Cloud 7 for Tumi Pet Carrier

Delivery!

(On time!)

Everything is so carefully packed.  Love it!

 This is a furry, machine-washable pad that is then velcro-ed inside the bag.

(Summie wished they made one in her size!)

The thicker edge on one end provides support like a pillow.

***

Bruno's bags are in storage, and last week, we offered his Cloud 7 to a Good Samaritan, who had just rescued a pup from a killing shelter(!).

We've kept his Wagwear Messenger with us.  It's nifty.

But it doesn't offer him a structure for nap time, or privacy.  It also doesn't zip up, something we must keep practising for air travel, and for those unforeseen moments, when incognito status is required.

Incognito, New York Subway

Bruno has been super with our new living arrangements.  However, he does get a tad displaced especially at bath time, for previously he was zipped up in his tote that was kept right by my bathroom sink.

Now that the new pet carrier has come, he's not feeling as lost.

He has a safe and comfortable place to go.

He makes himself right at home.

Settles in a jiffy, waits for me.

When zipped up, there is a design feature that allows the middle piece to pop up like a tent.  This gives Brunz the height needed within for if he wants to sit up, and look out.

One end can be unzipped and extended/lengthened to create more leg room.  The other end conceals a good sized-pocket.

Other thoughts:

Positives-  Well-made, discreet style, well-ventilated, holds its shape, surprisingly light-weight.  Bruno is 2.5 kg on a fat day; along with the carrier, we are still within the weight guidelines for in-flight travel.

Negatives-  Too costly.  Also wished that the top flap could be rolled aside, and held in place, like the "window" shown below.

Wished it also had a sleeve, like the previous design, that you could then slip over the handles of a roll-along bag.  

It is though, a sleeker and more practically-wrought bag, offering the pup, an alternative to my lap!

Girl Talk

We made the unbearable trip to L-U-T-O-N to pick her on Sunday.

At Luton Airport, a woman in some uniform told me that no dogs were allowed in the terminal.  I was so worn-down by the tube-train-bus journey to faraway Luton.  I think I said something incoherent like- Oh.  Really?

She repeated herself in what I suppose, was her stern voice.

If Security were to see you...  (She threatened, threatened me!)

Note to Self:  Insert Smile.  Dismiss uniform with smile.

Half an hour later, Summie emerged.

Hola, Madre!

Hola, Summie!  Cómo estás?

Estoy muy cansada... Tengo mucho hambre...Me duelen mis pies!

(Note to Husband:  Field trip to Spanish capital yields immediate returns.)

photo credit-  Summie Chan

(Note to Weary, Wary, Post-production, Homeless Self:  No rest!  Mother-dom for the next 14 days.)

***

Day 4, I toss leftovers into a pan, add butter and furikake, voila- brunch.  

Mom, I love your fried rice!

Thank you, I love it too.  Shall we go for tea?

***

Mom?  Do you miss me?  Mom, Bruno is SO ANNOYING!

Mom?  I'm really excited about University!

I think boarding school is really preparing me well!  I love it!  I wish IB was over, but I wish I was still boarding!  Mom?  Are you stressed?  Is everything ok?  Why is Daddy always telling me to behave myself and not bother you?!

Mom, you're really busy in London!

Mom, do you think of me when I'm not around?

Mom? Shall I take a picture of you?

Mom?  You look rather, fierce.

  

Elizabeth Street

On Elizabeth Street, we found something for him-

Jeroboams, 50-52 Elizabeth Street

and him.

Mungo & Maud, 79 Elizabeth Street

Of Visual Men

One of the nicer things I've discovered about living in London is, unlike LA or NYC, good friends from all over the world, keep passing through.

Mom at Easter

YL, late spring

Jimmy, early summer

 On Monday, we met Sugar and Spice for an impromptu lunch in Islington, then went to Shoreditch.
(The Fish & Chips Store, 189 Upper Street, is dog-friendly.)

Often Spice feels very familiar as he reminds me so much of Jon.

 They have the same height, the same gentleness, the same old-world manners.  They are also both intensely private men.  So when he left, I felt briefly, a sharp sadness, and a longing to be held.

HELD.

But while walking around Shoreditch, for some reason,

Spice reminded me too much of my friend, Eric.

photo credit-  E Nakamura

   The same brisk energy, the all consuming curiosity.  Nothing escapes his eye, their eyes.

 They are both very visual men.  Everything they see, they encounter, becomes a possibility for something else- a magazine, a painting, a picture, a film, a new restaurant.

photo credit-  E Nakamura

Because of his eye, his interests, and just the way he is, Eric without too much conscious thought, built an empire.

photo credit-  Inter Trend Communications

And always when I think of Eric,

photo credit-  Kiyoshi Nakazawa

I think of my brother.

photo credit-  S Wong

For the first man I experienced brimming with that sort of visual sensitivities, is my brother.

You can't put a finger on artistry.  You can grow it through hard work, but there is nothing to grow, if at first, God didn't give you, The Eye.

My brother is so nonchalant about being talented.  He tells me, he is very lazy.  Yet, I still see glimpses of the artist he ignores.  It's the way he photographs his family;

photo credit-   S Wong

photo credit-  S Wong

it's what he's engraved on his body.

photo credit-  Tina/S Wong

A Mommy & Mimmie Day

                                                               We call moments like these-

photo credit- SF, Hummingbird Bakery, Summer 2012

A Mommy & Mimmie Day.

Before school begins, we walked a different route through the park, for a different perspective of things.

We talked about how beautiful nature (in England) is.  We called out to each other to look at this tree and that.  We paused and savoured a fallen leaf.

We wondered aloud about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Then she got hungry and wanted to try someplace different.

I took her to Jak's on Walton Street.  

Bruno and I eat here often.

It's casual, cosy, on a quiet street with taste, serves food with an organic, Mediterranean slant. 

She was pleased.  She ordered a chicken pie with penne pasta and mozzarella salad as sides.  We shared some cake.  Then we crossed the street to look at art.

Gosh, I said, It's Murakami!

Who is Murakami, Mom?  She asked.

Inside the gallery (no photography allowed), she pointed out, Banksy.

Who is Banksy?  How do you know of him?  My turn at asking.

Oh, he did ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP and there was a lot of press, she said.

I listened to her in wide-eye wonder.  What's not to love about a Mommy & Mimmie Day?  Spending time resting in each other's company, few words are necessary, and yet the day always ends with a memory for keeping, and the learning of something new, from each other.