The Deliciousness. The Cuteness.

Our town, and several neighbouring ones, held its deliberative session (or traditional town meeting) yesterday. We arrived at the elementary school a little before 9 a.m. and the "regulars" drifted in. Only a few dozen, not the few hundred who attended back when we had the traditional meeting. The purpose was to review and/or amend warrant articles that will appear on the official ballot of the March election. The discussion--and amending--got really bogged down with an article about continuing the current Highway Department lease of a front end loader, or whether the Selectmen should be authorised to enter into a different lease on a different model. We were breaking in a new town moderator, too.

We had to leave at noon-thirty for my make-up mandolin lesson. On Friday afternoon when backing the car out of the garage, I slid on the thick ice coating of the drive and ended up with a wheel stuck in a snow bank along the side. I spent about 15 minutes trying to dig out to no avail. The frozen and re-frozen snowpack was very hard to deal with. Realising it was a losing battle, I phoned my instructor and re-scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. (When the Chap got home from the office, all he did was deliver one strong shove to free the vehicle.)

After my lesson, we reckoned the town meeting was finished. In fact, according to today's newspaper, it ended at about 2 p.m.--after 5 hours of deliberations! We had a late lunch at the new Newick's. When a theme restaurant folded last year after a brief tenure, the popular seacoast seafood place settled in. The view can't match the one of docks and Great Bay at the Dover Point location, where we often go, but the food is just as tasty. And they were clever enough to hang a fantastic photographic mural of the familiar Great Bay view (at sunset) in the new place! Coincidentally, there's a Long John Silver's right next door, but it's not like they compete for customers. One is fast seafood, the other is a sit-down restaurant with a bar and the grooviest, biggest, deepest see-through plexiglas lobster tank we ever saw.

We wanted old favourites and to try something new. So the Chap ordered the whole fried clams, onion rings, and clam chowder. I got fish chowder (always) and the special, a seafood shepherd's pie--fish, shrimp, and tiny scallops in a bisque under a whipped potato covering sprinkled with paprika. Coleslaw on the side.



Totally yum.

Last night I watched a Eukanuba Dog Show on Animal Planet (sound off) while the dogs slept and the Chap did email, and simultaneously checked out videos of mandolin players and old favourite music videos I never see any more on my laptop (with headphones).

Last Sunday Jewel was the blog hog, jumping onto my lap while I was at this keyboard and getting her picture posted here as a result. So today I'm celebrating Ruth, aka Our Wee Dog. An adorable combination of Border collie and possibly some sort of terrier, she weighs 29 pounds. She makes me laugh almost every time I look at her. She so little, and so cute, and so sweet, and her feet are so tiny. "Pig's trotters," we call them. Until she arrived in our home, we were Big Dog People.

Despite being a little bit shy (everybody is so much bigger) she's friendly towards all people and other dogs. Jewel mostly stays glued to me, but Ruth is very outgoing. She has bucketloads of charm and personality. She likes to cuddle. She strives to keep the pack--canine and human--together at all times. She's our most obedient dog, because she truly wants to please.

She can be rather possessive of toys and has no trouble taking them from Jewel, who though very smart herself, is victimised by Ruth's sneaky and manipulative methods of theft. Or else she doesn't care. In playfighting they are fairly evenly matched in strength, despite a difference in size and weight class, but Ruth always wants to dominate. With all humans she's totally and cheerfully submissive--she spends a lot of time belly-up, wiggling with joy.

She loves Lola, who most of the time is a mother figure, and like a puppy (or any young canid) licks big husky's face and mouth. Sometimes she asserts herself by growling if she fears the big dog covets her favourite place on the sofa or under my chair. Lola's jumping-up-on-the-sofa days are long past, and she's too large to fit under any of our chairs. Ruth doesn't seem to realise it.

She spends her evenings curled up on her cushion at the opposite end of the sofa from where I lounge, sometimes with her head on the armrest. It thrills her when the Chap sings songs to her. She thumps her tail so fast it's a blur of motion. Lately she's been in the mood for ballads.

I don't feel like posing for your camera, I'd rather play with Jewel!

As you can tell from the photo, I need to hoover black dog hairs from the carpet near my desk, a favourite napping spot for the young dogs.