Cast of Characters

The dog

                                                                                 Darby The Shmoo, 2010

Darby is my 10 year old German Shepard.
She is full of spunk and I am quite certain she is half sponge, because she absorbs all the love she can get.
She adds fun and life to my nuclear family. Always there for a hug, and terrified of thunderstorms, she is excellent for cuddling with in bed during those nights when it pours and the power goes out.
Just look at those big, brown eyes!
ETA: Darby was diagnosed with advanced melanoma on Christmas Day of 2013. She died gently and well, asleep in my arms on December 26, 2013. I leave her photo up as a tribute to her and the love she gave.

The other dog

Sugar and me, 2014

  This is my beautiful Sugar (also known as "Sugarbutt", "Stinky", and "Sugar bowl-spoon-cube-cane"). I got her from the animal shelter when The Darby Shmoo passed away. Sugar was 7 years old when I adopted her, and she's yet another thing to snuggle at night when the world is frightening. She will never "replace" The Shmoo, but I love her all the same.


Oh yeah, and ME!

                                            Me, with a poster of "Einie", 2010
                                         
 I have been diagnosed with chronic, undifferentiated schizophrenia.
Three different doctors have described me as "treatment resistant".
I read science fiction and just about everything else.
I find that there is not enough eternity to read everything I want to.
I have a separate room in my house for all my books.
My favourite author is Vladimir Nabokov. I suspect it always will be.
I have a quirky sense of spelling, and often my words have a British tinge to them when I write.
Poetry and painting are my lifelines.                          
I am unreliable with deadlines, and I blame this on my existentialist bent.