Day 112 my cousin nicki

DAY 112 Fri Nov 1 Zoe Cant Stop Talkin

MY COUSIN NICKI

So some days is good and some days is not good at all. So I can’t really say good morning today. This is the day my cousin nicki went to heaven. I know everybody says we all gotta go sometime, it aint no consolation. A sweet dog is a good dog and he was all that. They dont call em ‘goldens’ for nothin. They smile and they wag and they are effervescent about every occasion. You never feel disconnected or down in the dumps or unloved  when there’s a golden in the room. Cousin nicki,  now he was a prime example of the breed. We miss ya nicki and you are most likely just now makin your way to heaven. Dont forget about us, we wont forget about you.

I’m pretty sure you will still be able to get my letters in paradise, so I will keep you posted on all that transpires down here on the ground. You probably got a better view though than I do, so maybe we can collaborate. Decipherin what is happenin on this plane gets mighty complicated. I will welcome your vision from above.

Your mom and dad would love to hear from you too,

so you keep close, you lovely pup, my dear cousin nicki,

later.

day 111 beach blankie babylonis oct 31 zoe cant stop talkin

Day 111 Thur Oct 31 Zoe Can’t Stop Talkin

BEACH BLANKET BABYLONIS

Well now dint we land back in greektown again today. The girls said they needed to brush up on their glossas.

I’m like “your whats?” “Our tongues” they said and mischa stuck hers out a little then she thought better of it. She said “that’s an insulting gesture zoe, please forget I did that.”

“OK, but why to you want to go to tarpon to brush your tongues?”

Mischa just shook her head and smiled “language zoe our language!” She said this like it was self explanatory but it wasnt.

“You are going there so you can brush your language, is that even possible?”

“Never mind honey,” and with that she ushered me straight out the door, I got swooped up by unknown arms and deposited in the back seat.

En route we stopped at a bakery and got imported cookies, olive oil and red caviar. 

There was little cliques of old men with big moustaches hangin outside the bakery(which doubled as a cafe). Some a them had fishermens caps on and one a them had an octopus in a plastic sack. I thought mischa was gonna toss the cookies we just bought. 
She hurried past the guy and she was holdin on to her tongue. I don’t think that had nothin to do with brushin her tongue, but I could be wrong about that.

We all went to the beach together on accounta the good cloud cover and the palm trees made it a pleasure for a dog to be included. It was tres tropical there and I took a long nap and so did mischa. I dreamed I saw a lady all dressed in black and she was swinging something from a chain. As she got closer I saw that she was swinging the old guy who earlier had the (unmentionable octo-pod) except now the guy was in the small plastic sack. His hands was up against the side of the sack and he was mouthin something but I couldnt make it out on  accounta the lady had a fierce grip on the that bag. Then they got closer and I see the bag’s filled with water and the guy was makin fishy shapes with his lips. Then they get right next to me and I realized the old lady wasnt a lady at all, she was an octopus! Her tentacles started seepin out from under her long dress. I looked her in the eye and she winked at me. Right then she took off like a jet, with the little guy still in the sack. He didn’t look too good either, kinda green around the edges. I think he was callin for help, but just then mischa appeared outta nowhere like she does sometimes when i’m dreamin real deep.

“Zoe zoe, butter...are you ok, what are you barkin at?”

I do that dream barkin a lot, I guess it’s like snorin. Runs in the family.

I was tryin to tell her about the dream but I got distracted. I heard all the people on the beacch talkin and no two a them was talkin the same language. It was overwhelmin, I got scared, nothin made any sense. Everybody was usin their hands to accent the already confusin conversations.

Mischa and dana thought it all was swell, I have no idea why. Perhaps it fulfilled their desire to brush their tongues, I dont know.

Anyways and thank goodness, there wasnt too much more talkin before someone had the excellent idea of lunch.

“Lunch” I said “why yes, I never  thought you’d ask.”

At the restaurant there were more old men with moustaches, fortunately none a them had any plastic sacks.

One a them did have a little yellow canary in a cage, though. Mischa talked to the bird in the other language she uses. Then the guy who had the bird started talkin to her. After a long time of indeciperable dialog the guy reached over and unlocked the cage door.

The canary came flyin out and landed on the back of a dog who was just passin by, and the two of them ran off down an alley.

Both mischa and the man got real quiet. A waitress brought them some uzies. They sat down clinked glasses and sipped the licorice drinks.

I was like “hey... did anybody remember we came here to eat that thing we  so affectionately refer to as lunch?”

