Mersydotes

This month, I've been reading Inside of a Dog, What Dogs See, Smell, and Know so that Penny and I can commune at an even deeper level.  And as I learn about canine evolution and dog-human co-evolution, it's been making me consider what I already know about my little pup and who she is.  For instance,    I know that Penny loves her "little bed" that we created out of a broken laundry basket and a thread-bare pillow.  Every night, she hops in, hunkers down, and waits until about 3 am when she sneaks onto the big bed, quiet as can be.   I know that Penny has a gift of healing.  Every time I have felt blue or had too much pain in my creaky bones, she offers me comfort, bringing me her doggy softness and puppy smell and taking away my aches.   I know that Penny misses us during the day, just as we miss her while we're at work.  Once Papa Mersy comes home, Penny makes sure she gets in her lap time.   I know that Penny th...

What a surprise this morning- in the middle of the middle of Brooklyn, with trains rattling overhead, lines of people waiting and sweating in the street, fryer smoke wafting by from McDonalds, and car horns blaring, I walked into our little break room to find an entire platter of home-grown tomatoes to share.  My boss had brought these in for all to enjoy- somehow in his Brooklyn home, he has coaxed little fruits of summer out of the concrete and windowsills!   They reminded me of how Mr. Mersy and I used to grow tiny cherry tomatoes on our patio back home in Illinois- each one packed a whollop of a flavor, and we used to eat them, one at a time, our eyes closed to savor the grassy flavor of summer. These tomatoes also had exceptional flavor and gave a fantastic bite to our pest pasta this evening. We've really been very fortunate recently when it comes to our food, and I've enjoyed cooking simple, colorful suppers.  Here are a few of our favorites: (C...

Let's wake up and greet the day in Cali, peeking out the window in Auntie A's house and saying good morning to the little stray cats playing on the parched grass in the early morning coolness.  Today, we are heading off into the mountain jungles, climbing in elevation along the switchbacks winding among the coffee plantations and cane fields.  Would you like to come aboard?! And when we arrive in Santa Rosa de Cabal, off we go along the path, letting the warm, humid air wrap around us, breathing in the spicy scent of the jungle.  Let's meander along, following the stream, marveling that such places of absolute wonder and peace really exist in our world. Around each bend, we'll be even more amazed at how alive the environment is.  The edge of the jungle is home to flocks of fluttering white butterflies, while scarlet and blue dragonflies patrol their aquatic turf and little ferrets bustle along the water's edge.  Could you...

Do any of you guys know that beautiful song that says, "Two weeks away, and thought the whole world would have changed, but I'm home now, and things still look the same, but I still have sand in my shoes, and I can't shake the thought of you..."?  That's exactly how I feel, home now from Colombia, unable to shake the thought of all that I've seen and felt.  It feels as though my life is still continuing on in Cali, and I'm trapped here, missing out on it.  How can I even begin to write what this trip meant to me?  It solidified, justified, legitimized, and harmonized so many emotions and parts of my identity that I think my heart has returned from this trip stronger than ever. So what I'm going to do is to share little groups of snapshots with you- the "sand in my shoes", if you will.  This very first post has photos from our first days in Cali, roaming the streets my father knew so well, the sun biting my shoulders, the cobbles smooth bene...