Wednesday, November 16, 2011

New Books & Crazy Dogs

First: For me, there is nothing quite like opening up that new novel by Stephen King. It makes me so happy. It makes me wish I could call in sick and stay home and do nothing but read. Alas, since I was actually sick recently I am woefully behind at work and have too much of a conscience to "play" sick. Here's something I wrote a while back and somehow never published:


Okay. I get it. Stephen King is not for everyone. But, for those of us that he speaks to, well, the man is a genius. And I'm not ashamed to say I adore the man! I firmly believe he's the most amazing writer of our age. He is the every-man writer of our age. Unbelievably prolific. I'm glad he couldn't stick to his threat of a few years ago to never publish again. Turns out he could not leave Constant Reader after all.

So, I've just finished his latest novel, Under the Dome. As usual, I am blown away. His books transport me to another place and time (which, when it comes right down to it is really my main [only?] criteria for a good book...or movie....hmmm, see a pattern here?). But, I digress.
This would have been in 2009 that I wrote that. It all still applies. I adore Stephen King. I just started my copy of his latest, 11/22/63, and look forward to telling you more about it later.

Next: One of the phrases you're likely to hear me repeat frequently these days is that Gwyn is the funniest dog on the planet. I get that I'm biased. But she is. Really. One day soon I will post a video of her playing with her Kong Extreme Flyer. But for now I'll just tell you about it and show you a few pictures. It's the best toy. Ever. It holds its shape to fly like a regular frisbee, but is made of very pliant rubber and is so soft it can be picked up and folded in half easily. Gwyn has an entire ritual that's developed that in part includes running around the yard with it, playing keep-away and then hiking it like a football between her legs and spinning around to try to catch it when it flies off.

One more reason I love my Nikon Coolpix is the sport continuous mode can take a great series of shots to capture such craziness (Gwyndiculousness--the root phrase originally coined by LoML). Here are just a few of the shots I took yesterday morning:

Hike!
 You can't see it, but the flyer just went behind her...she's right up against the flower bed that borders the screened-in porch...that's our rosemary bush in the foreground..it's not unusual for Gwyn to come in smelling like rosemary...which is not a bad thing in my book!
spinning...

spinning...


running the loop

part of the shake

shaking and walking

2 comments:

What Remains Now said...

I'm a Stephen King lover too! Can't wait to hear what you have to say about his new book! Gwyn is Gwyndelicious. I love "playing" pups pictures. You can just see the joy!

Kat said...

Yet another reason I "get" you! Another SK fan!!! Thanks for the new word..."Gwyndelicious" :D I like it! She is all about some joy.