Shocked!

I opened my email this afternoon to find what I thought was the strangest email ever! With permission of the author, I'm posting it here: Gaylen I apologize that your experience with regard to the Seafair Pirates was not an enjoyable one. I must apologize on behalf of the Pirates for our part in that, but I would also like to explain. First, I will tell you most of the Pirates are pet owners and you will never go to the Pirates office without seeing at least one dog and a bird in attendance. We are animal lovers too! Because of this, we have a long standing policy which is printed and sent out with each application and/or press information packet regarding the distance between our ship and any units with animals. This is sent to each and every Parade committee. The Seafair Pirates were founded in 1949 and we have attended over 240 scheduled functions in 4 countries last year alone. Because of that, we are what some would consider experts in the Parade Business. On Saturday, when we arrived in staging, I was informed that we were goi ng to be number 16 which put us only five units behind the Basset Brigade. I specifically inquired about our placement out of my concern for your group. I requested that we be moved and agreed on number 33 A, which would have created a much better cushion between our cannon and your dogs. Unfortunately, this was overruled by someone on the Parade committee. At this point, I do not know who but have every intention of finding out. Once we determined that we could not change our position within the parade, we improvised the best we could. We created a significant space between ourselves and the unit ahead of us and we reduced the amount of powder in the cannon to decrease the noise without disappointing the rest of the spectators. Additionally, after the Reviewing stand, we did not fire at all - observing a no blast zone purely out of consideration for your group. It is my hope that you will forward this on to the organizers of your group. When this event is in its planning stages next year, I would be happy to be there to give our input. We firmly believe that all who attend community events should enjoy the experience. That is our goal. We understand that not all people can be pleased, but we do have a responsibility to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. This is not a difficult fix. I was present at the first All Fools Day Parade as were the Pirates and have been a Woodinville resident for 25 years. I hope this gives you a different perspective and understanding we are on your side. Piratically Yours, Mark J. Director of Public Relations/Promotions Seattle Seafair Pirates I responded to Mark with the following email Thank you so much for your response. I'm not really upset with the Pirates that's what pirates do and the canon did sound quieter than it does at say the Lake City or the Brier Parades. We attend both every year. Lake City without Dogs and Brier with. More I was just commenting on what a big baby my big dog is. Beau - the poor guy who was so scared - is a 3.5 year old bloodhound who weighs in at 105 pounds. When scared and trying to run, there's not alot I can do to stop him. Would you mind if I posted your reponse to my blog. I think it's wonderful that you thought it important enought to email me about. Thank you. To which Mark finally responded: Gaylen I'm glad to hear that all is OK. . . . . Feel free to post the original response and if Beau ever gets the he doesn't have to listen attitude feel free to use the pirates to threaten him with. Thanks hope to see you at Lake City. Wasn't that a wonderful dialog. I'm still just shocked that he would (1) see the reference to the SeaFair Pirates on my blog and (2) to actually care enough to send me a message making sure my boy was okay. Now - back to regularly scheduled sewing.

Lots of Pictures!

Some days the worst part of blogging is getting the photos where you want them! To the left is a picture of JB wearing The Man Sweater. The sleeves are about 3" too long, but we just fold them back. I am not knitting them again! I did have to re-knit the neckband 3 times last night. The cast off edge had absolutely no give after being soaked and gently washed and he couldn't get it over his head. I ended up re-knitting it and casting off with a size 7US needle. Now it fits over his head without trying to rip his ears off! And it's the perfect Philadelphia Eagles Green! So JB is very happy :)

Saturday we went to the Annual Woodinville Basset Bash and Parade. There were short legged dogs every where! Dudley dog was absolutely in his element. He loves other dogs. Neither of the dogs shown here are Dudley - although they look a lot like him. He is just out of the picture and you can just see the white tip on his tail.

Dudley is in this picture - he is on the right doing a "meet and greet" with a dog named Elvis. There didn't seem to be as many dogs at the parade this year as there have been in the past. And I didn't take nearly as many pictures as years past - we were short people power as neither of the girls were able to attend with us. Historically people dress their dogs in costumes for the parade. I'm pretty sure the dogs don't enjoy this part of the day. This cute little girl was dressed as Carmen Miranda. Her costume was adorable - but the skirt was dragging on the wet ground and got very heavy and kept putting itself off!

This was absolutely my favorite costume this year. I don't know if you can see her or not, but there is a dog in the cake. You can just see her nose sticking out the right side of the cake - away from the flip top lid. The side of the cake says "Party Animal." About half-way through the parade she didn't want to be in the cake anymore - she was ready for her debut - so her mom was bribing her with treats to keep her in there! We tried to dress Lucy up as an Eagles fan (she is JB's dog after all) but she flat refused to move. She very slowly walked from the kitchen to the entry way where I was able to get this photo, but she wouldn't take another step after that. I can't imagine she was very comfortable - she was just wearing one of JB's regular t-shirts and it was tight around her chest. Here you can see Beau checking her out. I'm pretty sure he was saying "Lucy, My God! What did they do to you?!!"

We took the shirt off and she got to go to the parade naked!

Here's the main reason I didn't take more photos. The Seafair Pirates were at the parade. This year the dogs were in the middle of the parade instead of the end and the Pirates insist on firing their canon regularly throughout the parade. Well Beau was scared to death! Every time he would hear the canon he would run in whatever direction he could go. He would go right up to strangers and sit on their feet, begging them to protect him - because apparently I was failing! Poor boy - he truly was traumatized. None of our other dogs seemed to mind too much though.

Regularly scheduled sewing will resume tomorrow :)

You Lead ~ I Follow

Everyone in blogland is doing it - it started with Erica , then I saw that Claire had done it, well I just had to do it too!

Apparently, I'm a Shape A - hips larger than shoulders. HMM - I always thought they were about the same size. I really, really thought I was more an "H" Shape - by their definitions. But, they probably are right.

However, there are some things that "they" say would flatter my figure that I would just never wear - take this long, tunic-ish style top belted. Come on! Isn't that just going to emphasize the fact that my hips are big and my thighs are full?

I do really like their choice of dress pants. I rarely wear dress pants because I can't find any that fit and look flattering. But some of these would possibly work.

Okay - now I'm off to see who else in the blogosphere is being a follower and then cut out a dress. I got the white lining assembled yesterday and ready for some great trim to be added. It's now upstairs with my tv watching projects. I've done all the Cinderellas (chores) that I'm going to do today until it's time to cook dinner - so the afternoon is mine to play with fabric. Happy Sewing Everyone.