Meet me at the Pet Palooza Festival

It was Bark in the Park time on Saturday, as I made my way to Independence Park in Charlotte's Uptown area for the Humane Society's annual Walk for Animals.  The event included a 2k pet walk, but since I'm a cat volunteer person, my job was to help volunteer photographer Maria Goto with her photo assignment.

What an incredible day!  Never saw so many huge dogs, medium size dogs, and tiny little dogs, in my life.  And so well behaved!  Many were dressed in costumes for the prize portion of the event which even included a Doga (that's yoga for people and dogs) layout.  All proceeds from the walk and festival will benefit the Humane Society, and over $100,000 was collected throughout the day.

Herewith, some of my very unprofessional photos. . .

Meet Micro & Chip.  I'm the guy in the middle.

Home made dog cookies???

Doga  - Yoga for people & their dogs.

Gorgeous huge dogs

Adopt me, please!!!

Adorable little dogs

Resting up after a very busy day.

 

The Pet Palooza Walk gets underway.

Remembering Elvis. . .

Priscilla Pressley was on the Today Show this morning talking about a documentary coming out called Elvis Pressley: The Searcher.  I don't know much about what kind of searching Elvis did, but it made me remember a time in the early 50's when my first husband, Artie Mogull, was working in New York City as a song plugger for various bands, and had just returned from a trip to Memphis, Tennessee.  Artie went on to become a legend in the music business, as CEO of Columbia Records and discoverer of talent like Olivia Newton John, Kenny Rogers, The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary. He was known for his ability to recognize talent early on. 

This was long before his halcyon days, however.  He was just out of college, we were  married only a few years and I was home in Mt. Vernon with our new little baby, Andrea.  He returned from the trip and was telling me over dinner about this remarkable local concert he had attended.  The young guy who was singing was playing the guitar and shaking his hips like crazy.

"I never saw anything like it," I remember he said. "He wore really tight white jeans kind of pants and you could  see the outline of his black underpants through the white.  The girls in the audience were all screaming as he sang, and when he finished, they actually threw their underwear up on the stage.  It was the wildest scene I ever saw."

I asked him the singer's name.  He thought about it for a few seconds and then said "Elvis something.  I don't really remember. Probably never hear about him again."

That was definitely one time you were wrong, Artie.
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I admit it. I'm crazy about animals.

It's great to have friends who do interesting things.  Saturday morning, during my five day quick trip to Miami, my old friend Diane Dickhut invited Paul and me to come to ZooMiami, where she is a tour guide as well as head of the zoo's volunteer association.  Sure, you can just walk around the zoo and look at the wonderful animals, but with Diane at the wheel of her golf cart, we got the full treatment, including back-of-the-house tidbits about the animals.

ZooMiami is nothing like the zoo's of my childhood.  I remember my Dad taking my sister Fran and me to the Bronx Zoo when we were kids.  Today, I realize with sadness that those animals were all in cages, staring out at us literally from behind bars.  At ZooMiami, any sign of a cage is long since gone.  Animals roam freely, in wide open habitats, separated by deep moats from the visitors, but close enough to be easily seen.  The emphasis is on conservation, breeding and the best of care.

Barney The Gorilla

Diane at the wheel

Great guide, great friend.

Mom and baby, born at Zoo

It is an amazing place and I can't thank Diane enough for a marvelous morning.
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Gone to the dogs, and loving it!

.

Is there anyone who knows me well that doesn't know my favorite TV show is Pitbulls and Parolees?  Well today, I got to live my addiction in spades.

The phone call came on Saturday from Cassie Peterson, Animal Care Manager at the Charlotte Humane Society.  "We are going to celebrate St. Pitties Day on Facebook on March 17th," she announced.  "All adoption fees will be waived for the event.  We need you and Maria to help us on Monday when you come to do the cats." 

St. Pitties, I quickly discovered, was short for Pitbulls, and I was to do the descriptions of the dogs and Maria Goto was to take the photos.  I am now on intimate terms with 20.. .I said 20. . of the most incredibly handsome and totally delicious pitbull mixes you have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  I have to write the lady in charge of the shelter on the TV show that she is absolutely right, this is the most misunderstood dog breed.  Every single one of the 20 we worked with this afternoon couldn't have been sweeter or more loving.  Never got so many kisses in my life.

Cassie bought bags full of St. Patrick's Day party stuff to dress the dogs, a challenging business to say the least when you try putting a hat and sunglasses on a very active, extremely happy to be out of his or her cage, dog.  Thanks to staff members Amber, Leona and Dyshan, we managed it, one dog at a time, working for some 2 1/2 hours to record each and every one.  If it helps to get some of them  adopted, it will all be very worth while.

