This is not a dead blog.  This past week has been chocked full of life and has therefore left little remaining time for it's blog retell.  selfish life, taking all my attention.  But, lull no more, lets just throw it around the horn to get back into the feel for things.

Mmf abandoned me to go the great white north in alaska.   she had 2 weddings in anchorage, one friday and one saturday.  completely unrelated from each other.   I like this is the kinda strange stuff that happens only when you are an uber nice person like mmf.  On a related note: Beware the Anchoragoneans.  I'm pretty sure they are up to something.

While my lady was off ice climbing with the yetis, i went to my parents place to help celebrate a milestone bday for my mother.  Begin tangent: I can honestly say im not sure if my mom would care if i said which birthday exactly.  My gut says she wouldnt, but i have learned in such situations to exercise caution.  There are physical alarms that literally go buzzing and chiming and ringing inside me when i'm approaching a situation that may cause my mom upset.  I have been both pre-programmed and well trained.  So, all i'll say is, happy 40th mom.   you look great.   End Tangent

One of the centerpiece events of the birthday celebration was dinner at the restaurant on the top of Mt. Greylock-- the tallest mountain in massachusetts--with a full palette of family.  MOST notably, my grams, Rita, who you might remember from her inspirational blog comment last year, post surviving a near death ordeal which lasted months.  Well ladies and gentlemen, shes back.  Full strength.  They are making her carry a cane, and i have seen video of her "walking her cane." Not walking with the cane, but rather, taking the cane for a walk, a la a puppy.  She is back to her stubborn hilarious self.  Heartwarming stuff. 

top of Greylock

Two points on Rita.  One, she is a sculptress.  She makes clay figures conducting various activities, and also glazes them beautifully.  They are organic and really capture something distinctly human in her representation of the human figure.  Well, she made grover.  Yup.   For our upcoming wedding, she is making figures for us.  and she started with our puppy.  It was made from a picture and turned out spot on (PUN!).  She got the ears right, the spots, his energy.  I cried when i saw it.  It's that beautiful. 

"hi, im amazing"

damn right i have a clay dog toy!

facsimile

the real mccoy

Second story.  We are sitting there at dinner.  Me next to Rita.  And she leans over and says, "Matt, i've been watching this new show, . . . have you seen 'Ice loves Coco'"  I nearly fell to the floor in laughter.  of all the tv programs i thought my grams would happen to flip to, the rapper Ice-T's reality show with his surgically enhanced barbarella wife Coco T (right!!!!), was NOT what i thought she'd be into.  I was wrong.  "It's silly," she says.  Admittedly i have only seen clips of this show, but the clips did include Coco's sister asking Coco to be her dulah or birth coach or something.  And Coco is relaying this story to her gay manservant?, who is alternatingly texting, not paying attention to Coco, and fully encouraging her to help birth this child.  Pretty life changing stuff.

Now part of what makes this funny for me is the ironic trajectory of Ice-T's career, going from U.S. Army, to the rap group Body Count featuring the iconic song Cop Killer to playing a police detective on Law & Order, to having a reality tv show.  My friend andrew says that this is a reflection of hip hop cultures inability to enact effective change.  I think its about how growing to need the spotlight desperately knows no bounds -- and a guy whose been famous since the late 80's wants to stay in the spotlight.   I mean, i saw Ice-T on a reality show called "I get that a lot."  Where celebrities go work retail jobs and when people tell them they look like, well, themselves, they say "I get that a lot" and proceed to try and convince people they are wrong.  Now, Ice-T was pretty hilarious running game out the Foot-Locker, but at the same time, is there any show ever that is more self-indulgent.  Oh hi, it's just lil ol me, Mc Movie Star, working this plebeian job like you 'normal people'.  Is anyone going to recognize that i am, like, so out of place here.  Oh you did recognize me?  Oh, well then lets play a game where i pretend that i'm NOT me!  Won't that be fun for us.  You wanting to meet me and me being here and at the same time pretending not to be me for tv.      I think you get my point. 

 Dog related lightning round.

Brother got to meet Grover.  Since Grover is my first pet, he is also my brothers first pet by proxy.  Considering the affect the grove-ster has had on me, i was pretty sure he would similarly affect my bro.  You be the judge.

Smitten

Grover got to meet kitty.  Grover was excited to play.  The kitty . . .

less so

And that, in a nutshell, was my week away.

hope you enjoyed your mini-holiday.

"I heart Independence Day"