Chanson D'Automne

Now, as fall draws inevitably to its close, I come to the realisation that it is my favorite season.

First let me tell you about Autumn Leaves. A song for some, a visual feast for others, for me, a confession- its my favorite substrate. Its the very first outdoor substrate I encountered and their arrival each year, well it gives me goosebumps just to think about it. At first there's just a few, here and there,then.. a few more trapped at the feet of wire link fences to be scratched and freed. And then it increases and there are piles and mounds and huge great stretches of it that I dive into and kick up and then ahem well you know, like I said its my favorite substrate.

The cooler weather means walks, nice long ones with no fear of overheating and no worries about what time of day it is. PL seems to enjoy them more too, we go more often and we're out longer. And then, when we get home the radiators hiss and I nap with my nose pressed aginst the one in the dining room. "You'll burn yourself" PL scolds, but I ignore him.

This season of mellow fruitfulness also means apples from the farmers market. I will often find my lunchtime kong filled with cold cubes of a Braeburn or Mutsu or Fuji apple sealed with a dab of peanut butter.

International Treats

We are still in an international state of mind here at Chez MC and ask the question: Are treats more delectable in more far flung places in the world?

Over in Mumbai, Chorizo has what looks like a very interesting Treat Kebab, and what colors- a feast for the eye to boot. In Malaysia-Amber enjoys big and I mean Big treats-yes thats treats as in plural. Wait a minute, I sense a theme here, Gunter in Norway is also enjoying something considerably larger than anything I've ever been given. Obviously people food like sushi and popsicles are not a no no in Okinawa. Lucky Tigersan. Here we go again with the gigantic bone-nice for you Loui in Blighty.

Conclusion: Treats are more colorful and bigger outside Manhattan.

Update: I just had a little heart to heart with PL about this whole Treat situation and he assures me that we are being very cutting edge about all of this. We are practising what Trend Forecasters are predicting as the start of a massive new trend-"The Nu Austerity". Conspicuous abstention-Great.

All the Leaves are Brown and the Sky is Gray

There's nothing better on a cold rainy day in November to lift the spirit than to take a magic carpet internet ride to a warmer clime and to imagine what it may be like to be, say, in a five star hotel on the Cote D'azur. Like the Pension Milou, a mediterranean canine haven described as 'a spacious house that opens onto a large covered terrace which in turn leads into a large totally secure garden, fully fenced, where dogs can wander and play freely.'

If that in itself isn't already immediately a warming thought then read the heartwarming story of how it came to have its name. The owner of the hotel, Jilly Bennet writes a blog called 'Postcards from Pension Milou' and a recent post entitled 'Milou's Bench' tells the story of Milou, a beautiful black American Cocker Spaniel who its named after.

"One day in 1993, when Milou was three years old, he was brought to me by Madame Dana’s chauffeur. He booked him in for ‘about a month’ as Madame had to go into the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco for an operation. The month became a year and eventually it became obvious that Madame wasn’t going to recover..."

P.S. Did this guy call it or what.

Running in Packs

On Sunday PL and I went to see a yearly NYC custom that very much resembles an ancient canine pastime - running in packs. The pack in this case was a formidable 37,000 strong, the event better known as the Marathon. We had a special reason to be there cheering on the runners as Maisie's Mom Heidi was out there running her first Marathon. We positioned ourselves first at 110th st and 5th Ave. The runners were a delight to watch as they hit the uppermost corner of Central Park, their faces lifting visibly as they recognized the last stretch .

We got a call from Maisie's dad tipping us off that her shoe tracker had indicated that she would be at 125th st in 20 mins. We made our way North-past live rap bands, African Drummers, Loud Speakers, a sea of crushed paper cups and most of all New Yorkers in force urging the runners on. Go Brian, Go Tom, Go Sarah....they shouted reading the names of strangers written across the runner's chests...it was just one gigantic NYC pack.

Sadly we missed Heidi, she was running faster than her predicted time and had zipped by before we got there- and then went on to finish her first Marathon in 4 hrs and 12 Minutes -Awesome.

Scary Monsters and Superfreaks

Halloween in New York City is superfreaky but in a good way. Our urban Halloween kicked off on Sunday at the Tompkins square Annual Halloween Contest and parade. What a creative crowd. The themes ranged the gamut from autobiographical; political; seasonal; to Asian, in fact Asian was very popular with the Pugs. Some were quite simply not thrilled to be there but most just lapped up the attention.

For a real scare we packed up my punk costume and PL's pumpkin and headed off to classic Halloween country-the suburbs- where a graveyard had mysteriously appeared overnight. The horror is on display in the Cinema Room .

Smart.......Like This

So apparently in the ranking of how smart is your breed, mine lurks embarrasingly somewhere in the lowest third. Number 58 , to be precise. Understanding of New Commands-40 to 80 repetitions. Obey first Command-30% of the time or better. Ouch. But this is all about obeying orders and commands...all very left brain. Left to our own devices, we can be very creative about learning things, for example I figured out that a rope swing can be converted into a very interesting plaything. Speaking about left brain, it took PL forever to figure out how to upload a higher resolution video onto the video hosting website, but he's turned the corner on that learning curve. So here's my right brain creative reinterpration of 'swing rope' properly uploaded in the Cinema Room.