Below are a few of my photos, not Maria's.  It was an exhausting but truly incredible day.


Maria hard at work.

This is Sugar Baby.

Say hello to Sparky.

Couldn't have done it without the wonderful
staff.

Cassie giving instructions.

It's raining cats and dogs. . . .

As I have already blogged, my official job at the Charlotte Humane Society is interviewing the cats up for adoption and writing their descriptions.  Just how long did anyone who knows me well think I could keep on ignoring the dogs.

A new friend named Maria Goto is the volunteer photographer of both the cats and the dogs.  We meet almost every Monday afternoon to work together on the cats and today she asked me if I could stay a little longer and help her with the dogs.  I was hooked.

It breaks my heart to see how many large dogs end up at the HSC. The older dogs, especially the pit bull mixes, are the hardest to get adopted. Fortunately, we are a no-kill shelter.  That's why I was delighted to snap photos of Starsky and Hutch, because they have both just been adopted and are on their way today to their "forever home".





Hutch

 

Starsky

The Infirmary, checking in a new arrival.

His name is Keeper and he'd love to be one.

This is Bon Jovi.  I wonder if he sings.



This is Bono.  I think he's musical also.

The Charlotte Humane Society does an incredible job getting both cats and dogs adopted to loving homes and I love feeling that I may be helping that happen, even for just a bit.  Maria photographs the dogs out of their cages, with help from someone a lot stronger than me.  I couldn't resist taking my own photos of just a few of the dogs whose names made me laugh out loud.  Here's hoping that some of them find their forever home before long.  They certainly deserve to.

 

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Butterflies fly free. . .

I tried being "a lady who lunches", but to no one's surprise, it just doesn't work for me. Which leads me to an unusual volunteering project, at the Charlotte JCC, that I am really enjoying.

Let me introduce you to "The Butterfly Project".  I never heard of it either, but it is a national project designed for school children from the 5th to the 12th grades, to learn about the 1.5 million children who died in The Holocaust, and to remember them by painting a ceramic butterfly for each of their names. It is an amazing experience.

First the kids, many who have no prior idea what the Holocaust was really about, gather in an auditorium to meet one of two actual survivors, watch a film of their experiences, and have a chance to ask questions.  The discussion, led by Lori Semel, the head of the project here in Charlotte, leads to talk about prejudice, discrimination of religion and races, bullying and outright terror.

Next, the kids go into a large room set up with tables.  Here's where I come in.  When I first volunteered for the Project, I helped set up the room in advance of the kids arriving. Today, for the first time, I became a "presenter".  The one standing at the front of the room, talking to the kids, and leading the discussion.

Glazing the painted butterflies to ready them
for the kiln

At each place there is a paper plate with a small ceramic butterfly on it.  There is also a printed sheet where the student writes his or her name over the name of one of the 1.5 million lost children.  Each is asked to say that name out loud as a means of remembrance.  Then they paint the butterfly after learning that each of them will eventually become part of the huge butterfly sculpture on the grounds of the JCC.

It's an amazing project, with over 30,000 Butterflies already created at the Charlotte JCC alone.  I feel very honored to be part of it, and wanted to tell you about it.

School children painting ceramic butterflies.

Every child paints his or her own design.

First I talk about the importance of a name.
Then they paint.

The incredible Butterfly Memorial to the Holocaust
Sculpture on the grounds of the JCC.

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A message from the North Pole. . .

If you were wondering how my life has changed since moving from Miami to Charlotte, the attached photos of my shoes speak louder than words.  The high today, here in Charlotte, was a not exactly  steamy 32 degrees, and believe me, my closetful of very fashionable open toed sandals haven't seen the light of day for quite a few months.

I loved the cold weather in my skiing days when I wore thermal underwear under my ski suit and at night topped it with my long-since-sold, politically incorrect, full length mink coat.  My new purchases, in addition to the wonderfully comfortable and warm fur topped boots in the photo, include a black wool scarf and a knee length, hooded coat lined in deliciously snuggly fake fur.  And believe me, I'm loving having all of them.  So much for my five decades of life in tropical Florida.

The weather is actually gorgeous, with the sun shining brightly and not cloud in the sky.  Until you step outside and put your hands on the freezing cold steering wheel of your car.  I swear my little classic 1999 Lexus coupe is in a state of shock and making sounds I never heard before.

Keep warm, everybody, and belated Happy and Healthy New Year to you all!
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