A ridiculously long post. Bring out the tim-tams. [Don't worry, it's a happy one.]

Monday.
It was a bad day. I woke up and wrote about something I didn't think I would ever need to again. I didn't expect many people to read it. I often rant and write about sad things, almost hoping that people don't notice them, but just needing to put the words down somewhere. To my surprise, many people did read it, and are still reading it. Some sent comforting words. Some were from people I've never even met, except in the dogblog park.

Let me tell you, a virtual hug is as good as any you may receive in real life.


Tuesday.
There are 2 pots near our garden door. Lush chinese star jasmines grew in them. Then Georgia came to live with us.

Every time we left the house, she would methodically chew through everything. Part of her You Left Me Home Alone routine would be to dig up the 2 jasmines and leave them on the deck for us. Part of my I'm Home, It's Time To Clean Up routine would be to sweep up the soil, shovel it all back into the pots and re-plant the jasmines. This went on for at least a year.

Georgia's not dug up the jasmines in a long time. They have weak stems and shallow roots, but they survived. But that's not the story I want to tell you here.

I want to show you what's growing BETWEEN the pots.

It's a baby orange tree. I first noticed it on Tuesday.

There used to be an old orange tree where the 2 pots are now. Over the years, it developed some kind of bug infestation. The branches blackened and started dying one by one. Eventually the entire tree died and the bark started to peel off. We took it down. We hadn't made any effort to save it because the fruit wasn't any good. That was 3 years ago, before we got Georgia, before we lost Jordan.

I don't know how it's possible that there's a baby orange tree growing there again, but I look forward to following its progress.


Wednesday.
I didn't feel like writing but I was keen to read. I saw that one of the bloggers on my blogroll had won an award and went over to congratulate her.

I've only just discovered this blog. It's about a lady who lives with a whole bunch of critters, many of whom she fosters. Her name is Jean. She has some amazing stories. Some of them make me cry. But that's okay. I enjoy a good cry now and then. In fact, here's one of my favourites. Bring out the Kleenex.

As I continued to read her post, I suddenly saw a familiar name. This one. littledogsonlongleashes.

Yes, she'd chosen this blog as one of the ones she was forwarding the award to. I told her I was gobsmacked. And, liking the word a lot, I'll use it here too. I'm gobsmacked.

Anyone who has actually seen me will know that Jean made a mistake with this award. Although I've lately started to wear [tent] dresses [mostly because I'm now too large to fit into last summer's shorts], I have never been, and will never be, mistaken for stylish.

So I will continue Jean's tradition of letting the stylish one in the family pick up the award.

"Thank you Ms Jean! I'm sorry I look so grumpy here but my stay-at-home human woke me up from my mid-morning nap just to take this picture and I didn't even get a sliver of liver for it."

I would thank God but I'm not religious. So I will instead thank Jean Who Lives In Pants, for giving me something to smile about on February 9th.

Thursday.
My friend Michelle turned 30. I don't remember what it's like to be 30 [or even 40, but maybe we shouldn't go there].

Being a brave girl, she wasn't fazed one tiny bit. I'm so proud of her for not wilting and wailing at the thought of being up the hill [though far from over it].

We had A Most Marvellous [and I bet fattening] Chinese Banquet to celebrate. I'm going to list the dishes here because I sometimes talk about food and share recipes in this dogblog, and I haven't done that for a while.

Oysters in shell, with lightly seasoned vermicelli

Peking duck crepes

Sang choy pau

Pineapple rice

Garlic and chilli prawn fritters

Slow braised pork

Wagyu beef with Chinese leek

Crispy deep fried fish

Assorted mushrooms, stirfried

Mango pudding

2 birthday cakes - taro and tiramisu

I hope I remembered them all, but if I didn't, you get the picture. It was Very Yummy.

Friday.
There are strings attached to getting the award.

String 1 - I have to tell everyone 7 things about myself. I've already explained to Jean that I don't have 7 revelations to share. What I do have, are some very good reasons for that. And these, I WILL share.

1. I am a very boring person.
2. I am a very shy person.
3. I am a very secretive person.
and lastly,
4. I am an anonymous person who is pretending to be a dog.

I hope those are good enough reasons for you.

Instead, I'll tell you 2 things about Georgia you don't know! I could only come up with 2 things because I've done nothing but write about her for 13 months, so I suspect you know almost as much about Ms Pea as I do!

Here they are.

1. Georgia used to be called Molly!

At least, that was the name on her collar. But we were told that it wasn't HER collar, just one from the pound that fit her scrawny neck.

If you've been following Georgia's story, you'll know that she and Rufus are housemates, but not the best of friends. I suppose the age gap is just too big. She wants to play and thinks he's boring. He wants to sleep and thinks she's a bluebottle in his tail.

But, in the beginning of time, it was Rufus B Thumper, not us humans, that picked Georgia Little Pea out of all the dogs he met at several rescues.

She was in awe of him in those days. She worked hard for 1 whole night to get onto his good side [and permission to enter the lounge room]. I have that whole Working Her Feminine Wiles On Unsuspecting Old Dog on video but it's too long and blurry to share, so here are a couple of pictures instead, of her crowning moment.

2. Yes, Georgia liked Rufus quite a bit back then.

String 2 - I pass the award on to a few more blogs. [Jean said 15, but that's practically my whole blogroll! So I'm just going to settle for 3.]

I'm also going to make more awards of my own to hand out, in addition to The Stylish Award. I have no pretty badges for them, but I hope the recipients like them anyway.

The Thank You For Making Me Look At My Senior Dog Through New Eyes Award goes to c at ddy. This blog has a lot of information and many helpful links for people who have senior dogs. As you may know, Rufus isn't just geriatric, he's also sickly in many ways. So it was wonderful to "meet" Chandra and to learn from her, how to appreciate my old dog as he is. To be honest, with so many bad Rufus days, I had forgotten. But I've now been reminded, and I thank her for it.


The Very Stylish As You Can See From Her Latest Post Award goes to The Queen and Supreme Goddess Of Bermtopia. I might be stepping out of line here, but I think this lady MAY be as opinionated as me. Plus she spontaneously helped me write 2 posts that went completely under the radar [according to my ever dependable stats counter] but which I will have to list as 2 of my favourites to write. And here they are 1, 2 and 3. Yes, if you're going to read 1, you'll have to read them all. Trust me on this. And if you'd like to know why I enjoy her blog, this is the post that did it for me, right HERE.


The On A Bad Day, Have A Look At How Some Other People Are Doing Award goes to Emmy at Dogs In Brazil. I found this blog a few months back because I like trawling for small blogs from farflung places. I then forgot all about it, until I saw it on DaleysDogYears. That was around the time of the Brazil floods. Emmy's up-close and personal account of the aftermath of the flooding [and particularly its effect on local animal life] was riveting to read. I haven't stopped reading the blog since.

I could forward the award to every blog on my shortish blogroll because I enjoy them all in different ways. Why else would they be there on the blogroll? But I'm going to stop here and, instead, say to everyone else,  

"I'm so glad to have met you. Thank you for making my visits to the blog park fun :)"

It's been an up and down 5 days. But it's late afternoon on Friday now, and despite the dread of Monday and thanks to friends, it's been a good week.

I'm now going to go back to My Life With The Critters and pay a visit to Jean's other awarded blogs. I don't believe I've heard of any of them before.

I think it's going to be a good weekend too.