Then, to my delight, my fondest wish came true and a large platter of keftethes (aka meatballs) appeared.

I am still baskin in that light. 
I put that old bad dream behind me. 
Yeah  me and the yellow canary we was free now, released into the universe of  pure pleasure.

So for now,  alas, I must, bid my self, ado.   Later

Day 110 return trip back to the light wed oct 30

Day 110 Wed Oct 30 Zoe Can’t Stop Talkin

THE RETURN TRIP or BACK TO THE LIGHT

Good morning my self, and to b who is headed our way real soon. She’s headin our way and away from the great pacific northwest, land of ‘where-does-the-sun-go-after-november-and-before-june?’

Accordin to mischa it’s just a matter a time before ole b shows up here in florida.

But speakin a time...us dogs has a very different concept of it from the bipeds. Everybody’s always tellin me to check my watch when I start hoppin around askin for dinner. They say I don’t know what time it is! “Zoe zoe zoe  honey it’s only 5 o’clock! Check that watch on your dog suit, it’s runnin fast again!”

I’m like “what watch?” “it’s my stomach that’s keepin time around here not my watch!”

And mischa’s been talkin about ole b showin up for a long time now and I haven’t seen any results. I can sort a see b in some a them rectangles mischa carries around, but I sure as heck can’t smell her, and  in my book, smellin counts!

And speakin a florida, man is this place different from our real home. Hey shout out to jude and chris and shoe and jennifer, tohnia rox and laura and scott and them babies....hello  all you people, people, people... the sun is shining over here. Just sayin.

Mischa says she gets real down in the dumps if she stays home in the winter on accounta the sky’s all thick and it wont let the light through one iota.

She says light is the thing we are all after.

Sometimes I think mischa thinks she is a moth instead a  a girl, but she isn’t a moth, or if she is...she’s got them wings tucked in real tight cause I aint never seen em on her, per se...

She does like to paint herself  as if she did have wings though. In fact she gives lots a people wings in her paintins. In fact she gave me wings once. I guess it’s a wish fulfillment kind a thing. She’s a big visualizer that mischa, so maybe she figures we can all get to the light faster if we had the wings.

You know how all them people says things like, 60’s the new 40 and grey’s the new blonde and then they all laugh like its a big inside joke of which dogs is left on the outside of...

Well I think florida’s the new arizona. Cause people use ta go there to get cured from their arthritis and their breathin problems, but now more people got the blues than any other ailment and a sure fire cure for the blues

is the yellows oranges and reds. Florida’s got those colors down pat.

So listen up here b, I don’t know what’s takin you so long to get on down here, because i dont got no watch and and can’t read the one on the stove. But, I guarantee a warm welcoming and plenty of soul soothin sunshine too.

Oh cheez teezers I almost forgot, I keep givin that dana a real bad scare. And it’s on accounta the dark! When she gets up in the middle of the night I always wait at the door hopin she’ll have mercy on me and let me go chase somethin. She thinks I have to whiz, but I don’t I  just act like I do so I can go chase things. Then she says “now you stay with me zoe’’ and she opens the door real slow. I get my nose in the opening and propel myself outta that door like a cannonball. She don’t even see me do it I shoot outta there so fast! Then I hear her shriekin my name real loud, the neighbors lights all go on, and whatever I was chasin hightails it into the woods. Through all this, mischa doesnt really miss a snorin beat, that’s what dana tells her in the morning.

But dana calls me and calls me and then she looks down and I’m sittin on her feet, and she dint even know it!

Why? Cause it’s pitch black out.

Yeah people light’s the thing... and when you don’t got it, you got troubles.

Good news is, its mornin now and breakfast is just around the well lit corner...so .... later.

Day 109 More Dead Animal Sagas Tues Oct 29

Day 109 Tues Oct 29 Zoe Cant Stop Talkin

MORE DEAD ANIMAL SAGAS

Man, does that dana got some stories up her sleeve or what?

She was tellin us about poor spungo, her dad, aka frank. 

In case ya dint notice in advance, All them italians comes with two names. 

So spungo had to endure the holidays at the greek relatives houses on accounta his wife known only as dorothea (but in greek it means...gift of god) pretty much ruled the roost. 

I guess with a name like 'gift of god'  you get to make a lot a decisions without consultin anybody else. And accordin to dana that is exactly how it was.

