Thomas' beloved knit cap was tragically ruined over Thanksgiving, Charlie secretly determined to knit him a replacement in time for Christmas. 

It was an ambitious goal, given that Charlie knew nothing about knitting.  However, he cast his search for a knitting instructor upon the waters of the Thiel network, found a teacher, and actually completed the cap in time to wrap it and put it under the tree. 

 

Thomas was thrilled.  He put the cap on and, other than giving us each a brief chance to try it, hardly removed it for the rest of the time he was at home.

      

Part Two - The Knitting Instructor

Our family was wowed by Charlie's tenacity and his knitting instructor's magical teaching skills.  Whenever Charlie and I would catch up after he'd returned to San Francisco, I would ask after the Knitting Instructor.  He always seemed to have lots of news about her.  It developed that her name was Laura, and that she was a devotee of this blog.

Part Three - The Visit

Charlie and Laura came down to L.A. for a few days.  Though they had planned a full schedule, it included multiple Lambie-centric events.

I was excited anticipating their arrival, but at the same time concerned that I would not meet Laura's expectations of me: that in the flesh I might prove less fascinating than I profess to be herein. 

But when they arrived and Laura launched into a deliberation over what she could cook to make me happy, it came over me that she was there not to judge but to bond. I melted into her arms.  

It was a great weekend.  We took some walks together, and I showed off my 'Sit' skill set.  Charlie and Laura also engaged with me in some rawhide throwing and mock-fighting, which is one of my favorite activities.  I felt highly appreciated. Highly gifted, one might even say.