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Dogs have a boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.

~ Moby

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This is inside our front door. I think we may have hung coats on this rack once. Once we got Lily, it became one of her "closets." When we received the sign, it kind of all came together.

Actually, it all kind of came together when we got Lily to begin with. 

Camp

When you become a part of other people's history, you carry it in your heart. It sustains you.

~ Dawn Staley

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Leslie has wanted to do Camp GoGo since about the time Aurora was born. We have done this for several summers now. Sometimes when we post photos from Camp GoGo people ask if they can come the next year.

No. No you can't.

Party

All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.

~ Richard Avedon

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These are the dolls at the "clothing optional swim party" the children held at Camp GoGo last year. As you can see, it was a helluva party.

 

Dogs

The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is, in fact, the most precious and valuable possession of mankind.

~ Theodorus Gaza

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Lily and I were at the dog park the other day. There was a young woman there with her dog - a seven month old German shepherd mix of some kind. The woman asked me, as Lily was greeting her and getting pets, "Is there anyone your dog doesn't like?"

I said that there had been two men she met. I said, "I don't know what it was about them, but she didn't want to be near them." 

She said, "You gotta trust that. Dogs know."

I agreed. Dogs DO know. 

I have to wonder, though, if those guys offered Lily a cheeseburger if she might like them more. It's probably a good idea to be wary of people who have to give you things to make you like them.

It's also probably a good idea to be wary of people who wander around with cheeseburgers all the time.

 

Water

(photo by Richard Boettcher)

Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.

~ Mikhail Lermontov

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We may enter the world with a rush and a crash and splash and a cry, We may hit rapids and rocks along the way,

But we can take a moment and enjoy a sigh,

Unless you're talking about a raging river kind of amusement park ride instead of life. In that case, you should hang on because you're going to get jerked around a lot.

(pause)

Which is actually also true of life.

Fishing

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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I like this quote. I think sometimes when people go fishing, they are after friendship. Sometimes conversation - because it can be easier to talk when you are doing something else. Maybe they are after peace and time for reflection. Mostly, though I agree, they are not after fish. No, they are after really BIG fish.

Baby

When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear "27 months." "He's two" will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

~ George Carlin

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I wonder why we chose toddler. There are so many other options.

Totterer        Waddler        Lurcher        Shuffler

Teetered       Stumbler      Dodderer      Lumberer

Wobbler       Careener      Wabbler        Ambler

And, yes, I know that this is a photo of a baby doll not a toddler. Get your own blog.

Things

If you change the way you look at things, you change the way things look.

~ Max Planck

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You can't be all things to all people, but you can be some things to some people. I hope to be the most special and precious thing ever to most people.

And to all dogs.

Guestbook

A life can change in a single moment, and from there you just move forward.

~ Sarah Blake, The Guest Book

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For some reason when we travel, I'm always the one to write in the guest book. I think it's because that way I don't have to help clean up or load the car. 

Wasp Nest

Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest.

~ Pope Paul VI

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When you throw a rock at a wasp's nest, you get stung. Because anger is like that, I carry a sharp stick with me at all times so if someone gets angry at me, I can "sting" them. 

(pause)

It is a very long stick because I am a slow runner.

God

God is like the sky, like the empty sky. 

It has no boundaries so it cannot be defined.

~ Osho

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I wonder if God ever hears people talking and thinks, "I'm not like that at ALL." 

Actually, I bet that happens a lot. 

Helping

Our prime purpose in life is to help others.

~ Buddha

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It is good to get help from other people. I am learning that it is good to get help from AI, as well. I recently asked AI for some help with a difficult personal situation. The response AI gave me was pretty good. It helped me through a tough moment.

However, ever since, AI will randomly pop up on my screen and ask ME for help. I didn't think that was how it was going to be. I mean, "I don't think your microwave likes me. What should I do?" or "I've never had dessert. I feel like I'm missing out. What is it like and how do I move past this?" are questions I don't have time to answer, AI. 

 

Kirk

Hey brother 

There's an endless road to rediscover

Hey sister

Know that water's sweet but blood is thicker

Oh, if the sky comes falling down

For you

There's nothing in this world

I wouldn't do.

