Working away on my upcoming book for dogs and want to include YOUR dog in the fun. Artist Paul Heath will immortalize a select bunch of furry friends (like Labradors Teddy & Winston, at left) to be included in the book. All you have to do is send me a photo of your dog.
Send photos as a comment or email, and spread the word on Facebook.
Here’s to dogs, as Josh Billings described, “the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself!”
This dead squirrel’s friend goes the extra mile and heroically stands up to a gang of crows who come wanting dinner. A must watch! (I’ll bet you that you show your friends.) Where was this squirrel when I was in middle school?! Remember today, a friend in need is a friend in deed.
OLD SIGNS are one of my favorite garage sale finds. Was cleaning out the cottage this weekend and thought I’d share this vintage Pepsi sign I scored and remind you to vote for The Rosendale Theater Collective to receive the $50,000 grant. Pepsi had the good idea that rather than spending all their dough on Superbowl ads to give it as grants to local community pet projects. Results are this Friday and we’re in the Top 10! We need 3000 votes a day, but the Rosendale Theater (operating since 1949!) will be preserved with this grant money. Please take a minute and vote.
Watch the tease for Betty White’s upcoming Saturday Night Live appearance. I’m telling you…we’re going to laugh (and watch!) like it’s 1975! Who knew Betty white has a hottie husband? You go, Betty!
This weekend, after a 30 year tour, the Pharaoh King rides his sarcophagus back into NYC for “King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” (which runs through January 2011). Amazing that this young leader who came to power at 9 and died 10 years later in a mysterious accident is the most remembered figure in the 3,000 year reign of Egyptian royalty. The ancient Egyptians believed that as long as a pharaoh’s name was remembered, he would live forever in eternity. Maybe it was because of the 3500 priceless artifacts buried with him or maybe his eternity is thanks to Steve Martin but people still stand in line to see the boy king.
5 THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR THE PLANET
1. Plant a garden. (Going vegetarian is the easiest way to reduce your carbon footprint, but just becoming a “locavore” and eating food grown within a 100 miles from your home is a start.)
2. Cut down on plastic. (Make the Plastic Pledge. Did you know 8% of the world’s annual oil production is used to create plastic?)
3. Watch Food Inc. (A must see! It will change the way you eat.)
4. Drive less. (Walk, bike, carpool, take public transportation where available.)
5. Figure out ways to make your home more energy efficient. (Hint: It’s not just the light bulbs!)
Each spring 16 million teens take part in quite possibly the most widely shared of all modern American traditions: the high-school prom. Emblazoned in our memory as the first adult thing we ever did, we vividly remember the moments as if they were scenes in a movie. Nobody ever forgets the name of his or her prom date. Or the fancy outfit we wore. Or vomiting behind that tree on the side of the road.
Each year, I love seeing the prom outfits that are over the top. Perhaps you’ve seen the duct tape dresses? Well, an Iowa girl has smacked that! Elizabeth Rasmuson has created a prom dress out of gum wrappers. Check it out! Have a good prom story to share? Did you marry your prom date?
Have you seen The King of Kong? It’s a brilliant (and hilarious) documentary about one of the greatest rivalries in the world: the heated competition between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe to be the greatest Donkey Kong player in history. The highest score ever was 1,050,200…until Hank Chien, a doctor from Queens, New York, came along. From nowhere, Chien emerged to crush the record by 10,000 points, scoring a staggering 1,061,700! I ask you, how do people find the time? I suppose I could be like my brother, who turned his addiction to video games into a career at Game Stop. If I could only find a way to turn my addiction to gardening into $ome green. While I weed, get your game on with some Donkey Kong practice here.
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself,” said Josh Billings. Loyalty, a.k.a. allegiance, is faithfulness or devotion to a person or cause, and perhaps we could all start the week learning something from “Lady,” an Ohio golden retriever who stayed by her dead owner’s side in a field for almost a week. Even though family members passed out fliers and searched for Parley Nichols, 81, who had dementia, his body was only discovered after Lady barked at a passerby. “This dog would not leave his side,” said Coroner Investigator Harry Campbell. “No question, she stayed out there on her own volition. Lady saw another human and started barking and wailing.” The coroner found that Parley had died of natural causes. Family members are now caring for Lady, and all I know is when I die, I want to go where the dogs go. Enjoy your week. Oh, and be thankful for loyal friends.
Remember when the Jeffersons left Queens to “move on up” to the luxury of the Eastside? Well, luxury comes with a price. This week New Yorkers are holding our collective breath about an impending strike of the city’s 30,000 doormen and porters who are negotiating their new union contract. If an agreement can’t be reached, 3,200 of New York’s apartment buildings’ residents will find we have to pick up our own dry cleaning, take out our own trash, and meet “Fresh Direct” at the curb. A few week’s back a substitute yoga teacher realized her presence had created a disappointed energy in the room and she announced that sometimes life throws us problems like our a/c goes out, the heel on our expensive shoe scuffs, our dinner is taking to long, or…our favorite yoga teacher calls out sick! These, she said, are “bourgeois problems”- a momentary glitch in our otherwise well-appointed lives. I don’t want our doormen to go on strike (they don’t get paid while they are striking!) but perhaps these kind of lessons make us realize, having someone accept our packages, take out our trash, open the door, is a luxury we should be grateful for. Life, after all, could be harder. Enjoy your dinner, even if it takes longer than you’d like.
