Hey Mary,

I was just laughing at the New Yorker calendar pages you sent in your last envelope.  Sometimes a laugh comes from an unexpected place.  I have had but don't tend to use those 365 Days Of calendars. They're funny though and great for writing notes on.  In fact I had one a handful of years ago.  365 Days of Pekingese. Well, my Mackey is adorable.  He is also nearly every one of those pages.  

I saved the laugh out loud ones and every so often just pop one into an envelope and mail off to my friend Helen, the breeder. I don't always hear from her after she receives it but the next time she sees me that Old Curmudgeon giggles a little and tells me how much she enjoyed my envelope.

You were discussing Dispassionate Observation, a term I have heard but hadn't ever thought about other than to think, "how nice to observe the world with dispassionate abandon."  The way things are today, I am beginning to think there are too many practicing Buddhism for the world's good.  We seem to all be dispassionate about the things that really matter and spend inordinate amounts of energy on reality (seriously?) TV and Hyped Up Media Mash. The journalistic approach to serious news is a huge mistake. Give me the nitty gritty.  I'd rather wait until the next newscast for an accurate story full of the truth and concrete facts than listen to that vapid on-the-scene reporter repeating the same misinformation over and over.  We all need more real and less fluff. Even if it is hard to hear, difficult to watch, tough to take. 

So here's what I know about DO now.  Too much DO does indeed have its own set of problems.  But in a pinch, I'm going to step back as needed and view the world a different way.

Today I ordered some really cool tee shirts from Teefury.com (or something like that -- I nearly always have to Google again).  Why I am excited about these shirts is that they are really cool Hobbit Brew shirts and the person I'm sending them too will just get a real kick out of the shirts.  Sending two.  One for him.  One for a friend. Or not.  He's welcome to keep them both if he wants.  But it's just that I found really cool, young tees that are trendy and did I mention cool?  

I know I didn't mention that after many months of waiting and looking Miss Emily now has her puppy.  A chocolate and white Chihuahua whom she has named Princess Sadie.  We of course all call her, "Sadie".  Pretty little thing and so very sweet.  We hope that Miss Emily and Sadie will have many happy, healthy, loyal years together.  And I love that we were able to give a shelter dog a home.  From what I can tell, Sadie loves it too.

All the best,
Kathy

                            Yoshi and Sadie.