Senza Parole Mercoledi

Santa Vacca! Awards!

Ciao, miei amici!

A abundance of awards has dropped into my beautiful universe, all from my amato (beloved) bloggie friends. Clearly, I am the luckiest Aire-girl ever!

This is the Kreativ Blogger Award! Mille grazie to theBUSTER, Ms. Sephie and Ms. Bailey Blue for sharing it with me. Mwah! Here are its rules:

1. Post it on your blog and link to the doggie that gave it to you. 2. List sette (seven) things you love. 3. List seven blogs you love. 4. Email or comment on the blogs you love to let them know you've given them an award.

Ok, hmm … I had to think about this a bit, but here are seven things:

1. I love my bloggie amici (friends)!
2. I love to go for rides in the car, and especially love going through the car wash. I enjoy trying to bite the water when it hits the window. This sets la mia ragazza off into fits of risate (laughter), but being a natural and gifted comedian, I’m always up for making someone giggle. (Giggle!)
3. I love sneaking onto il divano (the sofa), even though I’m not supposed to be up there. I am obsessed with the pillows on the sofa and like to bury myself under them and then bark really loud.
4. I love beautiful Italia and looking through all of la mia ragazza’s fotografie (photos) from her visits there.
5. I love chewing on things – ‘puter cords, glasses, shoes, my new bed – they’re all delicious! My trainer said this is because I am very “mouthy,” which, apparently, is an Airedale trait. La mia ragazza calls it something else, but I can’t tell you what that is perche (because) this is a G-rated bloggie. (Heeeeeeeee!!!!)
6. Amo scavare (I love to dig). OMD, do I ever love to dig. I dig holes in the yard, holes in the giardino fiorito (flower garden) and holes in the planters – I even paw at the carpet when I’m attempting to bury a biscotto (biscuit) that I’m not quite ready to devour.
7. I love going for long walkies in the nearby parks with la mia ragazza. And I reallllllly love it when I meet nuovi cani amici (new doggie pals) or little hoomans along the way. I am incredibly sociable! (Note from Lucia’s girl: she’s like the Pied Piper of Hamlin …)

Now, as for bloggies that I love, well, the truth is, I love ALL of my friends’ bloggies because each is unica (unique) and meraviglioso (wonderful) in its own way, but since I can only pick seven for this award – sigh!! – here they are:

1. Naturally, I love Persephone, Buster (mwah, mwah!) and Ms. Bailey Blue’s blog. Frankly, la mia ragazza consistently falls to the floor in fits of giggling apoplexy over it. Somebody throw a bucket of water on her, already …santa vacca (holy cow)….!
2. I love Dennis’ Diary of Destruction because Dennis, Tucker and Trixie are always encountering strange and fascinating life forms (gophers, ninja hedgehogs, giant stuffies , bees, email bankers – you name it, they stumble onto it) and there never seems to be a humdrum day out there in Sandy Eggo.
3. I love Digsby’s bloggie because he is just so adorable. If you haven’t seen the post about his first aire-cut, run right over there now and take a look – it is very, very funny.
4. I love Deetzy’s bloggie because … awwww, who doesn’t love Deetzy!!?!! He’s a darling ragazzo (boy) with a huge and gentle cuore (heart).
5. I love Paco and Milo’s bloggie because they’re such beautiful, smiley goldies … and they live in the part of Italia that la mia ragazza loves the most.
6. I love Stanley and Stella’s bloggie because without their encouragement, I might not have a bloggie, myself, or have met so many of you!
7. I love my dear friend Rambo’s bloggie, because he is unfailingly sweet and because he barks Italian to me.
8. I love … wait … [WHAT?? NO WAY, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!] La mia ragazza just reminded me that I am only supposed to list seven bloggies … plllbbbb! Well, to all my bloggie pals who didn’t get mentioned in this pathetically and tragically short list – which I have no control over! – please know that I love all of your bloggies, too!

I think some of you already have this award but I'd still like to pass it along to Nelly, to Bobo and Meja (they already have one Kreativ Blogger award, but this version looks different!), to Digsby, to Clive, and to Sally and Paddy. Mwah!


Mille grazie (thanks a million) to Jake and Fergi and to Piper, Carrleigh and Lilly for this splendid Proximity Award! Here is its description: This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award. (All this prize requires is to pass it on!)

Well, many, many of you already have this valuable award so instead of passing it along to eight specific bloggers, I think it’s better to say that if you don’t have this award, I invite you to pick it up here and post it to your bloggie!


And now for Neno’s Award! Mille grazie (thanks a million) to Tula, Jake and Fergi and to Piper, Carrleigh and Lilly for bestowing this upon me! Here’s why Neno’s Award is given, followed by its rules: As a dedication for those who love blogging activity and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

To seek the reason why we all love blogging.
~Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it. (Oopsy! My bad!)
~Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
~Answer the Award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
~Tag and distribute the Award to as many people as you like.
Remember to notify the awardees and put their links in your post.

It’s simple: I love blogging because I get to meet so many friends from so many places – and amici (friends) and famiglia (family) are the most precious things in the world. (Well, and so are treats….but that’s a separate bloggie post!) For any who don’t yet have this award, please help yourself to it here!

