A morning to remember. . .arf, arf!

It's called "Walk, Waggle and Stroll" but it should be called "A Million Laughs for a Wonderful Cause".  I participated in the Miami Lighthouse's annual Dog Walk event, held at the Shops at MidTown Miami, on Sunday morning.  Didn't have my own canine (I'm a cat person as you well know) so I shared with friend Sheila's delicious dog Henry, a malti-poo, and friend Susie Conroy's gorgeous black Lab, Bella.

 Bella, incidentally, beat out a slew of other dogs to win First Prize in the "Dog Bobbing" contest. (Think "Bobbing for Apples" with kids at Xmas.)  While other dogs wagged their tails and thought twice about it, even as their owners begged, Bella went head first into the water in the big plastic container to retrieve the chunks of frankfurters down at the bottom.  As a matter of fact, Bella went back for seconds, possibly the reason Susie says she tends to be overweight.  She was the winner of that event, paws down.

The Miami Lighthouse's Annual Dog Walk is a very successful fund raiser for that very worthwhile non-profit agency, as well as just an incredibly funny and fun event. This year over $20,000 was raised, and will go towards supporting orientation and mobility services for the blind and visually impaired. The actual "walk" part, about a half mile around the area, was lead by Lighthouse CEO Virginia Jacko and her wonderful yellow Lab (and my great friend when he has his work harness off), Kieran, plus Honorary Chairman of the event, Miami Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman, with her two beautiful dogs. Sheila, Susie and I "walked the walk" with Henry and Bella, stopping to take lots of pictures and returning to the park to watch all the hilarious dog "contests".
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Photo captions:  (1)  Ready to walk in our Britto-designed tee shirts
                           (2)  The brochure
                           (3)   Henry, looking handsome, in his St. Paddy's Day outfit
                           (4)   Susie, congratulating soaking wet Bella, on her big win.

I'd like to say right here that Henry should have won "Best Costume".  Unfortunately, there was a little problem with his hat falling off at a critical moment in the judging, and he was upstaged by a rottweiler in a tutu.  What can I tell you.

A difficult question. . .

My old friend Marty Kahn called me this morning to consult on a very important matter. . .what to do with all his old ski equipment and ski clothes that he hasn't used or worn for several years but just can't get himself to throw or give away.  I totally understood his problem.  Both of us have come to the realization that our skiing days are over, but not without a struggle. Mainly, I think, because we're forced to acknowledge that if either of us took a header on the slopes, we'd both have a helluva time getting back up.

Marty called me for my opinion because we have "history"when it comes to skiing.  That's because back umpteen years ago when I turned 50, I decided the ex and I should learn to ski. The ex was a Bronx boy who had never even been on a mountain, but he was game to try.  Although I went to college in snowbound Syracuse, nice Jewish girls didn't do stuff like that in those days, so obviously, I was pretty mature when I decided to suddenly become an athlete.  Marty and his late wife Nancy were our close friends, and if the Spectors were going to learn to ski, I insisted the Kahns followed suit.  And ski we did, all over the world together, on many great occasions.

Today, Marty is a very respected retired judge.  We actually met more than 40 years ago when he served as City Attorney for the City of North Miami and I was the Public Relations Director for that municipality.  Times have changed for our old home town as well.  Today it is the largest Haitian community in the U.S.

I wasn't much of a help in answering Marty's questions on what to do with all his "stuff".  I still have a pair of skis leaning against the side wall of my storage locker downstairs in my condo building, just in case.  I did send a lot of my ski clothes to my surrogate daughter Allison when she was living in Colorado, but I admit to being unable to part with my favorite red velvet ski jacket , that is still hanging in my closet, just in case it ever snows in Miami, or I happen to find myself on top of a mountain in Switzerland.  (  Yeah, that's me in the photo, wearing my favorite, on top of some mountain.)

Hope springs eternal.
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Photo caption:

A trip back in time. .

My friend Sheila and I went to the Annual Gifford Lane Art Stroll today.  Gifford Lane is a throwback to Coconut Grove in the early 60's.  The houses on the street are all small wood cottages, surrounded by huge shade trees and overgrown shrubs. You can't exactly call it landscaping, it's more like Nature made the decisions as to what went where and the homeowners came along for the ride.

We went for the art, but the atmosphere of this quiet little street in Center Grove, particularly during Art Stroll,  is simply marvelous.  At one point, we were invited into a home where the owner had her art on display throughout this typical 60's cottage which is exactly as it must have looked then, sans air conditioning, (that was only for the wealthy in those days), and today's inevitable computer and printer on the owner's desk.  For a donation to some local charity, I can't remember which at the moment, Sheila and I each enjoyed a frosty "cucumber & gin" drink, that was ladled out of a huge glass bowl and was absolutely wonderful.  That's me gratefully drinking up in the back yard of the house. (For you guys reading this up North, welcome to South Florida. . it's 80 degrees and getting hot here today.)

As usual, dogs were everywhere, all getting along wonderfully.  Do you have to guess what I had for lunch?  I have to either give up going to art shows or get help for my arepa addiction.

For those of us who remember Coconut Grove as a bucolic, artsy little village, Gifford Lane is truly a trip back in time.  Today the Grove is super sophisticated with multi-million dollar condos going up everywhere you look along Bayshore Drive with its coveted view of Biscayne Bay.  I guess it's a sign of age, but it is fun to remember.
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Informality is the order of the day.

Drinking up my Gin and Cucumbers!

Only in The Grove. . the line under Medical Marijuana jars reads "I guess you could put other stuff in them!"