Family time

Perfect turkey!

Son T flew in for a week's visit, and we gathered with son J & family & friends for the giant turkey extravaganza, awesome spread. It was a good week, good to feel family as a good thing -- a break with the past. A new baby is coming in April, a sister for Henry. Sweet!

There is still sunshine some days here in Portland, though the mud never gets a chance to dry. Only one thing is bothering me: I'm not writing (except here). No poems. So does that mean I'm over that, or is it just a hiatus. I had planned to apply to Lesley University's low residency MFA program. Am I getting scared, or do I no longer want to? I can't tell. I'm puzzled. I don't even remember when the next deadline for applications is... March?

My kitchen table is piled high with the type of mail that is not quite throwaway and should be filed away, but my filing system is only half-organized. It's been at least a month since I've been able to eat there. No problem. I eat at my computer desk, or out. How long can this go on? Am I hoping I'll die before I have to deal with stuff? No!

Actually I lied above. More than one thing bothers me. Mail and muddy paws lead the list. Even with the Paw Plunger I get fed up with washing paws. I also cringe at poop pickup (and the green pet compost place is slow to arrange pickup, had to call them and push)... AND their price has gone up from $4.95 to $6.45 per week! Today I went around the yard pushing dirt back into holes. Apparently Charly found that interesting, as much of it is out again.

I took Charly to a new (to us) dog park in North Clackamas Park. It's fully fenced and much larger than the close one we walk to and feels nicer as its woodsy all around. Charly played hard with three larger dogs near her age, but one of them, a doberman, had an aggressive mouth and bit at her legs, neck, etc., just hard enough to penetrate skin and start a tiny bit of blood seepage here and there. I was ambivalent at first, not sure where the boundary should be exactly, as Charly doesn't object but just goes at it harder (though without biting any holes), but the sight of blood did it for me. Next time I see that dog, we are leaving immediately. It may be a case of not staying with his litter long enough to learn bite inhibition.