i’ve been spending so much time moving this website over, that i forgot to post a few stories.  i thought you might enjoy a photo of mae doing her thing.  now i’m off to figure out what to make for the next potluck – breakfast for dinner!

i wrote a few things this morning, but couldn’t quite complete any thoughts. so here is a photo of the lovely and mischievous mae. [side note: i got up early to sit here and have nothing to say? it’s all part of the process i suppose.]

oh mae, i can’t believe you are six years old today.  thanks for being my buddy and for keeping the kitchen floor so clean.  i will never understand your love of the chicken bones from our filthy streets.  watching you kill that deer five years ago will haunt me forever.  the squirrels?  not as much.  thanks for opening my eyes to endless adventurous possibilities.

i’m still working on tweaking the site. and it’s totally time consuming. i’m excited to have finally backed up the database (there sure were a lot of photos in the mix) and upgraded a few things. i had the day off and spent all of it hunched over my computer working and tweaking things. not the worst day off ever, but my eyes sure are burning.

i thought it would be fun to share with you a little behind the scenes action. the above photo was taken over the weekend while i was working on the new banner (that led me to accidentally destroy the old foodies format while trying to upload the changes). anyway, mae always likes to help me out with projects, no matter what they are. if i’m trying to cut fabric on the floor (when it’s the only clean surface around), she will lay right down on it. i’m lucky she didn’t try to eat the savoy cabbage!

(please note, i don’t always wear my pants that tight – those are thermals!)

i’ve been reminded lately to just let go and play. play with your food. play with your dog. play with the matchbox cars you forgot all about. take your mind off the routine of the day and get your play on! if you can just let go, the ideas will come. that’s what people say anyway. having a mischievous dog in my life helps to keep me in check. i think it’s time to chase her with the “dead” bird.

i was going to talk about the wonderful spinach pie i made for dinner tonight. i figured i’d go on and on about how it tasted so close to what chef paul makes at albaraki. then i would touch on my dismay over the ovens being turned off for the summer because of the heat. but i would be excited about my achievement and how this situation forced me into trying to create something new in dinnerland over here. i would have shown you some photos…perhaps closeups with my new macro lens. that was the plan anyway.

every night after dinner, we take a walk. a nice, long digestive walk around town. we’ve been having to get in the car and leave the neighborhood because mae is afraid of the firecrackers on these streets. tonight seemed different. it seemed like a good idea to chance it and force her to walk the streets she usually fears at dusk. all was going well and i of course was boasting about my dinner success, when i noticed a dog off the leash at the nearby college campus. the cute thing was watching us walk by on the other side of the street and i had an awful feeling there would be trouble.

let me just say here that mae is a great dog. she is a little over five years old and loves other dogs and people. she has her fears and anxieties just like everybody else. she also gets very defensive around other dogs when walking on the leash.

well, the other dog was pretty excited and decided to pay us a visit. i can’t believe she wasn’t hit while crossing the street. i tried to channel my inner cesar and not let these dogs tear each other apart. i let the leash go, so that mae didn’t feel the need to protect me. (but when someone comes charging at you, i think everyone gets a little defensive) they sniffed butts and all seemed to be going well until they met face to face. that’s when the growling, barking and jumping began.

i know you aren’t supposed to get in the middle of a dog fight, but i’ll be damned if some other bitch ass dog tries to take my girl down. i did my best to stay calm and keep the dogs apart while the other owner ran across the street screaming. she hit the ground and when her dog turned to check on her, the situation came to an end. suddenly the other owner was the concern. she was of the age where a heavy fall like that could do some serious damage. we all caught our breath and everything was fine…until we noticed the blood.

i’m always more worried about the damage done to the other dog, than my own. i know mae is tough. she has been in a few scuffles over the years and ends up just fine. the bites to her face and legs have always healed up fine. the other dog cut her rear toenails on the pavement. she was fine. mae was fine. i walked away with a little scrape on my arm and a nice feeling of knowing that mae really has my back.

we will have a new attitude on our walks tomorrow (well at least i will). ‘don’t fuck with me or my dog. she’ll cut yer bitch ass’ will be on replay in my head. it’s about time this scrawny gal who was always last picked for dodge ball, feel a little tough and invincible. i do wonder how long that will last.

so about my spinach pie. it was delicious. i can’t really remember it after all of that excitement.

i spend most of my evenings trying to coax mae out for a walk. she is terrified of thunder and fireworks, and our neighborhood is a loud one. i hate to wish away time, but i’m looking forward to the fall. i think these nightly coaxing sessions are teaching me patience, which will come in handy at some point. like when i decide to knead dough by hand again. i know it will happen at some point. i sure do love my sexy red counter top mixer. i throw in the ingredients, turn it on and then do chores for ten minutes. and by ‘doing chores’ i mean watching tv of course!

it’s nice to be feeling better and get my booty out on the streets again (for the dog walks). i really don’t like sitting still while i’m sick (or ever). i’m still pretty exhausted, but i won’t let that stop me from trying to learn to use my new camera. i feel like i might be in a little over my head (not like trying to come up with your own interesting cooking tv show, but something more like trying to make the perfect risotto). i really don’t know anything about lenses or lighting. and as far as post picture color correction goes, i’m not sure i will ever master that (as demonstrated in yesterday’s strawberry post). all i’m really going for is an accurate representation of what i am seeing.

so here are a few shots from my post-work walk…

i’ve been wanting to head over the route 2 bridge so i could get a shot of this sign and tonight i did just that.

afterward, i stopped so mae could get her sniff on and discovered this gem on a telephone pole.

the grapevines in the yard are really flourishing. i’m hoping to make a nice wreath this fall.

mae really only cares about getting some dinner (and barking at my new camera).

we officially kicked off the summer season yesterday by treating ourselves to ice cream. it really wasn’t the right weather for it, but who cares. once we made up our minds to go for the goods, there was no stopping the process. happiness is a small vanilla chocolate twist on a plain cone. no jimmies. no sprinkles. just delicious dairy waiting to wreak havoc on my sinuses. it was worth every lick.

who needs a vacuum cleaner when you have an attentive dog?