Trick or treat!

Airport ponderings

I love airports. Yes, you heard me right – love them. I know, I’m an oddity. But tell me, where else but the airport could you spot a grown woman wearing bright pink galoshes, a little old man eating out of a homemade lunch pail, a platinum blonde diva with 4-inch heels, an entire family adorned with Mickey Mouse memorabilia and countless retired couples in matching attire? Where else would you find a businessman in a $2000 suit standing in line next to a vacationer in worn out flip flops, cutoff jean shorts and a Laguna Beach t-shirt? Airports are a stop within an itinerary that is not our norm. An interruption in our regular schedule, but a potentially welcome one.

Sure the airport has its share of annoyances. I’m actually at the Charlotte airport right now and already this morning have witnessed the usual ones. The guy on his Blackberry talking too loudly to notice hordes of travelers rushing by him. The intolerably long lines at the coffee/pizza/burger stand (or bathroom). My biggest pet peeve is the casual traveler who is oblivious to others around him/her – walking slowly, gazing around, then suddenly coming to a stop smack dab in the middle of the walkway to dig through his/her luggage for something (presumably his/her boarding pass?).

But there is something else about an airport that’s particularly exciting. Airports are our “holding area” – the place where we wait to be taken to somewhere else. Somewhere hot and sunny or somewhere cold where a warm fireplace awaits us. Somewhere new and adventurous or somewhere comfortable and familiar. Somewhere we’ll get to meet new people or somewhere that reunites us with those we love. And on the return trip, the airport is where we wait to be taken to the place we belong – home.

So as I wait for my flight (to somewhere many would call paradise) I will just sit back and people-watch. Wonder where these people are going, who they are going to see, and what circumstances are bringing them there. And that’s one of my favorite things to do.

Mystery mutt

Our beloved Duke is a mutt – or as someone once corrected me – a “hybrid.” Because we got him from the Friends for Life shelter, and they themselves found him living on the streets, we don’t really know what breeds of dog he is.

Nose to the ground, brown and black coloring, wiry hair – all these traits tell us he has bloodhound in him. But there’s definitely something else – his face does not at all resemble a bloodhound, nor does his body shape. After doing some searches on the Internet, I realized how much his head and face looks like a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

A couple weeks ago I met a lady at the dog park who has one, and after analyzing his head, hip/back leg area, stride and observing him with the other dogs, she agreed that yes, he probably was one. We even noticed that both our dogs had black spots on their tongues!

Here’s an episode of “Breed All About It” that talks about the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and even better, shows them in action. Sorry – video embedding was disabled by Animal Planet so just click on the link to watch it on YouTube.

So what do you think? Could Duke be part Ridgeback?

Free Taste of Home cookbook downloads

OK so recently I had somewhat of a catastrophe – my recipe software decided to reinstall itself, essentially deleting ALL my stored cookbooks and digital recipes. No, I’m not able to recover them, no I don’t have them anywhere with the exception of the ones I’ve shared on my blog (thank you Terry for reminding me of this).

At any rate, in my search for a new program (because there’s no way I’m going to use that one anymore) I came across something pretty awesome. If any of you are fans of the Taste of Home magazines, they have 27 digital cookbooks available for a free download! Simply click the link below and you’ll see them, all available in PDF format for download.

• Link: Taste of Home Digital Cookbooks

So… can anyone recommend a reliable recipe organizer software for Vista?

Blessed be dog forever

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Justin and I took Duke to church today for the Blessing of the Pets – a tradition some Catholic churches observe in conjunction with the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I think this might have been the first time St. Anne’s had it, but years back we took Lady to our old church’s ceremony.

We’ve seen lots of dogs, cats, mice, lizards, birds, guinea pigs, snakes, tarantulas and all sorts of creatures in the past. This year someone brought a sheep, which got spooked by some dogs (just doing what they find to be natural) then broke its leash and ran away! Fortunately a couple dozen people were able to help round it up before it got out into traffic.

Duke made a lot of new friends, but I think he kind of expected it to be like the dog park where he can run, jump and play. It was hard to keep him restrained but overall he was a good boy. He even laid down a couple of times, surprisingly enough.

It was a beautiful morning, and a lovely ceremony.

A prayer for our pets

O God, you have redeemed all creation
through the incarnation of your eternal Word;
Protect our pets, your creatures,
who provide us with joy
and nonjudgmental companionship;
Give us respect
for all of your Word-redeemed creation,
that we may care for creation
as just and humble stewards;
We pray this in the name of the same Word, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
~David Bennett