Beauty

Some of the flowers along our walk today though the Venice Canals.

 

                                      Even Walter took the time to stop and smell the flowers!

Back to Ormond Beach

How wonderful it was to be back in Florida for the weekend and to spend time with our family -minus Allison & Brian : (

Tiffany & Silas exploring what all the Nabi can do

On Friday we arrived very early in the morn after taking the redeye, but it was worth it to be able to spend more time with our grandson, Silas!  He greeted us out in the driveway - jumping into our arms and calling out our names!  There's nothing like it!

Later Steve, John, Silas, and I met Tiffany on her lunch break at D.B. Pickles and Scott also joined us.  It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the warm Florida sunshine and visit with the family.

He enjoyed the two kids' gadgets that I brought him -thanks to The Talk give away I had attended a few weeks ago.

Listening to the Easy Reader- thanks to The Talk

He would've been happy if we hadn't brought him anything, but it sure was fun to surprise him with these gifts.

On Saturday we spent the day with Natalie in Gainesville.  Thanks to a lot of help from family & friends we completed the big job of cleaning her furniture and moving it all to a storage unit for the summer (due to a mold problem in the house she was renting with three other girls.)  It was great being with her- just wish it could've been longer.

lunch at Jason's Deli

It was also good to see Kramer.  I miss him so much.  I wish he wasn't in such poor health and could come to California, too.  It was really hard to leave him on Sunday, but it's a relief that Tiffany & John take such good care of him.

One Happy Dog!

I took Walter to the basketball court recently and to his delight there was an enormous puddle.  He ran straight to it, drank a little water and then had the time of his life.

When it was time to go home, I had a difficult time convincing Walter of the same.  He'd come to within arms length and then quickly take off and stand in the middle of the puddle as though he knew that the puddle was too deep for me to walk in and stay dry.  I tried throwing his ball hoping that he'd bring it back to me, but as you can see by his expression - it didn't work too well.  We were there for a VERY long time and I had a VERY wet and happy dog!

Walter Goes to the Dog Park

Steve found a great dog park not too far from us while Lisa was visiting.  I got to go for the first time yesterday and how fun it was to see Walter interact with the other dogs . . . and sometimes, not interact.

After being greeted by most of the dogs all at once, Walter paired up with this dog and they played for quite some time.

At times the dogs would take off leaving him behind.   (I felt like I did when my children were little and other children didn't include them in their play!) 

Not knowing what to do, he discovered that hanging out at the water fountain occupied his time.

Welcome Lisa!

        It's been a fun filled week with my friend, Lisa, who arrived last Tuesday from Florida!

Picking out our rental car (this was our first choice, but the black interior changed our minds since Walter is white and sheds!)  We ended up with a Honda Civic- just like mine in Ormond Beach.

  I had requested  tickets to several shows once Lisa finalized her travel plans- not knowing if we would receive any at all.  It ended up that we received too many and narrowed our attendance to two shows.   Last Thursday we had guaranteed seats to attend a double taping of The Talk- as long as we arrived by 9:45 a.m.  We left very early in the morning and arrived in Studio City with time to spare so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast right around the corner from the CBS studio.  When we arrived in the parking garage there was already a long line of people at 9:15 a.m.  To our surprise emails had been sent out notifying guests to arrive no later than 9:30 a.m. to assure admittance to the show. 

Proud ticket holders

A group of ladies in line smiled when they discovered that Lisa and I had never been to The Talk before and stated that we picked "a very good day to attend".  One lady said, "I hope you have some extra room in your trunk."  Needless to say we were very excited.  How they had the inside scoop, we don't know.

Lisa leaving The Talk with her goodies

Before the shows began, a staff member announced the guests appearing on each show and emphasized "a kids' gadget expert" was a guest.  The staff member then said, "we all know what that means!" and the crowd went nuts!




The first show's guests were  Amy Brenneman, Jennifer Westfeldt, and the guest host sitting in for Sharon Osbourne was Curtis Stone.  On the second show we saw Rick Springfield and Jewel with Tabatha Coffey as the guest host.

The highlight of the second show was the give away- about $600 of items for kids.  Check out the size of our "goodie bag"!  The best item we received was a Nabi Tablet.

On Tuesday we attempted to see The Price is Right, but unfortunately our 2 1/2 hours of standing in line did not pay off.  We did receive two priority tickets for a future taping so Lisa will just have to come back again!  

Some of the other highlights from our visit:

late nights of playing cards filled with laughter

Lucille Ball's home-  one of the homes we saw on our tour

A fun stop but don't buy ANYTHING at the gift shop

The View from the Griffith Observatory at sunset

Beach time and good talks

The view from the Greystone Mansion

Sweet flowers from a sweet friend

Thanks, Lisa, for coming to see me!  (And I hope you're feeling better soon!)

Not Our Typical Saturday

Walter got his stitches removed today and was registered to attend a free puppy play day tomorrow at LA Kennel Club (where he stayed when we were in FL last month), but unfortunately he has a small area on his incision that is draining ( it's either a reaction to the sutures or a slight infection- time will tell).  No antibiotics yet, but also no puppy day tomorrow.  This is the 2nd time we've signed him up for a free puppy day and had to cancel.  I was really looking forward to him having a lot of fun with the other pups.  

We postponed our plans to hike a new trail today and just had an indoor day since the vet's instructions were to keep the wound clean and to keep Walter from licking it.  He hates his cone so I've been monitoring him until he has to wear it at bedtime.  I feel like I'm back at work trying to keep an agitated patient from getting out of bed-  with my chair close to the patient so I can monitor every move! 

I'm really thankful that Walter is here with us; he is such a good companion especially during the week when Steve is at work.   He's adjusted well to life in the city, but still has some fears. 

Here are a few:

He's especially afraid of the two men below.  Thankfully both are on the same side of the street so we can avoid them.  Steve and I tried to convince Walter that the pizza guy was just pretend, but he wasn't buying it.  

He's also very fearful of large street signs on the sidewalk & of balloons.

On a happier note, here are a few things that Walter loves:

-watching dog shows (here he's watching the Westminster Dog Show), resting after playing fetch in the enclosed basketball court (unleashed!), lying down in the nice cool grass,  and snuggling with Steve in the evenings.

I'm really hoping that Walter's wound improves quickly.  Our first guest, Lisa, (woohoo!!!) is arriving on Tuesday evening and we have some fun adventures planned . . . and once again, Walter is registered to attend doggie daycare on Thursday.  Hoping for the best!!!