Well they use ta go to that aunt menna’s house for all the holidays on accounta menna was the oldest sister and queen of the family. 
Ole spungo all he really wanted was to quietly watch a ballgame on tv and maybe have a little highball. But as it turned out the tv in menna’s house was in the same tiny little room as the record player. Menna called it the den, but it was more like a closet. 
On the holidays, the greek music is what sets the tone for the days festivities. And the day, as defined by menna, began about 10 am and went on deep into the night. Speakin a disregardin schedules...menna was the queen a that too. Mischa says all the greeks she knows invites you for dinner at a specific time, but whenever you do arrive they have no intention a servin the main meal until round midnight. Maybe they got somethin in common with cootie williams... i aint sure.

Anyways back to spungo, he had to spend all the holidays in that tiny room with the black and white tv turned down real low,  because menna had to hear the radio broadcast of the daily greek program, and then the record player had to go through a tall stack of 33rpms which had come straight from an obscure macedonian village to torture him into the wee hours.

One time, after waitin for an eternity for the hostess to serve up somethin to eat...menna left the house and dint come back for a long time. When she finally did return she had a huge pig on a platter and this was gonna be their dinner. It was apparently just recently walking on the earth, and more recently had its life brought to an abrupt end by one a menna’s church buddies. They spent the next 6 hours waitin on the pig to cook in the oven. Egads, I sure am glad mischa dint know them then.

Speakina dead animals...mischa’s friend jennifer wrote yesterday about Ethan Stowell's How to Cook a Wolf on Queen Ann. She said it was a new dining spot in seattle. I mean, people, aint there laws against these things? Where is this animal eatin frenzy gonna end? Dare I ask? 
I remember that guy who walked passed us in san francisco when mischa had me and bean (the pekingese, my husband on accounta whom I am now a widow) on leashes, and the guy turns to mischa real quick, puts his hand up to his mouth to kinda funnel the sound directly into mischa’s ear and says "better hold on to them dogs, they eat them dogs around here!” We was in chinatown at the time, just sayin. But aint there no discretion when it comes to eatin other livin things. 
You got to wonder who it is come up with the expression ‘dog eat dog’. They was projectin as far as I can tell, projectin their own nasty instincts onto us poor unsuspectin canines! 

Cheez Shiva aint they heard about live and let live around here?

Further more,  the way the bipeds talk you would think them vultures was evil incarnate lurkin around like winged vampires waitin to kill little animals, and as it turns out, they don’t kill nothin! How them people get away with all this poor use a their language is a big enigma to me.

Anyways all this talk is workin up an appetite, and I don’t mean for one a my kinfolk either. A nice piece a toast with butter will do....so ....later!

Day 108 TRIO Mon Oct 28

Day 108 Mon Oct 28 Zoe Cant Stop Talkin

THE TRIO

Monday monday. Ok if we must. As much as I like sunday is as much as I don’t really like monday. Nobody really likes it much. In fact if I was completely honest I would have to say I feel downright sorry for monday. It can’t help it that sunday’s so revered and it has to come next, it dint make the rules it just got put there by the scheduling gods. That’s another thing them greeks invented, schedules. I don’t know why they bothered inventin them though on accounta the last thing in the world they pay any attention to is schedules. They laugh in the face a them. Just try and make a date and time with mischa and see what happens. The time arrives when we planned on doin somethin and it’s a sure bet that she has plunged herself into some totally different activity and forgotten all about our engagement.

I am gettin used to it after 14 years, but I don’t like it much. And ole b gets driven straight up a tree over it.

Dana seems to be a little more forgivin cause she’s on a vacation and tryin to not have a schedule, but then again, she’s greek, so maybe she just laughs at them too.

Speakin a trees... yesterday them two made a date with a friend a mischa’s and they sure were prompt about that! This guy showed up with big cases and piles a books. We opened em all up and inside found guitars and bazookas! He proceeded to play those things while the girls got behind the clarinet and the piano. They kept sayin they was a tree-OH. They dint look much like a tree and why they had to say OH real loud after callin themselves a tree, I dont know but that’s what they did and they did it all afternoon.  Then they started singing in that other language that I could not understand one word a. They all were having themselves a good time though, drinkin uzis and eatin cheese.  They had that house all lit up with sounds and dana kept a steady stream a morsels headed my way.

After that was all over we decided to go to the cool fireplace so dana could eat a personal pizza and mischa could watch them steelers lose the football game again this week. Nobody can understand why she would puts herself through it week after week, but maybe she’s tryin to become more friendly toward schedules. Maybe it’s like a training session.