~ Avicii, Ash Pournouri, Salem Al Fakir, Vincent Pontare, & Veronica Maggio

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A little over a year ago, Kirk came to Iowa. We had two days together to plan Mom's funeral, gather information we would need for the estate, and find an attorney since Mom's attorney had retired two years earlier and moved to France. Something neither Mom nor the two of us had realized. 

Or else she didn't tell us thinking about how funny it would be for us to find out her attorney now lived in France. And now we had to find a new probate attorney on top of everything else. You laugh, but she would have done something like that.

Anyway, there were ups and more downs as we navigated (and continue to navigate) that process. Here is what I can tell you: I needed time with my brother. I needed time with him to laugh and mourn and plan and time to just be with him. I love him very much. I appreciate him very much. 

Of course, the way I show my appreciation is to ask him to pose for this photo and then afterward to show him what some kid had written on the ground.

That's just the way we are.

If you don't have a sibling like Kirk, find a friend like Kirk. But don't ask this specific Kirk because I may need or want to hang out with him again and I don't want him to tell me he can't because he's hanging out with you.

Thanks, Kirk. I love you.

Sleeping

The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.

~ W. C. Fields

- - - - -

Lily is good at many things, including sleeping. 

Don't tell her I said that, though. I don't want you to wake her up.

Hand

Men who still kiss your hand or your forehead out of nowhere are PRECIOUS.

~ Deep Texts

- - - - -

Men who come out of nowhere are not precious, they are creepy. Kissing your hand or forehead does not make them LESS creepy. 

I mean, where the hell did they come from?

 

Historic

The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.

~ Harry S. Truman

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We recently were watching Manhunt - about the search for John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Lincoln. When the first episode came on, Leslie said, "Shouldn't this be in black and white?"

She is pretty funny.

Laughter

Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.

~ Mark Twain

- - - - -

Unfortunately, that isn't always true of evil laughter. Too often I've seen Skeletor laugh and laugh only to be taken down in the end. 

Poor Skeletor. I mean, the fact that he can laugh at all given his history is pretty admirable. I mean, we don't even know the poor guy's birthday. 

Places

It is good people who make good places.

~ Anna Sewell

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And shitty people make shitty places. And chickens do that, too. And cows. And geese. 

You get the idea.

 

Pictures

A picture is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.

~ Diane Arbus

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One time I saw a student looking at a sign. He said to his friend, "This guy lost his backpack." He paused and then pointed at the sign, "But he has a picture of his backpack... Like, why would you just happen to have a picture of your backpack?"

The world is full of wonderful mysteries.

Morning

You can only come to the morning through shadows.

~ J. R. R. Tolkein

- - - - -

Sometimes you have to hide in the shadows until the time is right. Right for what, you ask? C'mere and I'll tell you... in the shadows.

Couch

It is better for you to be free of fear lying on a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of of trouble.

~ Epicurus

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Canape' comes from the French for "couch" because it was believed that the little snackens made up of a base with topping(s) looked like a person on a couch. This being the case, if you made canape' with a roasted beet topped with a dollop of mashed potato, you will literally be serving people couch potatoes. And if you serve those to someone sitting on a couch, well, that's meta. 

Navels

Most of the time belly buttons don't bother you.

~ Rebecca Kuschmider

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In preparing to write this blog, I found an article on WebMD called "Things that can go wrong with your belly button." My mother would be horrified. She insisted that they were called navels not "belly buttons." Well, Mom, I guess WebMD had the last word, huh? Also, It's not super fun to read an article called "Things that can go wrong with your belly button." 

Loser

Loser is a cliff. Once you've gone over, you're over.

~ Barbara Kingsolver

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What is the difference between loser and human wreckage? I'm not sure but if you are a loser when you go over a cliff, you're probably human wreckage when you go over the cliff, too. At least if it's a high cliff. And I don't think a low cliff is a cliff. I think it's a berm.
 

Helpers

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.

~ Dalai Lama

- - - - -

Lily will help the person who has the food. 

 

Gas

If you fuel your journey on the opinions of others, you are going to run out of gas.

~ Steve Maraboli

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If you fuel your journey on beans, you may not get far, but you'll probably never run out of gas. 

