Madi on steps in shades

Friday Flashback: Toto the mighty Mini Dachshund

Mom and I recently met Puddles, Whitney and Albert from We 3 Doxies

Mom says Puddles reminds her so much of Toto in looks and ATTITUDE, you go Girlfriend.

If we had been blogging when Toto was ruling the roost, he would have been the Male Puddles.

So today we thought we'd share a few things about Toto.

1. Loved his people and they loved him

2.Thought he was a Great Dane, once he charged a horse and lived to bark about it

3. There was nothing he could not do once he made up his mind

4. Expert at seeking revenge:

Once we boarded him for 11 days, upon our return he was doing cartwheels of joy, left pee mail

all over the yard. Once inside the house, he barked for my attention, lifted his leg and left a ton of pee mail on the kitchen floor, barked at me again, leave me again and you'll get more of the same, then, turned and marched over to his bed. He had never p'd on the floor before that nor did he ever do it again.

5. Needed an hourly attitude adjustment

6. Stubborn as a mule

7. He loved Barbie doll legs

8. Was not fond of snow...no matter how many times I told him he was German and was supposed to like it.

9. Loved to go to the beautiful NC coast

10. Toto was a K9 comedian. He kept us in stitches with his antics.

Earlier I said he was stubborn; however, I quickly learned he was smart as a whip...it was his humans who were stubborn. So Puddles, Whitney and Albert does any of this sound familiar?

Madi and Mom

And they called it Puppy Love....

What a surprise Mom and I received. A few days ago I rec'd an email from

Mango a most handsome Maltese Puppy and his mom. Mango went on to ask me to be his special friend. He said he read on my blog that I have a short 'attention' span but that he would like to be my friend for as long as he had my 'attention'.

When a Southern lady receives such a nice note for a Southern Gentleman...what else can she do except say YES.

Mango sent me a box. NOW he has my 'attention'!!!
You all know I love Boxes!!!

Mom open the box, took out the contents and I jumped right in the box.

Ummmm I like this box it is just my size.

Sorry Mango but this So. Belle does so love her a nice box!!!
Oh my Dogs and Cats Mango sent me a very soft kitty bed.
The pink is just the right shade with my gray fur...
Currently my bed is being occupied by Earl the turtle...he had this little
tab on him that had to be pulled out to activate his squeak.
Guess what Mango I chased that paper tab all over the floor.
That was lots of fun!!!

Then I decided I better give Earl the once over to see if per chance Mango sent me any smell-mail
(he is too much of a gentleman to send me p-mail)

Mom got a present too she told me that normally when a young man comes to call on his lady friend he might bring her mom flowers...but since Mango lives in Texas we think he was wise

to select a very nice coffee mug (mom is a coffee freak) with an appropriate cat saying and a very beautiful red scarf with kitties all over it.

Thank you very much Mango and mom for the very thoughtful gifts.

Mango I do believe you have my FULL attention NOW!!

Madi

Our Friend Emily.....

Mom and I are thrilled to introduce all our blogging friends to Emily.

Mom's back on the Whimiscal Calendar for June. However, today, June 2, we're celebrating

Drawing Day (June 5)....because we are so excited to show you this drawing.

We think it is just beautiful. Our friend Emily, who is 8, yes eight years old, drew this picture

in art class. The art teacher gave all the parents an opportunity to have their child's art

reproduced for family and friends in many different ways, cups, key rings, and several sized pictures. Mom ordered the 5x7 below. It arrived last Friday.

Emily,

We are truly amazed at your artistic ability and look forward to seeing more beautiful pictures.

Below is a picture of Emily and her two sisters Nora who is 3 and Rose who is 4 months all very, very pretty in PINK!!!

Mom calls them the Amazing Threesome!!! Mom met Emily's parents when they came to Raleigh for her Dad to pursue his PhD at NCSU there were no beautiful children then.

Mom met Emily when she was only about 12 hours old. Not only is she a budding artist, she plays piano, excels in school, plays soccer and is a Girl Scout. They live in Arkansas now. Mom has never met Nora, the comedian, or Rose, aka Miss Dimples. We hope to meet them somewhere between Arkansas and NC next summer.

We keep in touch by email and by their mom's blog. Drop by to say hi to them over at

Ware World

Emily we love your pierced ears!!!

Get ready for a real treat: Street Knight

Nope this is not the foot of a knight...

Mom has her Whimsical Calendar out again....

today June 1, is National Go Barefoot Day. Well Mom says here bare feet are not picture worthy but mine are so in honor of the day here are my hairy bare feet.

