Late Saturday afternoon…Halloween…

Not scheduled to upload until Sunday morning…

I don’t know how many of you (well, if you’re reading this, you obviously visit the blog) that have sent things recently join us on the blog. Please accept my wholehearted thanks! After being awol for several months – thanks to a second career as a producer and film editor – it’s great to have fun things showing up, once again, in my inbox. Blog-worthy things. Blog-sharing things. Halloweeny bloggy things. One shared Halloweeny bloggy thingy is pre-scheduled for next Halloween. After a year has passed, even I will be surprised when it shows up on the doorstep of the blog. It’s great to take a train of thought and go with it on the keyboard. Ah! I’m almost normal again. Oh! No! Not normal!

Rod sent these photos and a post…

Hi Debby, 

 I thought I would send you some recent pictures of our two little ones. It is amazing how much color change Dawa went through to where she now looks much like her older brother with the exception of some red streaks on both her ears. Another characteristic they both share is the single tooth that tends to always show when they look at you, Dawa’s is on the left side of her face and Karma is on the right. In the attached photographs Dawa is in the picture labeled “Puppy with pumpkin” and of course Karma’s picture is labeled with the 1 in the title. Personality wise Karma is much more relaxed and has let Dawa assume alpha but she is certainly lost when he is not around. Dawa is certainly our little princess who is extremely affectionate and will always come up to your face to give you kisses. They both are so much a part of our family that it is truly difficult to plan a vacation without them going. Thank you so much for such wonderful well adapted puppies.  Take care!

Rod & Olga

It is taking me some time to put National Specialty week in perspective. Expanding our gene pool…via the dream of Native Stock and via the Gompa dogs…is receiving excellent support. Greatly encouraged by particular supporters and the creativity brought to the table, I’m excited about the next year. But, that’s not what I want to share on this day, Halloween. I want to share about a long-time friend. A friend I’d never met in person, yet we go back years. Maybe I can coax her to the blog and she can share what she remembers about how we met. What I remember is that we hit if off immediately, with a similar twisted sense of humor. My ritual each night was – and still is – to take a bath after putting the dogs to bed. With anticipation, I would hardcopy her email, saving it to savor while soaking, sipping an adult beverage. Does it get any better than a hot bath and a giggle to ease into the evening? We loved Lhasa Apsos. We loved vampire lore. We loved Johnny Depp. We loved to write.

And the first time I met her in person was several minutes before the Breeders Education program began. I had no idea what she looked like, but I knew she’d be there. She came up to me, tentatively, asking if I was Debby. Yes, I am (at least most of the time I’ll claim myself). She said, “I’m Jenny.” I think that was the longest hug I’ve ever given anyone. No words were exchanged. Jenny was co-editor of The Lhasa Apso Reporter when we first faced RD. The series of articles titled “Renal Dysplasia: An Oddessy” was published in The Reporter and later received an Award of Excellence from the Dog Writers Association of America. Jenny was part of that; there from the ‘beginning’.

So, late this afternoon, Halloween afternoon, I’ll end this entry with a salute to Jenny and a recipe she shared for this special day…

Yummy. Maybe I’ll try it tonight while I’m listening to Open Space, my friend Cort’s band.