August 29th

Sometimes i want to get a dog. especially when i see cute photos like this. What I'd really like is a kitten, but Costas isn't a cat person (he isn't an animal person, really), and if you've ever seen the street cats in Athens, you'd understand why I don't think he'll ever be able to love a house cat the way I would.

Theresa had a dog, a fat little black & white chihuahua called Bart. Bart's a pain in the a**, but she loved that dog. He's only got one eye because he got bit by a bigger dog earlier this summer. I think my family is probably glad he's around now..

I grew up with lots of animals, we always had a lot of cats, then there were rabbits, mice, a chinchilla, several hamsters.. I suppose now I have chosen to have travel in my life instead of pets. I do have one turtle, Makoto, who I got from a carnival game when I was living in northern Japan. She's a girl, but I didn't know that then. She was very tiny and she kept me company while I was all alone there. I brought her to the States with me and she's come with me all the times we've moved or traveled by car in the last 5 years. I brought her with when we drove to Chicago in '05, and when we spent a week on Cape Cod last summer. She travels quite well actually. She's easy to please most of the time, but she has become a picky eater, now preferring shrimp or chicken to any "turtle food" from the store. I love her and she's still nice company, but she doesn't cuddle. If we got a dog, I think I'd want a lap dog.
But really, I'm just dreaming. We're gone much to much of the time to take on the responsibility of another, more needy animal.

Today I went to the office for a few hours and got some paperwork done. I'm working on a project whose October 15th deadline didn't seem that close at the beginning of the summer, but now my summer has disappeared and I've got a lot to do still if I want things to get done on time. Tonight I'm making muffins from a friend's recipe. Oh, by the way, it's her birthday today! She is a wonderfully creative artist and toymaker and her works always make me smile.

Still no quilting around here, but I did start choosing fabrics for Theresa's quilt and I also bought some fabric paint which I might experiment with tomorrow..