The good news is, at antony’s, dogs is welcome on the patio and the patio welcomes all kinds a meatballs and sausages that has fallen onto the ground. That place is a bonanza! I loves antony’s. Plus there’s always ladies there who find me irresistible and provide supplemental provisions which mischa almost never finds out about.

When we came back dana watched that series a worlds that she watches every night (on schedule I might add...) where men in uniforms take out their frustrations on little white and red balls.

I guess mischa finds that borin cause it puts her fast asleep. She seems to prefer watchin much bigger guys with helmets and colorful uniforms, bash into each other while chasin a brown ball. I hope that’s not an indication a some underlayin psychological defect in her!

Well even if it is, we all got our baggage...I can deal with it, she’s still my mom, and I still loves her.

Speakin a love, my heart is openin up to morning aromas emanatin from the kitchen...so...later!

Day 107 Dead or Alive Sun Oct 27

Day 107 Sun Oct 27 Zoe Can’t Stop Talkin

DEAD OR ALIVE

Good mornin self it is sunday at last. This is our favorite day of the week. It’s quieter on sundays and a gal can hear herself feel. This is our philosophical day. Everybody’s got their head in a big sheet a paper or a rectangle on sunday and they’s either sighin or laughin or cryin.  Sometimes they’s doin all three.

I can hear all them birds and insects chirpin and flappin and crunchin and singin. Their little voices is very distinctive on sundays as they got so much less competition with the bipeds. Bipeds make a lot a noise. They have a machine to do every possible thing you can imagine. In our house we got juicers and toasters and sweepers and saws and clippers and whackers and polishers. The list goes on....I could write a book!

Us dogs and all them birds and insects...we don’t come with any noisy machines. If we find it necessary to raise our voices we do that, but no ear splittin, bone shakin, metal on metal grindin, gear whirrin machinery ever crosses our doorsteps.

Personally I think them machines is havin a negative impact on the population. I mean, I read about how them whales is goin crazy with all the sonar. Them firecrackers and guns gives us traumatic stress. Cars and trucks scare the tree breezes outta ya. The vacuum is a menace to every animals last nerve. And them leaf blowers! Egads people let the wind do it, that’s what its for!

Sometimes I think that the only reason we die is to get the heck away from all the noise people make.

It is an escape route isn’t it?

Speakin a passin on. Dana and mischa was talkin about how we keep on talkin to each other whether we is dead or alive! They said that aunt menna was ten years deep into her altzheinmers when she woke up outta deep sleep and started callin out to her daughter. But her daughter was far away in a hospital cause she was real sick and fixin to pass, in fact she did pass right when that ole menna started wailin!  And then mishca told about her yiayia seein mischa’s dad comin to the house with his hand over his chest, sayin ‘’I been hurt”. That day mischa’s mom got a letter sayin her husband was in a hospital in italy, with a wound to the chest. Then dana told about the lady who woke up in the middle of then night from a nightmare, she said it was 4:35 am in the dream, stormy, and  the chandalier in the baby’s room was swayin then it fell right on the baby. So the woman got up and brought the baby back to bed with her. At 4:35am a strong storm passed through and the chandalier fell onto the crib! Then mischa said about the lady who’s son took his own life and the mom, even though she was 3000 miles away, got a tap on her shoulder from nobody and then she saw, in her mind’s eye, her son laying dead on the ground.

So I don’t know if them dead people have any long involved conversations with the livin, but they definitely have a way of connectin when they’s on their way out.

Mischa said, don’t forget ole missus moraitis who was plannin a trip to greece and was last seen on the church steps in the village where she was born. And seen by 4 other ladies, and talkin too and makin plans! Only thing was old missus moraitis had never left america on accounta she up and died before she got on the plane.

Yeah them dead has their own ideas don’t they.

I’m pretty sure based on the evidence, one a their ideas is to escape the cacophony here on earth. It’s gettin louder and louder. It’s hard for a pup to get any good solid rest around here.

If mischa read this, she’d think I was fixin to die, but I aint. She’d say “zoe, if you die I’m gonna kill you”.

Anyways, I do my best on sundays. And right now I am headin for the breakfast nook, where I smell coffee brewin and biscuits bakin....so....later.

Day 106 halloweenville Sat Oct 26

OH WOW who knew it was halloween already? We went out at this place where buddy jo and his dog zoe was hanging out in costumes. Buddy jo was from tennessee, friendly and chatty. His dog, also named zoe, was a little bit of a princess but we liked her anyways. Next thing we knew the whole town came out a the woodwork and their kids and their dogs too. And they was all dressed like skeletons and witches, bees and smurfettes, cowgirls and firemen, rabbits and spacemen.