Now onto the Street Knight

What is this you must be asking? Well it is AMAZING, that is what it is.

It is a knight made of discarded street signs. Enjoy the pictures and at the

end Mom will tell you all about them.

The story behind the Street Knight is long but Mom will try to condense it.
It was designed and build by and North Carolina State University student....but that is the
end of the story. A little over a year ago a major road construciton project began on Hillsborough Street which is the main street in front of NCSU. To say it created chaos for foot and motor traffic is an UNDER STATEMENT. After months of dealing with the orange and white constrution barrels, this student decided to turn several of them into 'Barrel Monster'. He did not steal them he just turned them in to ART. When completed he put them back where he got them but in the form of Barrel Monster. I'm sorry I don't have a picture but hopefully if you click on here you can see it. The construction company and NCSU thought it was fantastic use of the barrels but the city officials were not happy. He was fined by the city and told he had to perform 'X' number of community service hours which he did. The Street Knight is the last of his hours of service. This young man graduated from NCSU on May 15th. My understanding is he will leave Raleigh. I am sorry we are losing such a creative and talented young man...but to him I say
you made me smile and I truly admire your ART!!!

Happy Memorial Day and Wolves and Water

Yes I'm hiding...when you scroll down you'll see why

NC State University's mascot is the Wolf...we call ourselves the Wolf Pack.
This handsome trio of very handsome bronze wolves sit on the plaza near the NCSU Bookstore. The wolves stand 5' tall and each weighs about 1,200 lb. The sculptures are by San Diego based artist Michael Stultz...the grouping is called 'woven bronze'. Please click on any of the pictures for a close up of the wolves.

Anytime you see an NCSU wolf one is always howling as in the above picture

or on the prowl looking for intruders such as those sticky sneaky tar heels.
A little wolf trivia. We Wolf Pack fans always have a wolf with us and you can too by doing the following:Press your two middle fingers to your thumb, then raise your index finger and pinkie finger.Now you have a wolf head. By opening and closing you two middle fingers, you can make the wolf howl or sing the State fight song at a ballgame.

This sculpture below, sits in the middle of a very lovely and refreshing

water fountain outside of the Talley Student Center on the beautiful

campus of North Carolina State University.

FYI: In case you haven't already figured it out, we are very loyal
NC State University fans.

Steeple Sunday: St. Michael's Episcopal Church

Today's steeple is a little jewel we found at the end of a residential street.

Thank goodness my hubby is thoroughly enjoying our 'steeple chase' as he calls it. He drives me to some of the nicest places. He thought he remembered a church at the end of Canterbury Road so off we went and look what we found.

St. Michael's has the most amazing roof lines. We aren't sure if the roofing is slate but it certainly look appears to be and let me tell you there is a lot of slate on this roof.
St. Michael's was established as a mission church in 1950 by parishioners from 3 churches in downtown Raleigh. The first service of the church was on May 6, 1950 in the Chapel of St. Mary's College. Parishioners began 'work weekends for St. Michael's' clearing land around two donated World War II barracks which would become the first church buildings. They were painted red and known as "The Little Red Church in the Woods'.


The first service in the Little Red Church was on September 10, 1950.
Work on the new building continued on Christmas Eve 1955 the first service was held in the new nave.

Since the first day of service St. Michael's has grown. It still sits partially in the woods thanks to the planning of the early parishioners it was set back from the road and it is
surrounded by beautiful gardens, flowers and nature.

I found the steeple quite different from all that I have posted so far.

This is the view from the parking lot of the lovely welcoming entrance to
St. Michael's. Today this door welcomes close to 1100 members. Currently they have another project underway. In about a year, they will have pipe organ infrastructure built which they hope will house a new pipe organ.
Thanks to my hubby for remembering this lovely church and taking me on yet another grand 'steeple chase' what a great driver I have.
Note from Mom: Thank you to everyone for your very kind comments about 'Steeple Sunday'.
I've always been intrigued by steeples. I'm thrilled and honored that you all are enjoying reading about them as much as I'm enjoying taking the pictures and writing about them. I took for granted that all cities have as many beautiful Steeples as we do in Raleigh. Evidently that is not the case.

If you love beautiful doors, click on this The Door Hunter
This is the other blog of our friend Cat she lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
She loves to wander the streets of Prague looking for beautiful doors.
She is also Mom to the famous felines, Lautrec and Tiny.