Sweetest. Funniest. Best.

I've known for a long time that this was a post I needed to write. Didn't want to, but needed to.

Just a few days ago (August 9th) marked exactly one year since we lost this precious friend to lymphoma. There. I said it.
It was just so hard to speak of, so hard to think about. Many of you heard about it in other ways, but since I wasn't blogging at the time, some of you never knew the story. Weegie was such a very big part of this blog. My goodness, he even wrote a post here and there making it even more difficult to imagine this little blog without his sweet spirit infusing everything from the stories and photos all the way down to things like recipe selection.
A recipe that included blueberries? A must have. Bacon? You betcha.

Weegie was almost 9 years old. He should have been around for a few more years.

Or forever.



When he was diagnosed in October of 2013 the veterinarian guessed he had 2-3 more months. I can't and won't begin to describe that day. It's etched in my brain and psyche forever. But.I don't want this to be a mournful post.

(By the way, in typical Weegie fashion, he stubbornly defied the odds and lived almost 10 months after the diagnosis.)

He was the sweetest, funniest, best dog.

No, today I want to celebrate. Celebrate God's goodness wrapped up in the gift of a slightly overweight, sometimes impertinent, hysterically funny, big-hearted dog with extremely short legs.

Weegie loved blueberries, bacon, cheese and pancakes. The pancakes had to be eaten outside. On the grass. Who knows why. But he insisted on it.

He disliked thunder, the hairdryer, and the vacuum cleaner. All evil, he thought.

He loved to eat, sleep in odd positions, ride in the Mule, chase the cows, eat, swim and poop (sorry). He was what we called a show-pooper. He liked an audience, and that's all I'll say about that.

Weegie loved water. Loved it. He was the Mark Spitz of the doggie world.



He was the sweetest, funniest, best dog.







The Mule did not move unless The Weege was in it. It just wasn't done.

For years, Weegie also enjoyed a special on-again-off-again friendship with Donkey. Honestly I believe they were kindred spirits with their penchance for rule-breaking and disdain of the establishment.

Weegie let us know early on that he would pick and choose the rules he would follow. He absolutely excelled at house-training.  I bet he had no more than two or three accidents ever. Period. On the other hand, Puppy School Training was not his forte. He did not enjoy any of the parts that involved sitting and obeying. He did, however, enjoy the copious amounts of attention that he received as the all time cutest Corgi puppy ever, and he loved to steal the treats from the other dogs in the class while they were, in fact, distracted by all the sitting and obeying. Brilliant.
He graduated with his class, but we always suspected that it was simply because of his perfect attendance.
Hey. He has a diploma. It counts.

Like I said,

He was the sweetest, funniest, best dog.

He had an incredibly high tolerance for pain. The doctors were always amazed. When he had a completely torn ACL (either from his running back days in the NFL)(or chasing the cows) he was almost impossible to keep still. On the day after surgery he escaped his tiny enclosed pen and made his way upstairs. Oy.

When the lymphoma slowly worsened, the vet said he had never seen a dog tolerate it with so much determination.
Weegie was tough. And smart.

For the last 8 months or so of his life, we were at the farm together. Mostly just the two of us. 24 hours a day. I will cherish every single one of those days with him.

In his last few months he loved to lay on the hill in the front yard at the farm. That place is shaded by a huge oak tree and from this vantage point he could keep an eye on his kingdom, the cows, and be in earshot of the Mule starting up.

We buried him on a very hot August afternoon in that exact spot.

If someone ever tells you that a dog can't make a difference in your life, you can be absolutely sure they never had a Weegie in theirs.

He was the sweetest. The funniest. The best.

Always in my heart.

Just a Little Grace

Let's Talk.

Last night some friends and I had Bible Study together. It was a special time as always with lots of talk, many laughs, and as you would suspect, a good amount of food. I mean everyone needs to eat, don't they? And what better time to do it than when you're discussing The Word.

Praise God and Bless all the Hearts.

A particularly lively discussion ensued when we reached the section on the prevalent societal problem popularly identified as "Pride of Lifestyle".  And although we hear about and see this in myriad ways, it's most often glaringly revealed in the posts and photographs we scroll through every day when looking at social media of all types.

To be clear- we all think posting and sharing with friends is good. It's just that it's hard to ignore the fact that in all too many a few cases it's also clear that the person posting has, let's say, an agenda.

You know the one. The friend(s) who constantly posts about their frequent travels to exotic places. And yet instead of just the lovely shots of scenery and informative suggestions (which we might love) on where to visit in case anyone else gets the opportunity to go (give me a beautiful picture of mountains and/or trees any day!) you seem to get lots! of photos of them with their spouse/significant other holding a wine glass up to the sunset on the balcony of an expensive hotel or restaurant patio. Or the pictures of the expertly plated (3rd) gourmet meal of their day. Vacations are great. We all love them, and usually desperately need them. Perhaps, though, in our enthusiasm to occasionally overshare it might be wise to edit the re-cap of the trip to include some photos that actually show the place that you visited and not just you in that place. It's possible that we (myself included)  might send the message: Look where I was! I drank lots of wine, took lots of selfies, and most importantly did not do all the boring everyday things that all you other people did while you were not here too.