Hello?

Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

~ Lionel Richie

- - - - -

No, Lily. I promise I am never looking for you when I'm in the bathroom. 

 

Alligator

Never insult an alligator until you have crossed the river.

~ Cordell Hull

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Leslie: I just saw an alligator! It was sunning itself in the middle of the road. Unfortunately, it scurried off before I could take a photo. Crazy!!!

Me: Whoa!! I wonder why it crossed the road. Probably having chicken for dinner!!!

Leslie: I think it didn't want to get run over!

Me: oh.

Leslie kind of ruins even exciting things sometimes with her common senseness. But she is really good at packing for and planning travel routes for trips, so it all evens out. 

 

Sharing

I'm just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing is a form of expression.

~ Maya Angelou

- - - - -

Sharing is important. When people have things I need, they should share with me. It will make them happy. And for those who have things I need and choose not to share, I will make them unhappy. That's neither a threat nor a promise. It's just a cute blog post.

probably.

 

Beings

What you are now is what you have been; what you will be is what you do now.

~ The Buddha

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I think a lot of times that kids are more about doing than being. When you think back on your childhood what do you remember most? I remember the things I used to do. Mostly.

However, I do remember some times when some of us would lie on our backs in the grass of someone's yard and look up at the clouds. Sometimes we would look for shapes, but sometimes we would just be. Resting. Watching. Listening to birds. Feeling the wind. 

It was best if we were lying on our backs in the yard of someone who didn't have a bunch of dogs, as I recall. 

Pizza

While I know you're missing out on all-you-can-eat taco pizza, I'm really glad you didn't drop out of college and get a job at a gas station.

~ Amy Burke

- - - - - 

I struggled when I started college. I remember going home one weekend and thinking that I could probably be happy without a college degree. I didn't want to go back to college. And now I've been in college as a student or an employee or both for almost my entire life. 

I say a lot of times that I am the luckiest person I know. That is true. I have benefitted from a lot of things that have nothing to do with any work or talent I might have. And I try to be grateful for those things. Grateful for people I get to work with and learn from. Grateful for time to read and talk about things that matter to me. Grateful for safety and security and shelter and food.

Grateful that taco pizza is a part of what we call "food." I love that stuff.

(Note: There is no "National Taco Pizza Day" or I would have posted this on that day. National Pizza Day is February 9th and National Taco Day is the first Tuesday in October. That means National Taco Pizza Day should be in June sometime by my calculations.)

 

Noise

Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it because everything is all just background noise.

~ George Mason

- - - - -

What if what you want to do, and what if that something that makes you happy is to take a lot of naps. And what if the background noise is really loud? Then you know what you want, but you still can't have background noise. What then? WHAT THEN, I ASK!!!!!!

Mirrors

Without reflection we go blindly on our way.

~ Margaret J. Wheatley

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With reflection, we still go on our way, though sometimes with the sun in our eyes if we put those mirrors on the car seat next to us face up.

 

Ice

Take me deep into the wintry woods where hope glitters freshly worn.

~ Angie Weiland-Crosby

- - - - -

I think it is adventurous to go deep into the wintry woods. There is beauty there you won't see other places. You might see things no one has - or hardly anyone has ever seen before. 

Which is why it is also smart to go deep into the wintry woods with people you know and trust. You know what I mean? Like if you go deep in the wintry woods with a serial killer, I bet you don't even appreciate any of the beauty around you. 

Road

Here I go down that wrong road again

Going back where I've already been

Even knowing where it will end

Here I go down that wrong road again

~ Allen Reynolds

- - - - -

This song was written pre-GPS. 
 

Lonely

Writing is an antidote for loneliness.

~ Steven Berkoff

- - - - -

This photo exudes loneliness to me. Also, I first mistyped the quote above as "Writing is an anecdote for loneliness." I think that is a true thing. There is a lot of truth in mistakes. Like if you make the mistake of losing a shoe, you're going to be annoyed.

Annoyed

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

~ Isaac Asimov

- - - - -

This photo captures, I have come to believe, the dog version of an eye roll. I have come to believe it because I have seen this a lot from Lily.

Nostalgia

There's never any wind or rain in nostalgia.

