I like to write. I think you probably know that. Whether or not anyone cares to read it, well, I just throw stuff out there and hope someone gets something out of it, but it's kind of a free form endeavor. Which is why I was so thrilled and grateful when Sonia from Nomad Editions Good Dog Magazine asked me if I would write an article for them about my trip to Peru with AmazonCares. Of course, I jumped at the chance. It just came out last week and I've spent the entire time thinking, "Woo ... Read more »
Amazon Cares
Wherever I may roam
The fourth of July was lovely. And thank goodness for that, because the fifth was pretty brutal, as it has remained since then. Humid, sticky, 100 degrees plus, the sort of weather that leaves you glued to the couch by your own sweat, unable to get up even if you wanted to, which you don't. Brody goes outside long enough to jump in the pool, then hightails it back into the house to allow it all to evaporate in a nice sauna-dog-smell combo. I used to call this "Hawaii hot." But now, now I call ... Read more »
A snapshot of surgery
We were a pretty tech-heavy crew in Peru with the April Amazon Cares trip. One of the items I packed was a Flip camera, which unfortunately chose to poop out entirely about one week into the trip. For the first half, though, it was a cool camera to have since I could set it up on a tripod and just film a half hour of activity. I put together about 40 minutes of footage from 2 clinics the first week in Iquitos. I then sped up the footage so you can see all of this in two minutes' worth of ... Read more »
Wordless Wednesday
A beautiful statue calling to the skies on the banks of the Amazon. ... Read more »
As fate would have it
(As you can see, I'm still turning out posts related to the Amazon Cares trip as I get the chance. It's something I could go on about for ages, in so many different ways.) One of the things that will strike you the most when you are in a third world country is the sheer number of street animals. We're not used to it here. Here, they are picked up, and placed out of sight and out of mind, until of course we either rehome them or kill them. That is how it works here. In other places like ... Read more »
The Grotesquerie
One of my favorite parts of going to Peru was wandering through all the little markets in Iquitos and Lima. It was exactly how you might imagine it: a small, dusty storefront. A man sitting lazily behind the counter with a cigarette watching soccer as you wander to the back of the store. The back, seeming to stretch out before you as if by magic, revealing oddities and strange items choking under a layer of dust. I felt like Indy in search of ancient artifacts. They had a knife that I would ... Read more »
Wordy Wednesday: VIT (Very Important Tigger)
I decided to forego the standard title and just concede that I can't do a wordless post. There's just too much to explain, always. In this case, this is what happens when you have a punch-drunk team of veterinary volunteers under the influence of malarone, equatorial heat, and a little too much free time while waiting for the real surgeries to get checked in. Welsh volunteers Luke Marriot and Katherine Mock, two intrepid and extremely thoughtful explorers who stopped in to the Amazon Cares ... Read more »
The Tube of Awesome
After 5 days back in the comforts of home, I've become mildly alarmed at the state of my arms. I thought my various bites and lesions would be resolved within a few days, but here we are Friday and I still look like I have chicken pox. Yes, it's better, but it's still enough for me to get the stink eye if I don't cover up when I go outside. They're getting better, no doubt, and within another week or two I'm sure I'll be back to normal- but I'm over wearing long sleeves and pants. It's in the ... Read more »
