Am…musings

I used to like bacon as a kid (along with all sorts of other terrible artery-clogging things like Velveeta and fatty steak). Then, my dad had a heart attack at 38 and things like bacon were off the daily Morris menu. I’ve been on my own for a while, but bacon was one of those things on my “not worth the calories and fat” list (the two big exceptions to this rule are the BLT at Crown Candy Kitchen in North St. Louis and my neighbor Marsha’s bagel breakfast sandwich – both are amazing!).

Crown Candy BLT By IronStef @Flickr

I think I’m in the minority on this bacon thing. Several people I follow on Twitter regularly mention bacon, which always amazes me. I also have a few friends that are official Facebook fans of bacon. In fact, there are more than 250,000 fans of bacon on Facebook and nearly 300,000 fans of bacon butty (a bacon sandwich in the UK).

Because I thought I might have an overnight guest last weekend, I bought some bacon, which seemed like a required part of a good manly breakfast (I’m all concerned about serving this particular guy too many girly dishes for some reason). He ended up not feeling well so the package of bacon was still in my fridge when I was scrounging for something for dinner recently.

I chose a (decidedly girly) asparagus omelet and bacon. As a test run for an eventual overnight stay , I even cooked it on the stove instead of the somewhat healthier method of in the microwave (too girly). It smelled wonderful and I was totally jazzed. Then I took a bite. It was ok, but I decided I’ve been right … not necessarily worth the calories and fat. I also think I really do like it better in the microwave. Of course, I’ll have to sacrifice myself for breakfast for the guy.

The alternative title for this post was “My Shower With a Cute, Furry Guy,” aka Chewy. He’s a digger. As a puppy, he dug all the time. He was also a great teacher (or ringleader) and usually got the fosters digging. My dad and I’ve filled most of the holes, but he’s found a few and when it rains, he can’t resist.

Unfortunately, it’s been raining A LOT lately. I should have known better … a few days ago, I caught him lightly dipping his paw in a tiny pond that had formed in one of the holes. The look on his face was devious … and joyful. I yelled then and he stopped. But Wednesday evening I was on the phone with a cute (non-furry) guy and not paying much attention to the pooch. Here’s the result …

It’s difficult to tell with his coloring, but that’s mostly mud, not water, on his chin, ears and front legs. And his belly and back legs looked about the same.

After a cocktail with dinner (to keep me from wanting to shoot him), I changed into some grubby clothes and stuck him in the tub. Because he was so mud-caked, the water from the faucet and a plastic cup just weren’t cutting it so Chew and I hit the shower.

For a dog that loves the hose and will stand out in the rain forever, the tub freaks him out and the shower was pure torture. Nor was it my idea of a good time. Plus, grubby clothes or not, his digging is making a mess around my house. So, if anyone has any advice for keeping a dog from digging, I’d welcome it.

A coworker recently recommended The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I was so ready for a good book after reading two that I found mediocre – Julie and Julie and Queen of the Road. Both of those did come highly recommended from friends (and ironically are by authors who blogged about their adventures) so it might just be me.

The Secret Life of Bees is truly wonderful. As a fan of fiction, I think that might be why I loved it more than the other two non-fiction tomes I mentioned. But the real reason I love The Secret Life of Bees is because of the beautiful writing, which a non-fiction author can expertly tackle … Eat, Love, Pray (one of my top five books) is an excellent example.

The Secret Life of Bees sucked me in with the first paragraph, which ended with this descriptor that made me pause … “The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower, just flying for the feel of the wind, split my heart down its seam.”

The book is full of gorgeous writing like that. I also love that it addresses race relations. I even had to reach for something to bookmark this amazing line … “Up until then I’d thought that white people and colored people getting along was the big aim, but after that I decided everybody being colorless together was a better plan.” Amen.

No offense. Really.

I’m pretty open and honest … in general and in this blog … occasionally maybe too much so. But there are, of course, things I keep from you. Usually, it’s no big deal … I just blog about other things. But sometimes, the things I’ve decided to keep from you are a bit consuming for me, occupying my thoughts to the point where other things I might post about seem inconsequential.

That’s been the case lately.

I feel bad about not posting. I really do. I’ve even been trying to force myself to come up with something … anything, but I’ve never been one to do something I HAVE to do … unless the consequences are steep.

I do have a few posts in mind so you might be hearing more from me lately, but I did want to explain my absence.

And I really do hope you don’t take offense.