It was one big happy family out there on the street, festive and fun and full a treats for pups.

Everybody that passed by our table stopped to pet me and chew the fat with Mischa and everydog stopped to sniff me. She dint give anybody but me any a her dinner though. I got mashed potatoes and salmon stuffed with crabmeat. Vegan beware! The times they is a changin!

Hey this place was so cool I ordered my dinner off the dog menu. It was printed in english and canine-ish, and also had a lot of scratch and sniff options.

One a them waiters was preparin to audition in miami florida tomorrow for some big tv show. He was dressed up like liza morelli in the caberet or someting like that. Aunt dana  told him to break his leg. I dint quite grasp the sentiment, but he seemed to think it was a good one.

Did I mention that all them dogs was wearin costumes too! Most a them musta went to the same wardrobe shop, cause there was a plethora a skeletons. Except ofcourse for the other zoe, she was a bee, ‘’queen bee’’ her dad said.

I had a crush on a rough coat jack for a minute. I ain’t sure what he was supposed to be for halloween but I think it was a pirate or somethin like that. I thought “hmmm big boy, I’d walk the gang plank for you, uh-huh, oh yeah!” But then I snapped out a it and regained my dignity...I mean I was lettin it all hang out in front a all these strangers! I got a little embarrassed. Mischa noticed all this takin place and she leaned down and said “Zoe mou, don’t you worry, a little crush is good for the spirit and gets the blood movin. An ole gal like you can use that now and again.”

Then while I wasnt lookin first mischa and then aunt dana disappeared inside the restaurant and when they came back out Mischa was wrapped up in orange fabric

her face was green and she had long green feathers comin outta her head. I lookd at her like “what the hey?”

“Carrot” she said “I have always wanted to be a carrot on halloween! Like it?”

I just blinked a lot tryin to get it.

Then I looks over at dana and she’s all decked out in sparkles and glitter and a pink tuxedo, a white frilly shirt and huge baubles on her hands. “Don’t tell me.” I said. “Liberace, right?”

“Yeah!’ she shook her head and beamed a huge smile down on me, then she made like she was playin air piano with her hands.

I realized I had been spared the humiliation of a costume, when outta no wheres I see this black cape comin at me. It’s buddy jo and he ties it around my neck

and then produces a top hat and a wand. “What am I?” “Who am I?”

“You’re a, you’re oh yeah you’re Zoerlin the wizzard!” Mischa finally announces.

They were all exceptionally pleased now. And so

we had an extra swell time at the liven room which happened to be the name of the joint. Only one complaint got lodged by aunt dana and Mischa the whole night. That was about the guitarist. His back up band was in a rectangle that was plugged into the wall. The girls dint think that was right. They said he looked bored and lonely on accounta not havin no musician friends to play with. Dana inquired about the musicians union and wondered if the rectangle was a member. Her bein a union carpenter an all makes her extra sensative about workers rights.

Well speakin a rights, it’s almost breakfast time here at the home sweet home, so.....later.

Day 105 Escapees Fri Oct 25

Day 105 Fri Oct 25 Zoe Can’t Stop Talkin

ESCAPEES

Yawn and good mornin self, I got the sticky eyes today. I hope that sty dint cross over onto my side a the bed!

It’s hard for dogs to keep them warm compresses in place.

Well yesterday there was stuff goin on all day outside and I kept gettin locked up inside. I am not sure but I think it had somethin to do with a guy in a bug car and

a spray nozzle.

All day long my people was runnin machines and shavin things. It was like a full service barber shop for the hedges and trees. I hope they enjoyed it cause they look bald now. Mischa says Florida is a lot like the great pacific northwest, if you blink stuff grows about ten feet over night on accounta the rain. And here on accounta the rain and the sun it grows even wilder!

So I spent the better part of the day in my bed, which to tell the truth I dint mind. I got a lot a dreamin done.

Also aunt dana was very generous with the biscuits whenever she came inside. Also for dinner I had tuna which dana said cost a huge wad a money but it was worth it cause it came form italy! Mischa said she dint think they had tuna in that medeterranean sea, but dana stuck to her story anyways.

