Everything stopped at noon today, Monday August 30th. Mom continues to weep over the loss of her beloved niece Karen Anderson and worry about the strength of her sister Judy Fern. I can sense her bereavement but don’t know whether to lick her face or just stay on the bed.

We traveled to Chicago last Wednesday for the IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. I managed to charm the racing world with my good behavior but Mom wasn’t too happy with me when I wouldn’t go potty at the racetrack. I do choose my places, you know?

When she discovered that Karen had died, mid-afternoon on Friday right after IndyCar qualifying, Mom was a mess. She just didn’t know what to do so after finishing her qualifying story, she started trying to get plane tickets to Atlantic City or Philadelphia. Maybe we could get to Margate City by the time of the memorial service on Monday at noon?

That wasn’t possible – none of the airlines had any seats available that could get us from Indy to either city so we were stuck in Indy, where we’ve got to work the NHRA US Nationals this coming weekend.

Mom has been devastated by this death; not even Father Phil de Rea’s counsel could cheer her up. It’s not fun to see her like this; are all humans this hurt by death? We dogs pretty much take it in stride and move on. Even when we get emotionally attached.

It’s just past that time now on Monday afternoon and Mom celebrated Karen’s life alone at Debbie’s house in Brownsburg, with only me, Hector and Sierra to keep her company. She said the Jewish prayers for the dead and cried some more. Then she kicked us out into the yard to all three of us would get out of her hair for a few minutes and do our business.

I feel very sad for Mom having lost her most favorite next-generation relative. I’ll try and find a way to cheer her up this afternoon if I possible can.

Thanks for reading this – hope you’ll say some prayers for Karen’s survivors: her mother Judy, her husband Bob, children Alex and Amy and brother Gary.

Love, a rather sad Leah

(oh, and I've included a pic of me on the pit walk before the race)

A moving experience

We’ve moved.

And that was a trauma unto itself. I know Mom had left me alone to go look at property a few times over the last few months with that promising, “I’ll be right back, sweetie-pie” she always gives me when she is gone for a little bit.

But how and why we moved is really the point here.

We’ve been in a tiny apartment since we became partners back in November of 2009. It was kind of like two shoeboxes separated by a walk-through kitchen. It didn’t look like we had a lot of stuff because there was a lot of storage. In fact, Mom’s friend Sylvi remarked, after the move was complete, “You have a lot more stuff than I thought, Annie!”

After she got back from Le Mans in mid-June, Mom started one of those regimens that included lots of walks for me, and lots of work for her. She kept typing while listening to her headphones and then writing, writing, writing on the computer. Those were totally boring days for me, only broken up by the walks that made it all worthwhile for me. She said she sent off five stories and over 100 images from her trip to France. After watching what went on in that little place, I’m inclined to believe it.

Before we could move, there was lots of screaming and nasty emails back and forth between the bankers and Mom, who still has some hair! Isn’t that amazing? And before we could move we had to have therapy – that meant going to a couple of races before it all took place.

We did the Sonoma NHRA race (now that was an awful drive back and forth – but at least we got to stay at Carey’s place where there’s lots of interesting smells and a weird cat named Waffle. We went to Denver the following week for another drag race, where I got to meet Barbara and Sky one night and Joy and Doug the night after the race. All of Mom’s friends are so cool. They love to spend time with her and they love to have wine with her.

It was very hot in Denver and I didn’t like that too much. But I kept forgetting to drink water so I guess any heat problems are my own fault.

The Tuesday after we got back from Denver, the thrash began. Mom started taking stuff out on a dolly and Sylvi soon came to join her. By Thursday there were two guys – David Hahs and Jim Bennett – doing the heavy lifting and by Thursday night we were sleeping in our new home, amidst boxes and detritus like you can’t believe!

By that Thursday night the refrigerator was installed, the floor was mostly done (the kitchen floor will likely be an ongoing trauma, as will the kitchen cabinets, which were not installed to Mom’s satisfaction – and still aren’t).

I wasn’t sure about this new home. The first couple of nights there were lots of loud noises that were different from the old place. I took solace under the bed on top of a soft suitcase and trembled – like the Chihuahua I am. It was difficult, particularly since we used to have carpet I could snarfle on and now all we have are a couple of small oriental rugs and wood floors everywhere else.

But I’m getting used to that and to the different natural light of this place. We get a lot of morning light here, where we had lots of light all day long in the old place. I never got to experience some of the hotter days Mom lived through over there. There is a lot of cross ventilation in our new home and Mom loves the view of the Villa Riviera from her bed.

We own this place now – well, we do with the mortgage holder. I think I’m on the trust deed, or was that just a Mom joke?

To help me feel comfortable, Mom has kept the bed the former owners left behind (I wonder how Lilly is doing without it?) and covered it with blankets and towels so I can find my right spot. I love to dig into all of it and play with my little toy that John and Laurie gave me. It makes Mom so happy to see me play with toys because she likes them so much.

I’m writing this from Sonoma where we’ve driven again, this time for the IndyCar Series race. It’s not as noisy as the dragsters but the droning sure is annoying for me. I don’t know why Mom keeps putting those Mutt Muffs on me because all I want to do is shake ‘em off! She leaves me in the media center more often than not so I don’t get too much of the noise, but they’ve put us right next to the window so it doesn’t matter – it’s noisy!

We’ve got another big run back to the LBC tomorrow evening and then we head for Chicago on Wednesday – we’re just as busy as can be!

Oh, and I've included a photo of the view from the bed, taken through a rather dirty window at dusk