I am looking back and forward (and have pictures of puppies).

I caught Jayne trying to dig a hole right next to the one we filled with the bag of cement sand yesterday. That said, they haven't successfully escaped in about a week now (knock on wood).

Also yesterday, Kaylee had another seizure. She'll go for months without one and I sort of forget she gets them, and then bam. Poor thing.

Also our neighbors got a new puppy.

So the dogs are keeping me busy.

***

There was a dog show in town over Memorial Day weekend, and this year's Tibetan Spaniel specialty was held here as well (a specialty is a show just for one breed of dog. For popular breeds, it can be a real prestige event; for less popular breeds like Tibbies, it's a great way to pick up majors toward a dog's championship).

Trail of Tibbies.

We primarily showed Rhodesian Ridgebacks in our dog-showing days, but my sister wanted a little fluffy dog and we ended up getting and showing a Tibbie. As with many things ostensibly purchased for my sister (such as the fish tank), I think Howard the Fluffrat* was really my mom's dog. He has since passed on, and she has replaced him with two girl fluffrats, Ruffles* and Apple*.

*Not their real names. I took an adolescent dislike to the small dogs, being a big-dog kind of gal and loyal to my Ridgies, and renamed Ch. Royal D's Kokopelli "Howard." Though they've grown on me, I insist on carrying on the tradition. Ruffles I think is really Ch. Royal D's Diamond in the Ruff and Apple is something something Queen Mab (different breeder, so not Royal D, and she's a pet so was never shown and is not "finished," so no Champion). There's a peculiar logic as to how I got Apple out of that (Ruffles is obvious and Howard just looked like a Howard), but I won't bother you with it here.

I think her name is Bailey.

ANYWAY, all this to say that Howard's breeder was in town for the specialty with Apple's littermate Bo and some bitch (above) that I'm sure is related to Howard or Ruffles in some way but I don't really know. Anyway, we stopped by to watch Sunday's Tibbie classes and say hi to Ruth and the Tiblets. The bitch is a pretty one (see above; adorable, right?) but didn't win anything that day; however she did pick up a major on Friday, which was the last one she needs for her Grand Champion title. She only needs one more point now to finish that and anyway this dog show talk is probably boring.

The point is: cute fluffies and a chat with a friend of the family.

***

This upcoming weekend we have a surprise sixtieth birthday party for a friend at church (when I was younger, I thought sixty was ancient. And it still sounds old, but it doesn't look old. I never guess that my friends who are sixtyish are that old, because in my mind sixty is still a doddering old lady) and my step-sister-in-law's wedding. Party party.

The story of my life at this moment is celebrations: birthdays, weddings, wins.

Or perhaps the better term is connections. The connections that bind me to the DDH's family and his step-father's family to his and my step-sister-in-law to her almost-husband's family. Ties that bind.

The connections we're finally forging at church, making friends as slowly as only a pair of shy introverts can.

The connections between my mom and her friend who is my old dog's breeder and between all the dogs and all the people that own and breed and love on the dogs.

The connections that are forming order out of chaos as I organize the craft room and clean and purge the rest of the house--connections made and connections severed.

The connections broken and reformed when the dogs leave and return. (And a seizure is a kind of leaving, as she becomes completely unaware of her surroundings during it, supposedly.)

Celebrating the connections. That's what I'm up to these days.

***

Some weekend reading for you:

Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy recommended this post last week, and I'm still pondering it: Legos, Spaceships, Breasts by Kate Bachus. My thoughts might eventually be worthy of their own post, but in the meantime, I leave it for your consideration. Where are you on the boy/girl toy divide?

Speaking of marketing to children, Kathleen Quiring's post today on Children as Consumers and the Invention of the Toddler is interesting reading, as well.

And to go along with the marketing theme, the foodies among you might be interested in this book excerpt posted at The Atlantic, How Vegetable Oils Replaced Animal Fats in the American Diet, by Drew Ramsey and Tyler Graham.

***

What are your weekend plans? What connections are you celebrating right now?

Have you ever been to a dog show?