I think somebody must a put somethin in my breakfast cause I kept goin out like a light. And I was dreamin I had a pet cow. And I would call her and she would come runnin outta the house and up this big hill and find me. She’d sit down right next to me kinda like I do next to Mischa and I would put my arm around her and give her a big hug! Then that cow would take that big cow tongue a hers and give me a lick and I would get tossed into the air and do a double somersault then float back down to earth.

I loved that cow. She escaped a herd a cows who looked a lot like her, all brown and fuzzy. And she came to live with me and Mischa. Mischa liked her too and she gave her  some lawncare job, which the cow seemed to enjoy quite a bit.

At some point late in the afternoon somebody left the back door open and I escaped! I saw Mischa hackin away at the ferns that was up against the house. All a sudden a flock a frogs comes leapin outta the ferns. Fortunately they was all in one piece! One was cuter than the next although they did look suspiciously alike.

I guess cows and frogs like to blend into to their packs. It must be hard to have a conversation with your friends though, cause I would always be worried I was confidin in a stranger. My eyes aint as good as my nose!

Anyways, all in all yesterday was what you would call a lazy day, and today I feel all refreshed and ready to rock and roll. I heard we was goin to a new park today.

that usually means there might be some dinin out involved. So....I gotta go spruce up my dog suit and get ready to roll. Later!

day 104 italian pirates

Day 104 Thur Oct 24 Zoe Cant Stop Talkin

ITALIAN PIRATES AND WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST

Oh boy did ole Mischa get an earful yesterday! She was kinda extra quiet on accounta she was still nursin that sty. In fact, she went and put a black patch on it and scared me and dana something awful as we did not see that comin. Also dana got nervous cause she was reading the newark times about all the pirates that’s runnin amok on the high seas. She said Mischa could attract one a them pirate ships and we could all get duelled off the gang plank...or somethin like that.

Anyway since Mischa was not in a talkin mood, dana took it upon herself to tell the whole nine yard long story of her family from tellwood city. It was like a soap opera. Me and mischa was transfixed all afternoon! We had to keep askin questions though cause all them italians and greeks was makin our heads spin. Plus everybody who you thought was married to one person ended up being married to a different one and people kept switchin out their mammas and also their last names their first names and their nationalities too.

I would love to be able to repeat the whole thing but really it is beyond my abilities at the present time. And my mom is not much use right now in the memory department as she is still busy self medicatin.

But I am gonna document some pieces of the story as I recall em,  as they’s noteworthy.

First off if it weren’t for philly aka philaminna this whole story might a never unravelled the way it did. Dana was gettin a haricut when a cousin a hers, who she hadnt seen in  like a hundred years, walks into the barber shop and they start talkin about tellwood city and all the relatives. Them two makes a lunch date and philly brings dana her picture albums. The first one they look at is a picture a spungo, aka dana’s dad, and philly says “oh look, spungo on his wedding day!” And ole dana is like “what!?” her head’s shakin  like she’s tryin to wake herself up from a dream “who’s that woman he’s standin with?” And ole philly she says “that’s gertie!” and she says it like it’s common knowledge. Dana says, “gertie who?” And philly starts gettin kinda sweaty all over and realizes she’s spillin out beans dana never had before. So real slow like she says “gert  spungo’s wife?” And insteada sayin it like a fact she says it like a question. Thing was dana’s mom’s name was dorothy and to the best of dana’s knowledge she was spungo’s only wife. Dana musta thought the mormons came through tellwood and converted ole spungo right outta the catholic church so he could have himself a coupla wives. “My dad had a wife named gert, before or during the time he had a wife named dorothy?” she asked. “Oh dana, long before.... I thought you knew, I really thought you knew....they were only married a month, and old gert took all the furniture, left poor spungo a divorcee!” “When your dad married your mom the whole italan contigency in tellwood never said a word about her bein greek they was so relieved to have him marryin a southern european!”

As time went on dana and her sister found out all sorts a stuff that totally changed the landscape a their lives. Like their aunt Mena who was the matriarch and who lived and breathed all things greek, drank at the fountain of the orthodox church and marched all her

family members to the same drum....they found out she eloped with a man named bill, on her wedding night ... cause her father had arranged for her to marry an old man she had never met... menna then got banished from the family for 20 years at which time bill divorced her on accounta ole menna went and had a baby with an italian who ran numbers and a speak easy in a nearby town!

But that wernt even the half of it. Man dana was tellin us about spungo’s pals stitchie and jack whose name was really frank,  buffie and ouisie babino who had a lot in common with bonnie parker and clyde barrow, aunt dewie the sainted black sheep, yiayia papadennis who wasn’t really anybody’s grandmother, cousins mildred and pearl who swear they was romanian and drove ole menna, the archetypal hellen, straight up a tree!

