Weekend in NJ

Last Saturday, my mom was honored by the Women's Commission of Salem County for her contributions to the community and for her perserverance in the face of numerous setbacks, physical and emotional. She thought I wasn't going to be able to make it to the luncheon where she'd receive her "Woman of the Year" award, but at the last minute Maggie, Panda, and I drove down and surprised her. (Apparently she had no idea, but some of her friends and family suspected I would show up. How could I not go? If my dad hadn't taught me the importance of taking time out from work for family before he died (and he surely did), then I certainly know how important that is by now.)

Here's a rough outline of the weekend, with some flip video footage as primary source evidence: 

We arrived Friday late afternoon, made homemade mac'n'cheese for dinner, watched Milk and went to bad. Saturday morning Maggie and I took Panda and Sophie to the Rec Field, where we met Allison and her beagle Sadie. The dogs had a great time, despite the crazy wind. We brought a stick for Panda to fetch, and Sadie turned out to be a fan as well. 

The luncheon at which my mom would be honored started at noon, and there was a big crowd in attendance, including (from left to right): Maggie, Carla, Susan, Brenda, Bill, Sandi, Cathy, and Chris.

After a teary introduction by Brenda Hall (wife of the Woodstown mayor), my mom accepted the honor of her selection as Woman of the Year with a brief but poignant speech:

After the luncheon, the Bernstein/Solomon side of the family reconvened at my mom's house, and I spent a lot of time playing with my cousins Josh, Sam, and Jacob. Here's the latter, spelling his name (but not my own) and singing a selection from Fiddler on the Roof.

Before Jacob sings, you'll see my mom and Sophie, Jacob's zedah (my uncle) Bill, Jacob's dad Ethan, the back of Bill's wife Brenda, my cousin David, and Jacob's mom, my cousin Sandi.

Josh and Sam showed off their karate skills.

Saturday night, we went to see Bubbe. She wasn't feeling up to attending the luncheon earlier in the day, but she did have a fun story to tell us about when she was pregnant with my dad.

After we left Bubbe's, we picked up dinner at Rushes, went home and watched Changeling, then skyped with Maggie's mom Dimi for a while. That was first time she had met my mom - success!!

Sunday morning my mom donated cuttings from some of her perennials for our new front yard garden, and we drove back to Somerville. Fun times!

Paris Here We Come

Exciting news! I found out today that I've been awarded the Bourse Chateaubriand, a 9-month fellowship that will support a research stint in Paris starting this fall! Woohoo!!

To celebrate, Maggie and I are starting a joint blog to report on our preparations and adventures over the next year or so.

One question remains: will you come visit?

Walky Dog

Panda's/Our other newest toy: Walky Dog! 

From another angle! Don't try this at home!

Cool, huh?

One More Video

In the somewhat recent tradition of making silly, impromptu, short films on flip video cameras, I present:

"Somerville TV Journal Interview"

Expect to see this in the running for best improvised short at next year's Oscars!

Separation Anxiety

Panda, as you probably know by now, is pretty awesome. She's smart, she's well-behaved, she's only ever had one accident in the house (it was our fault, and it was in the bathroom!) - basically she's the perfect dog. 

Except!!! She can't be left alone. That's right - she has what's called "separation anxiety," which basically means she gets upset when we leave her, and she's disproportionately excited when we come back. ("When we leave her" includes when other people watch her, although she's gotten better with dogsitters.)

If I remember, I'll post a picture of what she did to the bathroom door after we left her in there for a few hours at a time twice a week for a few weeks. It's not pretty.

Our hope, of course, is that she won't always have separation anxiety - we've been working hard to train her to be happy when we leave, or at least not to be distraught. And we're making progress. These days, she seems to have outgrown scratching the door when we leave, but she still whines, howls, paces, and is generally unhappy enough that we worry about what kind of damage she might do, either to the apartment or to herself. 

So we consulted with a behavior specialist (Thank you Gordon!) and our new veterinarian, and together we decided that Panda would do best on anti-anxiety medication. As of tonight, she's been on Prozac for a week and a half, and I've stepped up the training in the hopes that she'll be more susceptible to reform now. 

The game is this: I leave and try to come back before Panda gets upset. Sometimes I leave delicious treats in a bone to distract her for a while. Sometimes she's calm for a few minutes, sometimes she gets upset immediately. Here's an example of Panda unhappy after I leave (warning: this is kind of sad):

See what I mean? The good news is, this is a huuuuge improvement over what she used to be like. Wish us luck with the rest of the process!

Birthday Presents I

It's a Flip Video camera! It's so cool! I'll be posting tons of video until I remember how artsy and timeless photography can be. 

Blast from the Past!

September 1, 2008 - Maggie's Birthday!

Starring (from left to right): Uncle Carl, Maggie!, Jacob!, Mom (and Sophie, just outside the shot)