Thu 12/17/2020 11:20 PM
Beth,
We will spend Christmas eve at JP and Ana’s house. Ana’s mom is gravely ill, and we are doing everything we can to make things better for her. She is living with the newlyweds while undergoing treatment for brain cancer. Ouch!
We will follow-up by spending Christmas day at Pam’s sisters’ house. Kathy lives about 10 minutes away from both our house and Michelle’s condo. Her house is big and accommodates more people comfortably. JP and Ana are 45 minutes away, and I refer to visiting them as a trip to Canada. They think I’m kidding. But they are close to where they work, and that counts for something.
I am going to surprise you. I like Tinker Bell (correctly spelled) as a Disney character, but not as a dog’s name. It comes out “stinker.” Ouch. I have several theories about names. [I once wrote a letter about this. When I find that letter, I’ll send you a copy.] One theory says it is human nature to shorten them. Maybe it is going from three syllables to two or two to one; whatever the metric, we need to make it shorter. John Paul became JP or, for me only, J is enough. Michelle is “shell.” I use Pam for Pamela. Beth, John, Jack are all good solid names. ? Lol.
Given all of the above, the dogs are “girls” or the Belle sisters if I need to be formal. Eventually, you will see how much alike they look. Michelle has the best pictures so I will ask her to send some to me. Because of the pictures (Chihuahua/Terrier mix), you will understand why I sometimes revert to “big Lucy” and “little Lucy.” Anything but stinker, although that moniker applies to all puppies.
