all dogs welcome

Hoan and Happy

Lulu belongs to Lizzie

Most of Ginger's friends have dogs so there are usually four here. Tonight
Emma will join us for the debate and I will snap a photo of her for you.
Currently I am sitting in the Summerland Cafe, just finishing breakfast
while Ginger bikes to her tennis game. We will take the girls to the beach
later, as we did yesterday. Even the 14 year old pup needs her ocean
time. I had tea with Hoan yesterday afternoon and we discussed writing
as she has published two books and is working on her third. She showed
me her writing space and a whole shed-full of papers in boxes for her
research. She is a serious writer, but we tend to fill whatever space we
have, don't we? Hoan lives in a spacious home in Montecito ~ G, H and
I were friends at the Univ. of Colorado several (ahem) years ago.
P.S. It's hot here! P.P.S. Husbando doing great ~ it's hot there!

apples and pickles

First to the Farmer's Market where nothing costs under $10, or so it seems.
Santa Barbara is a wealthy, all-white area. But still, beautiful, and so very
relaxing. Then to check-out Pickleball, the newest sport for those over 60.
Smaller courts than tennis, paddles and a larger green plastic ball. It just
started in our Golden Gate Park and it does look like fun. Then our other
college friend Joan came over for lunch with her dog (Happy) and we sat
outside on the back deck and that was great fun.

two women, three dogs

downtown bus station ~ 5:30 am

You can barely see Bliss, the little dachshund, but she is always here with us.
Ginger picked me up after my very successful bus trip (I arrived early) and
we went walking before we came home and soon it was dinner and then
three episodes on TV of Longmire on Netflix®. I'm the first one up so I
am being quiet, here in the back room before coffee. Key word, that.

change is good

Yesterday I switched from an afternoon coffee latte to a chai tea latte
and felt a bit smug about how adaptable I am. I am sitting in Santa
Barbara right now, relaxing with my friend Ginger after walking
her three dogs and I want to report that I LOVED the AmTrak bus
down here. Six smooth hours, lots of room ~ easy, easy, easy. But
when I tried to post from the bus wi fi they categorized my blog as
porn. Hmmmmm, I better re-read everything I've ever written here.

a welcome Wednesday

daytime ~ a trip to Lucca's Deli

nighttime ~ Tiapos meets at Suzy's home

for Tiapos tonight

Here from Next Draft ~ a very special daily email that the Great Plotnik told me about. It's free and well-written. Anyway, I got pissed off when the Wells Fargo CEO blamed the workers (who else?) for all the phony accounts. Working retail all those years and you had better take full responsibility, the workers hate/hate/hate these pressure tactics that never seem  to let up. Go get 'em, Senator Warren. So I will add my 2¢ for our gathering tonight. BANK SHOTS "I accept full responsibility for all unethical sales practices .... I apologize to all of the American people and our customers, and I will make it right." Those were comments from CEO John Stumpf who was taking major heat from the Senate Banking Committee over the millions of bogus accounts opened in customers' names. + Senator Elizabeth Warren didn't pull any punches: "You should resign. You should give back the money you took while this scam was going on and you should be criminally investigated by both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission."

the French invasion

French Bulldogs ~ 24 of them. Yes, that's right. So another breeder dies and
this one is in Fresno and the SPCA inherits his or her beautiful and healthy
bulldogs. All colors and sizes and they seem to be housebroken but I guess
legally we have to wait two weeks before adopting them out. A few are still
in hospital for tests, but most just needed food and loving. Oh, and how to
walk on a leash, they think the breeder just let them roam in the big back
yard, but who knows? Anyway, everyone at the SPCA is working extra
hard to accommodate "the Frenchies" and you can hear them coming because
they all sort of snuffle, or maybe they just have allergies?