Sylvia's Journal

Yesterday was a short day, dominated by friends and dogs. It went by fast. Today we are flying back again.

After I posted my blog in the morning I told Axel he’d better call Larry. Larry is part of this small group of faithful readers who, when we see them do not require updates on our lives. In fact, they often know more than Axel knows, who is not a faithful reader. Larry would be aware of our presence in DC whether we call him or not. So we called and drove to see him and his wife Amy on the other side of the river, White House and Mall, in our macho car. We had lunch in their lovely house and were lucky to find daughter Elizabeth there as well. She had come over for the holidays with her man, all the way from Eugene (OR).

We went back to help Carol cook for a large crowd that included a number of surprises, more people than Chris was told would be there. He might have noticed that the potato salad and sausages would feed many more than the immediate family he was expecting. He caught on quickly when people started to stream in.
A third dog came to join the two pooches already there, now without sweaters since it remained balmy. In fact, people sat outside by around the sausage laden barbecue most of the evening , as if it was a cool summer evening.

I surprised myself by falling in love with Carol’s two ‘poo’ dogs, one a 5 pound maltezer-toy poodle cross (a ‘malte-poo ‘) and the other a slightly bigger cocker spaniel-toy poodle cross (a ‘cocka-poo’). Carol had written in their Christmas newsletter that Chris was smitten with the two dogs and now I understand how and why. They are the cutest creatures, with adorable faces who love to be held and petted. In fact I spent a good part of the evening with a sleepy little ‘poo’ draped over my legs, more cat-like than dog-like, but so much more affectionate than a cat. Carol washes her pooches often so they also smell nice.

We sung to and toasted the brand-new 60 year old and made the customary jokes about getting older and then we parted with promises of seeing each other soon.