Teapots and Polka Dots

“I’ve just seen a dog without a collar…very skittish…wouldn’t let me approach.” The “stray dog alert” popped up on my neighborhood's electronic bulletin board in late August.�...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/11/saving-rex.html

A few days ago while out on a walk, I came across a tumbled-over cardboard box with clothes spilling out of it. Clearly somebody was tossing them out--they were in the dirt, on the street, and sm...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/11/a-new-life-for-some-old-clothes.html

Recently I worked a dog-adoption event, and a professional groomer was there to give the shelter dogs a little polish: She used a soft rubber brush on the dog I was handling. He loved it...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/11/fantastic-grooming-tool-zoom-groom.html

Meet George: George was the MAINE COON CAT  I had when I was a child. He was 22 pounds of pure love--the chillest, coolest cat I ever knew. I adored all cats, but I adored George to t...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/10/maine-coon-love.html

Lovely Daughter #1 (the ER doc) went to the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in Manhattan yesterday. It's one of the best, most creative collections of costumed dogs and dog owners in New Yo...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/10/halloween-dog-parade.html

Out on a walk a few days ago, one of my Pugs snuffled around in a pile of fallen leaves and faded Bougainvillea blossoms. He was looking for the perfect place to pee. As I gazed idly at him, some...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/10/hotel-silver-bread-tray.html

Recently I visited L.A's newest museum, "The Broad." It was just completed, and it houses modern and contemporary art collected by Edythe and Eli Broad over the last half-century. The Broad i...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/10/art-and-people-watching-broad-museum.html

Last summer, I discovered CHAMELEON COLD-BREW COFFEE for making delicious iced coffees at home. The refrigerated concentrate is WAY cheaper than Star-you-know-what. And it comes in three varieti...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/10/iced-cofee.html

I went to the grocery store today, and this is what I saw just outside the sliding-glass doors: A yellow Lab, no leash on her, waiting patiently on a patio chair drawn right up to the front...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/09/daddys-little-hairy-helper.html

Kate Spade continues to crank out adorable china collections. Here's her letter-A mug from a series of alphabet plates and mugs. Every letter has a different color and pattern, but of course I l...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/09/kate-spade-polka-dots.html

Recently I scored some vintage linens at very reasonable prices--some of them just $1 each! They need to be washed and bleached, but that's no big deal. I love using vintage linens in my powder...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/09/vintage-linens.html

Recently I cleaned out our outside storage room and put a lot of castoffs on the curb, hoping folks would take them away. There were broken patio chairs, an old stroller--that sort of stuff. Ev...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/09/reclaiming-roadside-offering.html

Lots of people right now are posting on FaceBook their "first-day-of-school" photos of their children. They're all so darling. We took those pictures, too. Our tradition was to pose each child i...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/09/first-day-of-school.html

It's SO hot here, guys! August and September traditionally are L.A.'s hottest months of the year. Sometimes when I can't get all three dogs walked before the morning heat sets in, I head to Macy'...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/08/hot-weather-window-shopping.html

The people we met during our recent visit to Zambia were so friendly and warm. Thanks to their historical connections to the U.K., many if not most speak English (as well as one or two native ton...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/08/africa-people-shots.html

Whenever I travel, I look for blue things to photograph. This was a challenge in the African bush, where the colors are mostly tawny golds, dusty greens, mudbank browns, and elephant grays. But t...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/08/africa-blues.html

Dear readers, I actually thought a lot about you out in the bush. As in, how can I not bore you with my animal photos? I know my pics aren't National Geographic quality. And everybody's got an U...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/08/african-bumshots.html

Hello, dear people. I'm back from a long trip to Zambia, where The Hubby and I spent nearly two weeks on a photographic safari in South Luangwa National Park. It's heaven for an animal lover like...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/08/africa-chic.html

A few days ago, I had some bananas getting too ripe. Usually, I make them into Kim Sunée's superlative chocolate banana bread . But this time, I made a batch of pumpkin pup-sicles for the pugs t...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/07/pumpkin-pup-sicles_31.html

Hi, dear people, My laptop is having some problems, and I'm not able to load any new photos into the blog. I have an appointment to talk to the Apple folks about it soon. In the meantime, her...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/07/technical-difficulties-and-polka-dot.html

 Our foster kitten "Jessica" is growing in confidence daily: Now she's chill around the pugs, especially when they're being quiet: She's getting confident enough to go up to them and ...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/07/further-adventures-of-jessica-foster.html

Four years back, Lovely Daughter #1 was about to start medical school at USC. LD#2 was about to start CITY YEAR.  The Hubby and I figured that, instead of pay rent for four years and have noth...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/07/gray-white-pop.html

How did it get to be July so fast?! Here's a swift rundown of some polka-dotted wonderfulness that I noticed in the past month. First up, this little Chihuahua mix is a neighbor of mine. His name...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/07/a-month-of-polka-dots.html

Sometimes you have to step outside of your routine and do something new, right?  So we're fostering a kitten for the first time, ever. This is "Jessica," 14 weeks old: (Photo courtesy of ...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/07/foster-kitten-fun.html

Hello! We're back from vacation, and it's sizzling in Los Angeles. The Boy and Lovely Daughter #2 are visiting us temporarily. So we loaded up the pugs in my car and drove to the off-leash dog be...

http://www.teapotsandpolkadots.net/2015/06/beach-day-with-dogs.html