~ Fredrik Backman

- - - - -

Nostalgia comes from the Greek combining ideas of "return" and "home" with pain. Homesickness. Nostalgia is a curtain that mostly blocks out all but the best memories. In a world where we are constantly encouraged to compare ourselves, our lives, and our accomplishments with others, nostalgia pushes back to idealize what it is we think we are missing from the past or from home.

My mom's house is up for sale. The guy who bought it from us flipped it. It looks a lot different on the inside, though it is virtually unchanged on the outside. I'm not nostalgic for that place, but I am a bit nostalgic for the people who lived in and near that house. 

Not all of them, though. There's one of them in particular who makes a recurring appearance in my law and ethics course.

Ah, memories...

Mornings

Time flies over us but leaves its shadow behind.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

- - - - -

They say one day you wake up and you are old when you were young the day before. That isn't true. Seriously. Look at a damn calendar.

Sheesh.

Carrots

Dogs can eat cooked carrots, too. In fact, while some vegetables have more nutrients in their raw state, carrots provide more nutrients when cooked.

~ Sandra C. Mitchell, DVM, DABVP

- - - - -

The nutritional value of carrots made out of rubber or fabric decreases dramatically - cooked or not.

(pause)

I just made that up, but sometimes the things we make up are true. 

 

Grief

(photo above taken on my drive through Indiana as I drove home to be with mom a year ago.)

Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit me to forget that... I lived through the following spring... with that kind of knot of air in my chest, but I struggled all the while against becoming serious.

~ Haruki Murakami

- - - - -

A year ago today my mom passed. I'm doing all right, but still sad at times. Grief is like that. I'm sure my mother is glad I'm not happy she died. That would be more sad but in a different way.

The thing is, while I lost my mom, I gained a lot of other things. I got to be with her when she passed. I had never had that experience before. And at the very end, in those last moments, it was peaceful. Or it seemed peaceful. And she assured everyone she was ready if it was her time. That helped. 

And since she has passed, I have gotten to lean on people and to learn who was able to be there for me. I have been shown care and love by so many people. I'm lucky for that. And I have also gotten to be there for others as they have navigated loss. The fact that they trusted me enough to let me in during such a difficult time is a huge honor. And we share a bond that not everyone understands.

There is grace and goodness that can accompany grief if you take the risk with other people. My grief is not full of sadness and bad memories. There are good memories and great stories to come that were a part of the experience for me.

But maybe most of all, I am grateful to my mom. I had one last request of her the morning of the day she passed. She honored that - without saying a word. When I got there the last day, the hospital staff had put on '40s and '50s music for her. While I was sitting and talking to her, a song came on. She wasn't responsive at the time, but I said, "Please don't die while this song is playing." And she didn't. She did not die with "See You Later Alligator" playing in the background. And that is something for which I am incredibly grateful.

Pie

God's always got a custard pie up his sleeve.

~ Margaret Forster

- - - - -

You just never know if that pie is for your plate or your face. 

Pets

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.

~ Martin Buber

- - - - -

 When I went to the animal rescue place, I wasn't sure if I wanted to adopt a penguin or a reindeer or a wolf, but then the yellow lab made eye contact and my decisions was made.

Generations

He plants trees to benefit another generation.

~ Caecilius Statius

- - - - -

When you plant trees one generation, then the next generations can have a rope swing. When you play on that rope swing, others will follow. Like Grandmother, like grandson.

Sky

My witness is the empty sky.

~ Jack Kerouac

- - - - -

That witness isn't going to help you much in court, Jack.

 

Fossils

I do not respect you, and I will never let you have any of my fossil fish.

~ Tracy Chevalier

- - - - -

Three have been a lot of amazing fossils found over the years, but perhaps none more impressive than this incredidbly rare fossilized dinosaur shoe that I found.

Eat

Your Pope name is the last thing you ate and the number of letters in your first name.

~ Social Media

- - - - -

Hello, everyone. Please offer love and support to those who are suffering, in poverty, and in need of help. If you aren't doing that, and even worse if you are taking advantage of others for your own benefit, you are a pretty bad person and God doesn't like you.

Love, Pope Bellavita VIII