Then to top it all off dana finds out her mom’s name was somebody else’s name not hers! No one exactly could explain why.

The whole thing had dana twisted in a knot for years.

All I can say is it sure is colorful in them small towns.

and speakin a color...I see yellow the color of cheese gettin cut into bite size morsels on the kitchen counter....gotta go! Later.

day 103 eye Yikes! Wed Oct 23

Day 103 Wed Oct 23 Zoe Can’t Stop Talkin

EYE-YIKES!

Zoe, good morning ...finally. That was a long day and a long night. Ole Mischa got a sty in her eye and was nursin it all day long. I dont know how a whole sty got in there but it did. I dont think the pig was in the sty when it got in her eye, but she was actin like it was.

I guess she dint notice it first thing when she got up, but me and dana did. We tried not to say nothin cause we know how susceptible she is to suggestion. If we’d a said sometin first off, we mighta spent the day in the ER insteada in the park with the so-called alligators. Dana says she’s never seen one a them gators yet and she’s tried and tried. Mischa pretty much guaranteed it, so the pressure is on. That might be why the sty got in her eye, too much pressure.  Things like that happen to people. One thing bothers em, but they try to stuff it, the next thing they know, somethins stuck somewheres in their body and it starts swellin up.

Anyways her eye dint look good last night and it looked worse this mornin. Dana said maybe the armadilla had somethin to do with it. But Mischa said armadillas would never put a sty in anybody’s eye for no good reason.

Mischa kept blinkin and blinkin and wincin. We thought maybe she was developin one a them ticks, but then we put 2 and 2 together and realized that that eye was really botherin her. So dana asked her about it and she ran to the mirror and that’s when the day started to sorta take a turn for the worse.

We had to go to about three pharmacies and buy us medicines, then we had to boil water and make hot compresses. Then we had to lay on the couch and worry for a long time. Mischa kept jumpin up and starin in the mirror, but the sty kept on bein there, in fact it seemed like it was growin. I guess stys liked to be watered, cause she was waterin it for hours, and then it got big and red instead just red like it had been.

I’m not sure if the next thing she did was an attempt at a cure or what...but I sees Mischa pick up her clarinet and stare down the tube while she’s standin in front a the mirror. It looked like she had a plan, but we couln’t figure it out. She did this two or three times before we had the nerve to ask.

“Mischa” dana said “exactly what are you doing with the clarinet?”

“I’m gettin a closer look at my sty!” she answered all incensed like.

“Oh, ok....” dana said real slow but you could tell she dint mean a word of it, how could she?

Anyways all day long we did the hot compresses and the lubricatin ointments, some asprins and lots a water. Oh yeah there was a couple a glasses a retsina thrown in there for good measure when we were at dimitri’s taverna (where a mousaka was had by all I might add). Mischa had the waitress bring her microwaved napkins so as she dint  have to skip a beat administerin the remedy to the sty in her eye.

By the end of the night we was all exhausted from watchin her perform the treatments and also from all the sighin she was doin. Sighin is catchy, kinda like yawnin is catchy. So insteada takin a nice long end of the day walk to smell the neighbors, we all hit the sack early.

I said my prayers before I went to sleep last night, prayin  the pig and the sty would stay on Mischa’s side a the bed!

As usual I had good luck I woke up sty free and hungry as horse...so until tomorrow I bid myself farewell.

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DAY 102 ARMADILLO TUE OCT 22

  

DAY 102 TUE OCT 22 ZOE CAN’T STOP TALKIN

AN ARMED ARMADILLO

HEY, who knew there was armadillos on the planet?

Mischa says she sees em all the time. I am thinkin she is hittin the bottle behind my back, on accounta we are pretty much tied at the hip and I aint never seen one!

Until....last night. And cheez whiz it scared the three sneezes outta me.

We were sittin outside talkin to aunt alice on the phone...and I smelled something unusual, could not make it out....at all. So I got up to have a look around, but Mischa nabbed me and made me stay put on the patio. She dont like me roamin in the backyard at night. She thinks its haunted or somethin. She says there’s snakes and coons and skunks and possums and alligators back there, and they’s invisible at night. I think she needs new glasses, on accounta I can see just fine out there, and I aint seen none a them creatures....well I did see the possum a few times, but he’s harmless. And there is a family a deer that lives back there, but they’s harmless too.

