Come on, Paterson, NJ!

15 September: SHE'S HOME!

LOST DOG, PATERSON NJ

Lily was lost at a gas station in Paterson New Jersey on Sunday, August 10, 2008. If you see her, please contact me immediately. We're hoping some kind person in or around Paterson will help save her. She's a friendly dog.

My email is Joan.Taber@gmail.com

I'm Not Proust

Joan says that if I don’t start taking walks soon, I’m not going to have anything to write about. “You have to get out in the world, or your brain will atrophy.” Well, I guess she never heard of Marcel Proust! Or how about Emily Dickinson? Some of the most brilliant people stay indoors. You don’t know that because you don’t see them. Oh, so now I’m not a people? A dog? I’m a dog?

I'm just kidding around. I know very well that I'm a dog. When the little kid down the block found out I was still afraid to go out because of the firecrackers, he said, shrugging his shoulders, "But, the firecrackers are gone. I don't get it!" Well, I don't get it either. I'm just a lot happier in the yard. Saki and Shane still walk around outside the gate. Not me.

Best wishes, Juno

Posticipation

Wow. Saki's sitting still for the photo. It's a miracle.

So much to think about.

Well, I still refuse to walk. Today, I managed to turn the corner with Joan, Shane, and Saki. I heard a noise. What could it have been? Something in the distance, like a rumbling, like danger. We had to turn around. I sat in the yard and everyone walked without me.

They came back in one piece. Now, that’s quite a feat considering the bad things that happen outside the yard. And the worst of the worst are the terrible things you imagine will happen. Anticipation—it’s life best and life’s worst. I prefer postipation (yes, I know it’s not a word, but it’s mine).

Best wishes, Juno

Mozart, Watermelon, & Broken Rap

The neighbors behind us play loud rap music that puts everyone in a bad mood. When their radio broke this evening, the man started cursing just like the rap people, only he didn’t have any sort of beat. He just cursed about mothers and god and the injustice of broken radios. Who knows what happened to the radio. He was so mad at everything in the world because his rap music died.

As all this was going on, Joan was sitting in the yard with us taking turns brushing me and Shane. There’s enough fur to knit a sweater! Saki was playing in the pool and eating watermelon. So, to make the sounds of the cursing rap-loser neighbor drown under something pleasant, she played all the arias from Le nozze di Figaro. It wasn't very loud, but maybe we'll invest in a boom box louder than the neighbors' boom boxes.

One time, a friend came to visit us and we were all in the backyard lying around and listening to Pavarotti. The friend stood there for a minute and then said: “You’re in the wrong neighborhood.” Alas. La vita è la vita.

Best wishes, Juno

Saki Breeze

Sitting outside on summer night. No, I won’t walk. I won’t run. Once the sun comes in the window making me all hot and miserable, I won’t even get off my bed—well, except for breakfast. Joan says I can't have it in bed.

But, once that sun goes down, all is well in life. I beg to go outside and sulk when I have to come in for the night. Go ahead and say I’m a cat at heart. I know I’m all dog. I have that confidence in myself. Unless an occasional car speeds by and Joan says “Idiot” under her breath, it’s quiet at night around here.

And, there's just enough wind on my face to make me nice and cool and so happy. "Ah," I think. "Nature is magical." But, then, I open my eyes and realize the breeze that just caressed my fur and washed a wave of calm right through my soul was, in fact, nothing more than Saki running by.

Let him run. I’m just going to sit here and let him fan me.

Best wishes, Juno