October is THE month !!

 A lot happens for our family in October. Mimi turned 89 on the 18th, Doc turned 65 on the 28th, and Ashley turned 35 on the 29th. And a coworker and friend, Nhien, got married to Randy, he fiancée

So let's start back on the 12th. It was finally a nice fall day. I had been waiting to wear my Hugo Boss merino wool sweater. I paired it with some black lambskin jeans. I have another coworker who knows nice things when she sees them - she always comments when I am wearing luxury items.

Needless to say, this combo did not disappoint, I added an Escada belt, my Hermes CDC, and gold and garnet jewelry.

Doc's cooking hobby is going well - he can make brownies, cake, and pineapple upside down cake. He can also make stew, shepherd's pie, casseroles, and scrambles. So I got him a new bookcase for all the cookbooks he has been collecting.

Pandi inspected it and the Doc arranged all his books on it. It looks very nice.

On October 13th, I wore a black and white outfit. The black slacks have a silver lurex pinstripe. The top is a sleeveless sweater with pearl embellishment. The jacket came from Stein Mart (before they went out of business.) It's white suede with reptile trim and crystals lining the trim. I got my belt in Indianapolis and I got to wear my white booties.

On October 14th, I went all gray. I have had the skirt and the waterfall cardigan for a long time. The Tshirt is new - I got it when Doc and I went up to Long Beach to thrift shop during the awful Labor Day heat wave.

October 15th was Nhien and Randy's wedding. I wore a teal blue chiffon dress from BCBG Max Azria. It has a satin scarf that I used to hide my chicken neck. My shoes are Ivanka Trump.

This is the bridal party - Nhien's mom, Nhien, Randy and his American friend. His parents live in India and were too frail to come to the wedding.

The crowd was about 80% Vietnamese.

There were a ton of videographers there. The food was served in about 10 courses, and there was an open bar.

This is the group from work - me, Nika, Susan, Catie and Jen.

This is one of Doc's tuna casseroles with biscuits on top as opposed to cheese. It was delicious.

On Monday, October 17th, I wore a long knit jacket from Philosophy that I bought at Nordstrom. Underneath, grey slacks and a grey T shirt. 

My jewelry was silver toned.

On Tuesday, October 18th, I wore black Ponte knit slacks from Express, an ivory beaded sweater from Emmanuel Ungaro, and the top of a St John suit. I rarely wear the top and bottom together - it's a lot. 

My pearl trim loafers were Louise Et Cie, and of course, my favorite black and gold jewelry.

It was warm again on the 19th. I wore a St John knit skirt with a lurex weave and a peach chiffon top.

The layered necklaces all came from Nordstrom.

This is Doc's shepherd's pie. It was also delicious.

On Thursday, October 20th, I wore an ancient knit dress with a Japanese print, with geishas and fans. The olive waterfall cardi ia also pretty old.

I wore natural toned costume jewelry.

I only worked for a few hours on Friday the 21st. I wore a very comfy knit dress from Calvin Klein.

The logo is done in gold studs, and I wore black and gold jewelry.

Doc rearranged his cookbokks to give them more room. We buoyed the bookcase up with struts - I bought a board, sawed it in pieces, and stained them dark walnut.

On October 22nd, we had a triple birthday party. We got flowers for Ashley and Mimi, and a cheesecake with four different quadrants of flavors.

Luke and Ashely got the carrot cake. They told Mimi that she should tell everyone that she is one hundred years old, because then she will get things for free. She disagreed - my mom wouldn't do that either.

Here's my special little boy - Luke, Ashley and Preston got him some cooking gear and his very own balloon.

We had food from Lucky Chinese. 

These gorgeous little orange finches come to Win and Mimi's yard. She puts birdseed out for wild birds, now that there aren't any dogs to chase them away.

On Monday, October 24th, I wore a dress that I got up in Manhattan Beach.

It has this embroidered cape accent. The sleeves are open on the inside - kind of a reverse cold shoulder thing. I wore matching teal tights and grey suede ankle booties.

On Tuesday, October 25th, I wore a khaki jumpsuit with a bronze metallic tank. 

I wore a necklace that I got at the hospital gift shop, a woven belt, and some platform rust suede booties from Nordstrom.

On Wednesday, I wore another luxe outfit that got a lot of compliments. The black ponte pants are from Reebok, the burnt orange sweater is H &M, and the cashmere jacket is Fendi.

I wore a ton of luxury accessories and carried an MCM bag (not shown).  I got comments everywhere I went. I loved this outfit.

Vinni is being conditioned to be able to come inside the house. It will take some work - he still pees inside if he is not watched.

On Thursday, more luxury. This is a St John blazer, a Gucci skirt, and a polyester satin top from Kohl's. I wear this top a lot - it was a good buy.

On Friday, I wore some stretch wool slacks from a store called Cache that used to be around here. I loved the flamboyant high-end style.  The slacks are skintight (They always have been) but they look so good on me - my favorite style of pants is long boot cut. That is a very flattering style for my curvy butt. 

The henley top has rhinestone buttons and is from INC.