Tanti baci!

Lucia

Snackalicious Sabato

Ciao, miei amici!

E’ molto caldo (it’s very warm) here today – at least a thousand degrees, I’m pretty sure – and tira vento (it’s windy). La mia ragazza had to run a few morning errands to places that allow doggie visitors, so she put me in the car with her and off we went. First stop: the garden center to pick up some grass seed. We need erba (grass) seed because --ooopsy – I have burned out some areas of the prato (lawn) due to my eccellente (excellent) and molto (very) efficient, um, fluid processing system.

Next stop: the pet store – land of free snackies at the check-out counter! What delizioso (delightful) surprises did I stumble upon there, you ask? Well, here I am checking out some huge bags of succulenti spuntini (succulent snacks). I love these lower shelves – they're just right for sniffing out the best items.

I pointed to these ...

and la mia ragazza obligingly put them in our cart. Mmmmm … peanut buttery chewies. I will devour each delicate finger of nutty goodness in a mere due secondi, forse tre (two seconds, perhaps three). Giggle!!

I also pawed at these, and she put them in our cart, too:

And look! Busy Chewnola!

Although I enjoy them very much, la mia ragazza is over la luna (moon) crazy about them because it takes me a long time to gnaw through them (long time = 10 hooman minutes), meaning I am prepawcupied for a bit. She says it gives her enough time to write one paragraph of an article, or wash her hair, or empty the dishywasher, or check her email -- all in relative peace. Per carita (puh-leeze)! I am truly not THAT annoying ... it's just that I enjoy heaping her with lots of attention!

And I got some of these because they remind me of my sweet azzurro ragazzo (blue boy), Busterigo. Mwah! Just look at his magnifico (magnificent) face on the cookie box. Honestly, girls, isn't he just da morire (to die for)!?!? E' cosi' figo! (He's such a hunk!)

Anyway, about these biscotti (cookies): are they ever megagalattica (awesome) -- simply la fine del mondo (out of this world)! La mia ragazza says they look and smell just like “people” cookies. She had better not get any ideas…!!

Here I am doing a quick review of rope toys:

I, Lucia, usually have several rope toys at my casa, but I so gleefully shred them in no time flat – leaving meraviglioso (wonderful) wads of damp thread all over the floor for hoomans to enjoy – that we are in a constant state of restocking my inventory. La mia ragazza calls this phenomenon, “Rope Toy Flux.” (Which is kissing cousin to "Stuffie Flux," and a distant relation to "La Mia Ragazza's Shoe Flux." Heeeee...!!!!) But as for those rope toys, once I start the shredding process and make any sort of respectable headway, la mia ragazza throws away the frazzled toy because it makes a big mess. Pllbbbbblll!!

On the way home, we dropped by my groomer’s place prendere un appuntamento (to make an appointment) for an aire-do next Wednesday. La mia ragazza wants the groomer to strip my sella (saddle) so it stays black, and my furnishings and face need a little work, too. I, Lucia, have never been stripped before but the groomer said that I am “blowing my puppy coat” (fffwwooooooo!!!!) and said stripping would quickly tidy up my darlingest good looks. I guess la mia ragazza changed her mind about cancelling my spa day due to the chewed-‘puter-cord expense, but I think that’s because it’s getting warm here now and she doesn’t want me to be too hot in excess gingery and black furs. It's good that she's a girl, like me. We have an understanding when it comes to the subject of beauty.

Hope you all are having a fabulous fine settimana (weekend), miei cari amici (my dear friends)!

Tanti baci!


Lucia

Cani e Gatti

Ciao, miei amici!

This email showed up in la mia ragazza’s Outlook inbox this morning:

GATTI (CATS)!?!!?!??!!!

Why would Amazon think she has an interest in riviste o libri (magazines or books) about i gatti (cats)!!?!? Between the gray, rainy weather I woke up to this morning and THIS, I was molto, molto turbato (very, very upset) and retreated to my red sofa in a blue mood. I had to close my eyes and think some thoughts. I even fretted a little.

For all gattino ammiratori (kitty admirers) out there, I, Lucia, have nothing personal against cats except for the one who was mean to my friend Digsby’s mama, but let it be known that ours is a one-pet household and that pet is an AIREDALE! Oh, I’m not saying that la mia ragazza couldn’t – someday – bring home a doggie fratello o sorella (brother or sister) for me, perhaps another Airedale … or one of THESE (plllbbbbbb!!!)

but un GATTO (a CAT)!?!?!!?
This has totally upset my morning, my whole week and my entire beautiful universe. I may have to go off into a corner and sulk some more.

In other news, I did this last Sabato mattina (Saturday morning) to the 'puter's power cord:

I know it just looks like one little nibble, but it had big impact! It shut down our ‘puter for a while, until the replacement power cord arrived. La mia ragazza wasn’t at all happy about this, but it really wasn’t my fault. Honestly, it was not. I was curled up by her feet in a very friendly and sociable way, chewing on my chicken-basted bone, not bothering anyone or anything. