Wonderful blog gals

So, we blogging gals who have met such amazing women here tend to gush about it a bit, and this is going to be one of those posts. After months of blogging, I'm still dazzled by it -- by the possibility of meeting kindred spirits all around the world, and forming the kinds of real friendships that I wouldn't have thought could happen this way. I mean, I used to think blogging was all like MySpace, and having 973 "friends" or something. But this is so far beyond that! Two things over the past week:

Look at the beautiful flowers that came all the way from England (I know the flowers didn't come all that way, but the thoughtfulness did!) as a congratulations for wrapping up my copyedit. Wow! I was so astonished to receive them -- I had NO IDEA who might be sending me flowers. It wasn't Jim; he was as surprised as me. So who could it be? It was sweet Meg, my first blogging friend and my wonderful Sunday Scribblings co-conspirator. Thank you, Meg! As I already told her in an email, it came in the midst of a not-so-great day full of plumbing difficulties and dog incontinence. In fact, when the flower delivery guy came to the door, we were waiting for the plumber, and it was a funny moment because the small neat Asian man pulling up in a Subaru really did NOT look like a plumber at all! Anyway, that all turned out fine, and Jim ended up installing a new sink and toilet, which he is very proud of since we are not, as a rule, all that handy. He could be if he wanted, but like me, he'd rather be painting or writing than plumbing. And as for the dog incontinence, Shiloh was on a big dose of prednazone to help her breathing, and it really really did, in a kind of miraculous way, but it also made her apparently lose all bladder control. Weird. So the vet scaled back the dose. As for her diagnosis, we are seeing a specialist tomorrow, but I don't think we can find out for certain if she has a nasal tumor without doing really expensive diagnostics like an MRI. I have always thought that, no matter how much I love my dogs, I wouldn't consider spending thousands of dollars on cancer treatments. It's a harder decision when you have to listen to your dog struggling for breath. But. . . we'll see.

In much happier news, I also had the pleasure of meeting some blog gals in person last week! Deirdre and her partner Richard had planned a quick trip to Portland, so those of us living nearby (and not so nearby, Jennifer!), got together for sushi and gelato on NE 23rd St, which is a cute little shopping district at the base of the West Hills.

It was a wonderful evening, and I really, really wish we could ALL get together on a regular basis, those of us who made it last week: Alexandra, Liz, Kim, Jennifer, and Deirdre, and all the other gals whose blogs I love and who live all over the place like fistfuls of flung wildflower seeds.