This morning, Doc saw a baby hawk on the power lines.  The crows were trying to swoop down and chase him away. He flew down and landed on the wall separating the restaurant from the alley behind our house.

He was so pretty. We were afraid he was injured, so I tossed a persimmon his way, and fortunately he flew away.

Well, that's all for now. We had an event every weekend in October. It will be nice to take it easy until Thanksgiving. I am planning to take quite a bit of time off. I will let you know how the celebrations turn out!!

Kenni Wright Thomason Wright Holtzman 2006 - 2022 RIP

 I first met Kenni as a 12-week-old puppy.  He was tiny and gorgeous, with perfect markings. He was also so hyper that he was spun, and there was no OFF switch or low speed.

This is important because one of my friends - we'll call him Mr Wright, had expressed interest in a puppy.  He decided on a Min Pin because he looked "so cool." I cautioned him that this was a very high-energy dog, and he was not a high-energy person. But the puppy was purchased for $800. After four days, Mr Wright called me and told me to come get the dog or he was going to kill him. His name at the time was Seth.

I managed to re-home Seth quickly to another friend, Mr Thomason. His daughter immediately named him Kenni (with an i).  He wouldn't stop puppy-biting the girl in the face and he would not sleep. They kept him for two days, then Mr Wright picked him up and conned me into taking him back for a few days since he was going on vacation.   When I called Mr Wright around two weeks later, he informed me that "He's your dog now." When I first brought Kenni to my house, he ran around the pool for almost two straight hours. Kenni always wore this dress when we went out for a walk.

Kenni did not endear himself to anyone. He was on the spectrum, most likely autistic. He showed no reciprocal emotion, he wouldn't look me in the eyes, and he would creep up silently and stand behind me, staring at me. He did not lick me and when I petted him, he would stiffen. One day, shortly after he came to live with us, we were going out for lunch and Kenni escaped out into the street and began running. I chased him but didn't see him. We took the car around a few streets with no luck either. So I said that I didn't care if I ever saw him again and we went to lunch. When we returned a couple of hours later, Kenni was sitting on the front lawn under the geraniums.

When he was about seven years old, I was sitting with my feet in the pool. Kenni was slithering toward me as usual. He pulled up right alongside me, and then a miracle happened. He put his long sleek neck on mine and pressed against me. He was fairly stiff, but I put my arm around his shoulders and pressed back against his neck. He was in love from that moment on. But Kenni only cared about two creatures in the whole world - me and Jackpot.

Jackpot was a curly mix of Dalmation, and Black Lab She had a grey head that was smooth, then a hugely obese body that was white with grey spots and very fluffy.  Kenni adored her and regularly tried to express his love to her. She was the longest-lived of all my dogs before Kenni. She lived fifteen- and one-half years, while Kenni lived sixteen years and two months. When she died, Kenni howled for almost two days intermittently. The neighbors complained, and I felt bad for him. So in desperation, I adopted Vinni Barbarino Holtzman. 

Kenni and Vinni never got along. As two males, they fought viciously at times. I had to throw water on them to break them up. That didn't happen too often. They mostly barked and laid around together. But as far as grief goes, Vinni shows less than none. Vinni also still has Pandi and is a much more loving and social dog than Kenni was. But that's a relief. Now I can take my time and find my ideal rescue - I would like a female, 40-45 lbs, short haired, and about two years old.  But if I don't get a Doberman now, then I will probably never have one. It's a decision. 

But Kenni did like Doc, in a less intense way. When Doc started swimming in the pool, Kenni would play lifeguard and circle the pool. He even tried to pull people out - if you splashed and made noise, he would begin to bark and then try to grab you.  But he got used to it and reduced his patrolling of the pool by a great deal.

Kenni had been slowing down a lot this last year. By June, we weren't taking him out for walks anymore. We were afraid he would pass out in the street. Then I got the She-Shed, and he was delighted. He loved it in there. 

He did make it to his sixteenth birthday, August 23rd, 2022. We had a McDonalds double cheeseburger party. 

The heat wave on Labor Day weekend really did a number on Kenni. He looked like death and wasn't eating too well. He fell in the pool twice and was shaky on his legs. Then it got cooler, and I began feeding him double portions and he even trotted around a little bit. I commented that I hoped this wasn't the last hurrah - the phenomenon where creatures take a swift upward turn in health right before they die. But that's what happened. 

This past week, he stopped eating, no matter what we gave him. Then he went downhill fast. He fell in the pool twice again. I was not happy because I hated to see him not feeling well and suffering. He died pretty quickly on his own. It was a blessing when he passed.

I had the foresight to build him a crypt when the yard got redone. I put it in his favorite spot under the bougainvillea bush. He has been sleeping right next to it. Doc dug it a little deeper and laid Kenni in there. There are two layers of bricks on top. Doc said then when he placed Kenni in there, he completely relaxed and there was a peaceful feeling. I sure hope so - now he will become part of the garden. Watch the bougainvillea and the fig tree get huge from Kenni reposing beneath there.

I will miss Kenni. For sure, I will always remember him. He was weird and aggravating, but he learned to be a dog during this life. If there is reincarnation, he will still be a dog, but this time around he will be a social and loving animal from the start. That will be his heaven.