Hattie tears into the Christmas presents

It was a good Christmas at the Linn-Gust house. My coconut cake (as pictured) was a hit (the amaretto doesn't hurt!) and the dogs had a good day. I had bought them several toys months ago for $2.00 each. As pictured, it only took Hattie about two minutes to kill the first one. We started with four and now are down to two. Last night, Daisy found a new "hiding" spot although you can see she doesn't fit very well...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The dogs are eagerly awaiting their gifts in their stockings (Chaco and Hattie are looking forward to tearing them up, I'm sure, so Nestle can bark at the vacuum cleaner....). Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the entire Linn-Gust crew!

Ginger gets a sister!

Mom shocked the heck out of all of us the other day when she announced she wanted to adopt Daisy, a dog who had had been surrendered to the Knollwood Hospital for Pets in Schaumburg, my sister Karen's veterinarian clinic. Daisy's family could no longer care for her and wanted her euthanized. She is a yellow lab around 11 years old and the veterinarian set to finding Daisy a home instead. Karen had met Daisy when taking one of her dogs for an appointment. She mentioned Daisy to me but I knew better, that Mom didn't want another dog. Karen told Mom about Daisy and then Mom told me she couldn't stop thinking about Daisy. When I called Karen to tell her, she was in shock for about five minutes. The storm kept us from getting up to Knollwood until Saturday morning. Mom knew she wanted to take Daisy, but we were unsure if Ginger wanted a sister. She surprised us by clinging to Mom (she isn't a very affectionate dog) and then pretty much not being interested in Daisy. We brought her back to my house in Naperville and had Linn Family Christmas several hours later (fondue). A photo shows Daisy sleeping while the rest of us are eating. She and Ginger look a lot alike although Daisy is skinnier and a little taller. Daisy and Ginger stayed with me last night (and Karen and Trevor) and we moved her to Mom's house today. When I talked to Mom on the phone tonight, she said that Ginger and Daisy were sleeping on each other's beds. Merry Christmas, Daisy!

I met Hattie's sister Trina...finally!

We're in Maine for business and I finally got to meet Hattie's sister Trina. If you've read GG, you know all about Trina. They have some of the same mannerisms although they don't really look alike. We all wish we could get Hattie and Trina together. Ah, maybe one day. I'm also adding a few other photos and Joe, his friend Craig, and me taken on the coast of Maine today.

Pillowed Hattie

I was cleaning house yesterday and had put new sheets on the bed and had taken the comforter outside to give it some air in the sunshine. When I returned to the bedroom to put the pillowcases on the last two pillows, Hattie was surrounded by the pillows. She was sitting up so I'm not sure if she was using them to lay against or not. She looked pretty comfortable though...

To Pancreatitis and Back

We thought the turkey adventure was over, but on Sunday night Nestle began to show signs that she was not herself (that means that she was quiet). On Monday morning, after throwing up all night, she managed to toss up a corn cob. We're a little baffled as we hadn't had corn since the previous Monday. We took her to the vet where she was diagnosed with pancreatitis. She came home yesterday afternoon, Dr. Salas saying, "keep her away from stray turkeys." She's slowly recovering (as are we from the bill) and glad to be home, especially because today is her birthday. She has been with us five years today although I think she is about 5 1/2 years old (the shelter where she came from said she would be 6 today).

Nestle steals the turkey

We had Thanksgiving dinner with our neighbors, but had opted to cook our own turkey because they were smoking one and I'm not a fan of the flavor. Joe cut a portion of the turkey off for us to take with us, cut more and put it on a plate near the back of the counter, and then left the turkey carcass (and whatever was left) on the counter. I had told him it would be okay. We have to keep the dogs separated while we are out of the house so only Nestle was left out when we went to eat. However, when we came back, the carcass was on the floor and Nestle was munching happily on it. She appeared to be fine but suffered in the backyard the next day. After putting the Christmas tree up, I went to decorate it and the photo is what I saw. That is normally Daisy's corner to sleep (there is usually a chaise lounge there) and she wasn't giving up on it, even with the Christmas tree there.

Hattie attends the Ginger's Gift book signing

Thanks to all who came to the book signing at Bow Wow Blues yesterday. And thanks to my neighbor Barbara who watched Hattie during the signing. Hattie had a great time sitting on Barbara's lap and scoping out the yard area of the store. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hattie checks out the scene

While we were watching the Patriots-Jets game Thursday night, I looked up and Hattie was checking out the scene from the stairwell underneath her painting. I felt almost like she was our house lifeguard.

