Happy Birthday, James!

I'm pleased to say that I scored a mention on today's Dinosaur Comics.

Cromwell: a changed dog?

Cromwell waiting patiently in the hallway before being allowed into the apartment.

Cromwell waiting until he is given permission to eat the treat.

The small dog glows with self-satisfaction

IMG_2154
Originally uploaded by misssummerblock

"duplicitous and self-serving" no more: or, whither Cromwell?

Gillian once described Shackleton as "ingratiating" and Cromwell as "duplicitous and self-serving."

Cromwell will always be Cromwell, but now he's a little bit better. The trainer whose television special featured Shackleton in January (video to follow) came back this week to train Cromwell to stop "marking" in the house. When Edmond, the trainer, came into the house, Cromwell was barking and urinating all over the place. Edmond went through a series of exercises (fellow dog owners, email me for more specific information) and by the end Cromwell was sitting quietly, performing tricks on command, and too submissive to so much as look at a dog treat without my permission.

Of course, as soon as this happened, my heart broke. I spent the whole afternoon feeling miserable. What had I done? Had I crushed Cromwell's irrepressible spirit? Is a good Cromwell really Cromwell at all? If Cromwell were a perfect dog, would I secretly be disappointed in him? (Yes, probably.)

It's been a week now and while there has been some backsliding and the occasional challenge to our authority, things are getting much better. Today, Wednesday, was the first day Cromwell didn't mark a single thing all day. Still, I was happy to see him try to fight two schnauzers on his walk and then steal all of Shack's toys and hide them under the sofa. That's my Cromwell.

P.S. - Yes, Shackleton is very ingratiating when the trainer is present.

New tags on Studio Kumar

Hey everyone - just letting you know that Dev finished a big project this weekend and tagged all his excellent "best of" photos on studiokumar.com - go check it out.

How regal!

This is old news for some of you, but I did want to share this excellent oil painting of Cromwell, done by my friend Anna (www.awrightportraits.com). She kindly painted Cromwell in exchange for some work I did updating and improving her website. My plan is to hang the portrait in a heavy, ornate gilt frame and then mount it on the wall above a velvet cushion on which Cromwell can recline, as befits him. And yes, Shackleton is also in the works, in exchange for even more web work. I've been offered one or two paid web jobs, too, but payment in money pales in comparison to payment in dog portraits.

P.S.-- I will be adding Cromwell's excellent painting to Anna's website as a sample of her new expansion into animal portraits.

A new week's worth of fun is up on The Foghorn. I have also installed an RSS feed to the site, so now you can be automatically notified when new content appears here, on The Foghorn, on Studio Kumar, on my blog, on Rosemary's blog, or anywhere else. Contact me for more details.

I just finished this embroidered pillow for my sister Gillian, an homage to the excellent Dinosaur Comics.

This weekend we heard Arundhati Roy (Indian political activist and the author of 1997's Booker Prize-winning The God of Small Things) give a talk at M on the Bund in Shanghai. In a wide-ranging talk, she spoke on nuclear weapons, development, democracy, NGOs, celebrity charity, dam building, environmentalism, the BJP, and yes, Bollywood.

I wanted to point everybody to Katy Spinder's awesome new Etsy website. If you don't know, Etsy is a wonderful website that allows artists and craftspeople to sell their work online through one big clearing house. It's also a wonderful place to get jewelry, stationery, baby stuff, photographic prints, housewares, and lots of other things. Katy also has a new blog.

Be sure to check out Dev's first blog post on Studio Kumar and check back often for updates.

And there's a whole new week's worth of content up on The Foghorn, as well.

Congratulations, Summer and Andrew!

My oldest friend, Summer St. Pierre (née Wammack), and her husband just had a beautiful baby boy the night of February 28. I have known Summer since the fifth grade, and I can't wait to meet Jack David St. Pierre in Los Angeles soon.

Announcing The Foghorn

I am very happy to announce the launch of my new web project, The Foghorn. Check back every Wednesday for updates.

Check out the photos page - I added three handy new tags to make browsing easier: "family," "friends," and "pets."