Then there are the exercisers. They are so tired because they ran/walked 16 miles in the awful heat this morning. And just to help you visualize, they post a map of their route. Thank you. I was concerned about which direction you went. They played two rounds (matches? sets? quarters?) of tennis just before lunch, but that's OK because it was certainly easier and less strenuous than the 4 hours of Crossfit they did at dawn. Meanwhile you are reading this in your hole-y yoga pants that you fully intend to wear ALL DAY LONG. And frankly there will be no yoga involved. That would require getting off the couch and entirely too much exercise.
In all seriousness, people might want to think a bit about their motivation for these posts. Are they motivational/inspirational to others? Is your honest intention to encourage others to get healthy, or to invite friends to join you?
Or is it possible that you're saying: Look what I did! I'm not on my couch like you! My yoga pants are aptly named! As a matter of fact my second yoga class of the day starts in 20 minutes and I need to start running there now. I should hydrate more.

(No need for me to include myself in this group because, you know, EXERCISE.

Let's also consider those who like to share photos of what they just bought. Things like clothes or jewelry, or your 19th pair of fancy and expensive cowboy boots (you just can't help yourself! although you never wear most of them! they're just so cute! and after all! you didn't have a turquoise and red pair!) Really?
Now if you just bought a much anticipated new house (Yay!) or a new car after driving a beater for the last 10 years? Post away! We celebrate with you! The friends who know and love you will always appreciate you sharing milestone and life-changing purchases. And by all means, if you got a cute new (or old) dog (I mean pet...) you cannot post enough pictures. All dog All new pet pictures and stories are appropriate. The more that involve weird pet sleeping positions and doggie "bloopers" the better. Pet photos are cute and entertaining. Bring them on.

But shoes. Accessories. A fur jacket. Let's re-evaluate here.
Are we seriously considering our motivations when we post pictures of these purchases? Do other people really need to know that we just bought that? Is someone out there waiting to get this news?

Or are we saying: Look what I bought/have/own/just got! Do you have one too?



I'm aware that many of us have small group pages on social media made up of good, extremely close friends with whom we can share anything at all. No holds barred. This is good. We love to see all things from all the people there.

But your public, everyone sees it place? Not so much.


Despite my obvious cynicism on the issue (please forgive) I hope you're able to glean my point here.
 I think social media can be wonderful (Hello, my name is Lu and I'm kind of a blogger.) We can use it to keep in touch, be informed, and share important (or even not so important) news. We can make people laugh, encourage, and love on people in ways in which they may never be touched otherwise.


All it takes is a little self-evaluation and showing some grace. Because we can all use a little grace.

All the time.

But I Do Not Want To Turn To The Left

Some (four to be exact) things:

1) The heat. So very hot.


2) Parking Garages. I think we can all agree, can't we, that they can be exasperating. One unfortunate afternoon years ago I drove in some kind of circular/elliptical/spiral-y pattern for a good 20 minutes trying to locate the exit to one. Please do not ask my sons about this.
And today I experienced another new Parking Garage Low when I could see the row of spaces I was trying to park in, but I could. not. get. to. it. So many arrows. So many signs. So much turning to the left. So much unnecessary confusion.
And why is it when you have to swipe your permit (and OK, you also might be going the wrong way)(because of the confusing signage, of course) that there is always, always another car right on your bumper? I find this grossly unfair,and it also gets on my very last nerve.
I know you all share my disgruntlement.
Tell me you share it.

So just a shout out to all the Parking Garage Engineers out there: Let's get it together, OK?


3) The Extra Toasty Cheez-its? A real joy and a blessing, that's what they are. Please hop in your hot car right now and go get some.

4) Collateral Damage. I have this incredible new office and right now it looks infinitely boring and sterile, so today I came home and decided I would choose one of the beautiful plants off my patio to take there to make it look more homey and pretty and you know, plant-y. And what do I discover but that a rabbit has eaten every single solitary one of the lower leaves off of most of my plants, and that the others, which are obviously not to the rabbit's liking, are infested with fire ants.  I put a fair amount of thought into all the bad and horrible things that I could (and rightly should) do to that rabbit and those ants because they had clearly ruined my life and my day (not to mention my greenery) and WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE ANYWAY? Until I realized that perhaps I was a little over-invested emotionally in the thought of the plant and the office and the perfection it would all be. You do that too, don't you?

Maybe it was the heat.

So, fine. Boring and sterile office? Check.




I hope all of you are having a glorious week. Do me a favor and make someone smile tomorrow, will you?


Much love,