Naperville North HS Sort of Reunion

Two weeks ago, on my way back from Hong Kong, I met up with three of my high school cross country teammates. We went to lunch and ended up having dessert at Dunkin' Donuts (since there is no more Tasty Bakery downtown Naperville!). Here we are at JJ's house, left to right– Jennifer Johnson Timmons, me, Lori Ford, Cathy McKee.

Hong Kong

Po Lin Monastery

The bicycles are at the ferry dock. The area at the monastery smelled heavily of incense!

More Lantau Island

The night market, Lantau Island, and the peak

I head home tomorrow afternoon (that's Hong Kong time) so this will be the last post from HK. I have had a lot of people ask me if I voted already. They are watching the election around the world (and rooting for Obama). Amy, a researcher, took me out with her husband last night to dinner to a Chinese restaurant where nothing was in English. Our booth even had a tv. She said that's because the Chinese like to watch tv while they eat dinner. I saw election coverage in Chinese. They also don't have toilet paper in their bathrooms. She says this is because the Chinese will take it home with them-- all of it (and she is Chinese!). Then we went to the night market in Kowloon. Lots and lots of stuff, fortune tellers, and food. Today I went to Lantau Island and took the cable car up to the giant buddha. He is the tallest in the world, seated outside. Then I went to the Po Lin Monastery. I took a bus back to the ferry which took me back to Hong Kong. From there I went to the peak and took the tram back into the central district. Hard to believe I've been here about a week. I just couldn't do Chinese food tonight. I am craving spaghetti! I also will be glad to get back to greenery. The path up at the peak was nice because it was green and quiet. I don't know how they live in high rises like they do here. Amy's family consists of her, her husband, their two kids, and their Filipino domestic helper. They live in 800 square feet together. The high rises are endless.

More photos

Shopping at Causeway Bay

The conference ended at lunch and I went shopping at Causeway Bay. I went to the Time Square shopping center and also to Sogo, a Japanese department store. I couldn't find it and it turned out I had walked right by and it and was walking in circles. It's easy to get turned around because there are people everywhere. It's insanity all the time. Didn't buy too much. The stores are small and don't have a lot. They have just about any brand you can name plus Starbucks seems to be everywhere. Circle K and 7-Eleven are here as well.

Dinner at Jumbo Kingdom

I spoke last again today. When it was over, they had shuttle buses to take us over to the Jumbo Kingdom "floating" boat for dinner. I went with several people from the U. of Hong Kong suicide prevention research center-- one had a car-- and we parked and then they proceeded to lead me through various places because they were lost. We ended up in the Aberdeen Club and they were setting up for a wedding reception by the pool. It's a very exclusive club and on the way out there were two shops on the road that sold yachts. It was almost like they took me that way on purpose to show me more of HK. The Chinese buffet is course after course after course after course of food. I left halfway through it. I just couldn't eat anymore and seafood is getting a little old. So are dumplings Tomorrow is just a half day of the conference. I wanted to take photos of the harbour but it's been pretty cloudy so it's not very scenic. Maybe tomorrow it will be better!

New Mexico in the South China Morning Post

I was sitting in the hotel restaurant eating my breakfast and reading the paper when I see there's an article about New Mexico in the South China Morning Post. It's all about being a battleground state. I will try to post it later. I'm trying to get the link now but not sure that it will work since it needs a userid and password. Nothing like being close to home when you're far from home!

Shark fin soup and understanding accents

I had 43 people at my session today. It was at the end of the day so it was a busy day talking to people and listening to plenary talks. The accents at my session were thick-- there was a man there from Venuatu (where Survivor filmed one season) as well as another Middle Eastern man and I still am not sure where he was from plus all the Asian people (mostly Chinese). These people are working so hard to help people in their countries. A man from Thailand wanted to know how I have ended survivor groups (wrapped them up before people go home). I told him that I have everyone share a happy or funny memory of their loved one who has died and he came back later to ask if it was okay if the leader (himself) could share that as well. I told him of course. He said his mother had died by suicide and I'm guessing he wanted approval that he, too, could share. I had shark fin soup for dinner. There weren't too many people who looked like us in the area where we went so we got stared at all through dinner. The fins tasted like cartilage. I need some sleep. I have one more session tomorrow afternoon but this one is only 20 minutes (today was 90). More photos are coming, hopefully, tomorrow night.

People, people, and more people

You can't see them well but there are people everywhere on that bridge...people people people people people. I went for a walk in a local market area. I must've stumbled on the home improvement market. One stall at the pvc pipe, another had the air conditioners, another had the light fixtures. And then there were the food stands with people clamoring for what looked like chicken legs but they almost looked fake because there were so many in the bins. On my way back to the hotel tonight, my taxi driver gave me a culture lesson in how Halloween and Christmas are drinking holidays to the Chinese. I did see a package of "gummy body parts" in a store earlier this afternoon though...