A SOUTHERN LADY.
This is my good friend and neighbor, Lady Emma Mullins. She lives down the drive from me and retains a lovely and competent staff of two, Bill and April. We get along so well having so much in common. We both try to cut down on household expenses by retaining small but effective full time staff. We both are pampered and well treated in the style to which we are accustomed. Emma is 15 and I am pushing 12, so we both are proud members of the doggie senior division. Emma has a touch of arthritis as do I. Some days mobility is slow and tiring, but the staff responds with love, attention, medication and human stair escalation.
On these beautiful summer days here in Eastport we each occasionally get a burst of puppy fever and frolic wildly till the exertion catches up with us.
Emma wanders freely around the property as do I. I think we each get a bit befuddled at times and have to be gentle reoriented - that's what staff is for. Sometimes when we are both out and about our estates, Emma will start up the drive and I will descend the deck steps and proceed down the drive to met her half way. We chat a bit Eastport style and catch up on things. We complaint about our little aches and pains and console each other. April and Bill, Thom and david understand this exchange as they are so well doggie attuned.
Emma left with her staff last Thursday for her Southern estates in Tennessee. I will miss her, but her smiling face will be returning for Thanksgiving and I am counting the days.
Oh yes, Eastport is the "way life should be" even for us doggies!

A GIRL AFTER MY OWN HEART.
This past may I got a visit from my Aunt JoAnne from Las Vegas. It is always a joy to see Jo. She smells so good and she treats me like the royalty I am. She also brings me expensive stuffed toys even though she knows I can totally eviscerate them in about 20 minutes if I am so inclined. Daddy Thom buys me inexpensive stuffed animals at thrift shop as he understands their life expectancy around me; But Aunt JoAnne has class and spares no expense. My gift this trip was a white polar bear from the endangered species list. I took a little pity on him and he did not become endangered with me for about 4 days. Eventually he met his doom and became just an empty pelt of road kill with all stuffing removed through a tiny nose perforation. I guess this evisceration complex just one of my inherited genetic memories.
Aunt Jo and I can also can quality time together without fuzzing and getting all goo-goo over eaxh other. Here we are just lounging about,on the deck in the sun. In my old age I have begun to fully enjoy the art of lounging in the sun. Hum-m-m-m!