Mischa said now she knows who it was been eatin our bananas. An armadillo! He must not have a very big appetite cause he’s been eatin just one each night for the past two nights. He had his choice of a couple dozen, but he just took one. Kinda sneaky huh? Kinda like that octopus in the san francisco aquarium who snuck outta his tank and ate just one exotic fish, when he coulda had a whole school of em.

Anyways I was sittin there at Mischa’s feet and all a sudden we see this armoured tank slink out from underneath the hedges! He walks right up to my snout!

I don’t think he could see me too good or else he just dint have no fear a strangers. Unfortunately we did not greet him with open arms. Both a us rose about a foot into the air and shrieked real loud. Mischa started pointin at him and screamin somethin like “yo! yo! i  can’t beleive it, there’s an armadilla an armed adillo armyditto armadillo...walked right up to me! wo!”

I guess she was so alarmed she forgot what it was called at first. Also it sounded like she expected ole alice to fly outta that phone and save us or somethin, her bein the older sister and all... But ole alice stayed put and me and Mischa was levitated for a few moments. When we came back down and everybody stopped shoutin, the little armadillo had sauntered right back into the hedges, never to be seen again.

When we went inside and told dana, she was all “you’re kiddin me.. why dint you call me... I never seen an armadillo before!” and she was all incredulous and she kicked the dirt a little under her shoes...but then she had a change a heart and says, “wow! how cool, wish I had seen it!”  Then she smiled insteada kickin the dirt anymore.

Accordin to mischa, aunt dana has an excellent chance a sightin one at any given moment, and that’s what mischa told her too. It made her quite happy.

We all got right into playin some music together, I howled and that went on till round midnight. That’s when mischa brings out that saxaphone and plays ‘round midnight’ by cootie williams and thelonious monk. Me and dana ran for cover at that point.

Hey speakin a cover...I hear pot lids rattlin, this is a good sign breakfast is afoot! So....later gator!

day 101 welcoming committee oct 21 zoe cant stop talkin

Day 101 Mon Oct 21 Zoe Can’t Stop Talkin

WELCOMING COMMITTEE

Good morning in your own bed finally zoe butter butter cream cream sugar sweetie chickie...we have arrived.

And did we get a warm welcome or what? Mischa screeched on the brakes as we turned the corner to our house. Ole dana got jarred and lurched forward, which she was perturbed about for a minute but then pulled herself together and asked politely “what the heck’s going on?”

Mischa started flailin her arms but it took her a while to utter any coherent words. She was excited and out a her body. She spied a collection of her favorite florida birds havin a coffee klatch on the edge of a canal. There was roseate spoonbills, blue herons, egrets, wood storks and a few sea gulls for good measure. She practically knocked me on the floor tryin to get a hold a her camera. I took offense at first, but then regained my composure and  got the hey outta her way. She leapt outta that car and almost got run over by some yahoo who obviously dint share her enthusiasm for nature.

So that was the good news.

The bad news was she werent out there but a few seconds before one a them nasty florida fire ants found its way over to her foot. She was hopin up and down, slappin her foot and swearin real loud. All the while she was clickin away at them birds. And them birds dint take too kindly to her jumpin around and started movin in the opposite direction. Finally me and dana talked her into gettin back in the car. She couldnt say nothin but “Wow!”  over and over again. And then she proceeded to send a picture of them birds to everyone she ever met in her entire life. So we was on the side of the road for quite a while.

Hey the sight of my own house was balm to my soul. I jumped outta the car window so I could run around like a crazy person and check the perimeters. I found squirrels and deers livin in the backyard. I let em all know we was home. The grass was thick and cool and I rolled and rolled in it, pickin up all the local color, so as I could blend.

It dint take em girls too long to empty out the car and then they started circlin the house with pens and papers in their hands. Next thing I knew they was walkin out the door, with no intention of takin me with em. I got to admit I acted hurt, but i wasnt really, I needed a few moments to my self. Them two is chatty and my head was still twirlin from all the drivin and all the chatterin they was doin for the past 1800 + miles.

Mischa said “butter, you got to stay home, cause it is just too hot out there for a pup.” I wagged, put my head down, tucked my little stub of a tail between my legs and sauntered off into the family room. Really that was unnecessary uncalled for drama, and I mighta made Mischa feel bad. I will make it up to her today.

I am one of them pups that was lucky enough to be born  with the self reflection jeans. So I just got up on that couch and self reflected for an hour while they was gone. It’s refreshin really.

Hey speakin a refeshments....Later.