Cathy’s other dog is Bailey, the German shepherd. Bailey and Gwen go on regular play dates. Rocky was a huge interruption, today, with howling, tail-pouncing and pee-pad antics. The older dogs can’t remember a more chaotic time since their own puppy-hoods…

Actually, we were all a little jealous of Rocky’s proximity to the floor. Sonoma hit 110+ degrees this afternoon and the hard floor is, by far, the coolest place in our house.

At three-weeks-old, Rocky keeps Cathy entertained with wobbly walking and her puppy howl. She needed rescuing after abandonment by her real mother. Cathy is her savior but she’ll get official parenting and canine guidance from a foster mom– a pitbull mix nursing ten of her own three-week-old pups. Rocky is nursing and learning all the appropriate dog behavior alongside some seriously happy pitbull babies; no one seems to mind the addition of the noisy shepherd-mix.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Last weekend, I redeemed myself with a  photo shoot of the Sonoma County Sol game. The teams tied 1-1.

I ♥ San Francisco.

Last weekend, I finally made my way to Nourot to witness traditional glass making and– I discovered– a reunion of sorts. As part of Benicia’s open studios, Nourot opened its studio to all the boys that had come for so many weekends and let them do the glass making demos for the crowds that filtered in and out.

This audio slideshow is the product of my photo shoot and still a work in progress. I will consider it complete once I add narration and work on the timing (damn you, iMovie!).

Everyone’s happy; especially the bird outside my window who sings his it’s-a-glorious-morning song… all night long. Our garden is a big hit with the locals, including the happy couple that built their nest in the roses and laid four speckled blue eggs. Unfortunately, their beautiful home is no paradise: the cat, the dog, and I cause momma to flee since her little nest is only four feet off the ground. She clearly did not learn last year’s lesson after laying eggs in an old lantern hanging… wait for it… four feet off the ground. Third time is a charm?

For those of you that have not been to the Academy, it is the most amazing place… ever. In fact, I’m writing the director a letter requesting that I be allowed to spend one night a week in the aquarium.

The Natural History Museum includes African Hall which is home to the colony of African Penguins that have their own reality tv series, Penguin Cam. Apparently, Pierre is setting trends in penguin fashion with his tailored wetsuit. I didn’t notice the suit-wearing penguin last Thursday, but, since everyone was dressed for a night on the town, little Pierre probably looked perfectly natural for a party in the museum. Nightlife takes place on Thursdays. $10. Ages 21+. Plenty of free parking on JFK Drive. Photographers: bring your cameras but READ THE SIGNS. Don’t flash the fish.

Irene Hamaker, owner and website coordinator of Artisan Sweets, was a generous enough to let me pick her brain on more than one occasion. She listened patiently while I explained my html issues in great, inarticulate detail. Anna Hiatt, photo editor of The Daily Californian, was another huge help and introduced me to the site with the beautiful javascipt that helped me develop my galleries: the Devkick blog. Michael Pimentel, one of my favorite sports photographers, supplied me with the perfect photographer-at-work portrait that I have used on my “About” page. And thank you to everyone that offered an opinion, critique, or just general encouragement. Thank you, thank you, thank you!