A new city in a new state, away from my beloved West Coast. Excited about possibilities, scared about possibilities. Missing lavender macarons, the nicest coffee people ever, taking the train, and my California ladies. I’m sorry for ever skipping a single coffeetime, gelatotime, pubtime, knittingtime, or any other excuse for random wandering. I’ve moved a lot. This one seems like the hardest.
Pirate made an escape yesterday, for the first time ever. I never imagined that I would be wandering around yelling his name, tearful, terrified, and panicked. Worst feeling ever. Apparently our front door has to be shut in a rather particular way to completely latch closed. He could not have been outside on his own for more than five minutes, and a neighbor had scooped him up in the parking lot. Once we discovered he was missing (about an hour and a half – both of us thought that he was with the other, I was napping and J was computering), it took no more than ten minutes to locate him, but those were the longest ten minutes ever. What sort of reward is enough, and how much would a billboard ad run? How many flyers should we make, 500, 5,000? Thank god for Texans and their dog-lovin’ nature, because if this had happened in Los Angeles, we would have never seen him again, he would have been stolen or sold. And of course when we retrieved him, it was like picking him up from a playdate – romping around with a pomeranian, and looking slightly confused as to why we were so distraught and effusive. I love that he’s not one of those shaky timid chihuahuas, but his confidence is perhaps a bit too far at the other end of the spectrum.
In other news, my hair is back to an inch in length. Justin is up, 2-1, in Trivial Pursuit matches. I have never seen so many tattoos, executed so poorly. I’m caught up on my long-ignored museum podcasts, and recommend the Tate’s in particular. The grocery stores here are amazing, as are the parks. And parks are our agenda for today, so more on that later.
Dinka has made me cry and wander, calling her name, hoping that she didn’t wander into nearby heavy traffic – only to find her nonchalantly grazing in someone else’s front yard like a tiny cow. Then I’m mad, until she does that crouchy thing she does when she knows I’m mad. Then I end up laughing. *sigh*
Angelenos would have nabbed him for sure. I know I would’ve.
I’m sure that once you get settled, it will be like LA never existed.
But, should you need us, we’ll be here. And should that move end up being temporary, there’s a few people here who wouldn’t be upset to see you move back.