The Dog days of Summer

This month was a rough one, what with the passing of Louise and an unplanned visit to Holly's family for her grandfather's funeral. The timing of these two events somehow worked out beautifully, as it had us out of the house for a week when it felt the emptiest for us. Visiting family was just what we both needed.

Originally I wasn't going to post anything about Louise on this blog. I already did put up something to wrap up her site - which ran for six years - I'm a little proud of that - and felt that was enough, but I still felt the need to add something here. Please indulge me a little, I've spared you the worst of it by far.

There really hasn't been much else going on for us this summer - the weather is finally starting to feel like summer, but I've been in the office a lot this season so I've managed to stay extra pale this year. Our days have been filled with work, and wrapping up those ongoing arrangements for Louise - like cancelling her dog tag renewal, notifying her vet, etc.

My birthday is coming up this week, I'll be 41. We hope to have some friends over to celebrate but I am pretty sure that will be a low-key affair - this isn't some huge milestone in my life. Yet it's still a cause to celebrate and I feel that I need that a little more than usual this year. Many of the people attending are folks I haven't really seen much of this summer. Oh, and my birthday gift from Holly this year: a trip to Las Vegas this fall. (it's also going to be my gift to her, since her birthday follows shortly after mine.) Some of Holly's family have arranged to go, and it looks like we will be joining them there.

Now THAT will be a good time.