Ross E. Lockhart's Blog, page 94

Randy has chiles. Lots of chiles.

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Fantastic fiction fosters a certain kind of melancholic anti-hero, an amoral, luckless mess of a messiah destined to do more harm than good. Now, to the ranks of Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné and Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever comes Gaston Glew, a pickle, narrator of Cameron Pierce's The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island: A Tragedy for People Who Eat Food. Sixteen and hereditarily-depressed, Glew escapes the confines of the pickle planet, launching himself into space in a vehicle built and fueled--literally--via the deaths of his parents. Coming to Pancake Island, Glew proceeds to indulge his every sour whim, romancing princesslike pancake Fanny Fod even as he murders her fellow pancakes with impunity, poisons the environment, and destabilizes the sun, kicking off the titular apocalypse. Strangeness abounds in a world where the fauna includes bacon vultures and an imprisoned cuddlywumpus (the source of all happiness), and the plot wickedly spirals through an absurd--if doomed--landscape toward catharsis. Like a demented children's story for adults, The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island: A Tragedy for People Who Eat Food is inspired weirdness in the Bizarro tradition from the author of Shark Hunting in Paradise Garden and Ass Goblins of Auschwitz.

"Don't forget," says my office assistant. "You have a meeting at noon today. And follow up on those proofs. And after that, maybe we can fit in a walk."

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Did a miracle happen here? Rise up and walk, sinner!

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Little Lion Dog: Maddie tries on a costume, and gets a treat for her trouble, at Our Best Friends on Friday.

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I'm hanging out on a park bench with Maddie as Jennifer plays bingo, as we slouch into the waning hours of her annual company picnic.

Good food, good conversations, good games, and lots of good dogs sniffing about...

But sometimes it's best to hide in the shade of a big tree and catch your breath. And be struck with wonder over things like this:

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"So, what do you want to do today, Maddie?" I asked while out walking this morning. "Wander downtown, take a drive, or head back to the house and read a book?"

In reply, Maddie stomped through a pile of leaves, then came up grinning.



"I know," she said. "Let's go to Walnut Park and check out the Whiskerino Contest. I'm a shoo-in in the 'Best Ornamentation' category."

As mentioned previously, El Dia de los Muertos is big in Petaluma. So once again, Jennifer, Maddie, and I are setting up the traditional pet-oriented Ofrenda at Our Best Friends. Here's an in-progress glimpse:

And over the next few weeks, customers and others are encouraged to add their own memento mori, memorializing and celebrating their departed Best Friends...

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Jeremy at the office, en route to watch the Giants win.

Preach it!

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Randy and Chuck

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