Whew, that was some weekend.
Friday night we went shopping for supplies, the nature of which will be revealed later. Some assembly was required, but mostly took place feverishly on Saturday morning. Then we took a morning trip to pick up a Codeword and go to a lesson for Codeword.
Saturday night was spent in the most excellent company of Erin and Jason, who came to town for Sarah Vowell’s reading as part of the Women Writer’s Conference. The great thing about the Women Writer’s Conference being that most of the really good events are free and open to the public, so you don’t have to shell out 200 bucks, dress like a frump and talk about how great Natalie Goldberg and The Artist’s Way are for a weekend to reap its benefits. Hey, I’m just saying.
Vowell was fantabulously terrific, as we knew she would be. She was charming and acid and funny as hell. The Q&A was one of the most bizarre, painful things I’ve ever witnessed — hello, organizers, you have to have a mic before you can take it away when someone goes crazy. Since there was no mic and no screening of said questions, things got a bit out of hand. Let me just characterize it thus: I think if Tod Goldberg had been there, his head would have exploded from the sheer quantity of f*cktarditude on display. An older woman in a giant purple muumuu could not get it through her lead-dense skull that the presidential inauguration is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. She more or less accused Vowell of being a liar for saying she hadn’t needed an invitation to attend. She did it over and over again. Before moving on later to ask something about hair plugs.
I kid you not. And that’s not even dealing with the girl who asked a question about her "favorite story by you" only it wasn’t by Vowell at all. As I said, Vowell was great at dealing with these, but it was still torture to observe; I at least hope she got a good anecdote out of it. She even very classily agreed to stay and do a signing afterward and was very amiable and chit-chatty with the folks in the signing line. Then we waited and waited for a table for dinner, over which we dissected Top Chef and gossipped about philandering poets.
Yesterday, I finally got to meet Jack Womack, his wife Valeria Susanina and their lovely daughter Lily, who were in town visiting family. They were having rental car issues, so we drove over to Jack’s mother’s place to hang out for a bit. All three were exceedingly charming and Christopher inadvertently kicked Lily in the head. She eventually sort of forgave him (after being promised chocolate ice cream) and promptly fell asleep.
Then we came home and took Codeword, aka the newest member of our family, for a long walk. She likes walks, she does. Meet Miss Emma, the amazing basset/golden retriever mix.
I did not kick Lily in the head! I was uncrossing my legs at the same time she was doing something with some dog toys by my chair and she moved and I tried to move my leg out of her way and the end result was that she kind of stood up into my foot.
A beautiful dog! What an interesting mix. My wife is a huge fan of bassets and I love the golden, so this would be our ideal dog I suppose. Congrats!
It’s so strange — she really is the perfect mix of the breeds, both physically and in temperament. I’ll have to put up a picture where you can see her bushy golden retriever tail.
We weren’t really looking to get another dog so soon, but just fell in love with her photos. (I was wallowing by visiting rescue sites.) And in person she’s even better.
She comes from the same rescue association Hemingway did and has had three homes prior. I can’t imagine why anyone would ever have given her up, but I’m glad they did.
Oh and Mr. Rowe: A kick is a kick however you slice it…
Holy crap! What a beautiful dog! (you can tell a lot about a dog when they’re sleeeeeepy.) Very happy for both of you. How does she get along with El Gato?
Aw. Cute doggie! Am jealous.
That is one cute doggie! I should bring my little girl over to play with her.
puppy puppy puppy!!!!!
What a lovely funny girl your Emma is. Enjoy. 🙂
Alan, I’ve taken to calling it “Cat and Dog Theater.” Hemingway immediately tried to play with Emma (Hemingway likes dogs), who was completely threatened and sort of leery of him after that. In a cute way.
This morning Emma was chasing Hemingway, but just in a playful way and neither seems jealous of the other. I think they’ll be friends once they get used to each other.
All is right with the world.
Dog!!!! 😀
awwww… puppy! puppy!
She’s gorgeous Gwenda and how cool of you guys to rescue a dog. I’m so glad that you found Emma (and she found you!)
I inadvertently found myself in the midst of the Artist’s Way/Natalie Goldberg crowd Saturday night. A friend told me she was going to Natasha’s after the Sara Vowell reading. I confess, I have no idea who Sara Vowell is, and had forgotten the the KYWWC was going on this past weekend. If you missed Natasha’s, oh, Lord. They had a “cabaret,” the first part of which was two women singing show tunes, and the second part was a poetry reading. Yes, a poetry reading at Natasha’s at 10:30 on a Saturday night, with food and drinks being served, and people (notably, my group) being loud and obnoxious. Suffice it to say we were shushed at one point.
Later in the evening, there was some sort of godawful video screening of performance art/poetry, material worthy of Harold and Kumar, but ever so much more sophisticated because it was being done by a poet.
Oy.
Pretty, pretty dog! What a cool mix. We have a couple of basset mixes that visit our dog park and they’re such great dogs.
Gwenda, Christopher, Emma and Hemingway were charming hosts! And I have never been so thankful to have avoided Natasha’s.
I can’t believe I didn’t wear my muumuu. We stood out like sore thumbs.
That’s one cute dog!
Thanks for the great report. I really enjoyed it.
JeffV
Ohhhh, she’s gorgeous, Gwenda! I particularly love the photo of her sleeping underneath the desk.
Poor puppy – I can’t believe she had to go through three attempts before she found you…but I’m so glad that she’s found you guys and Hemingway now. 🙂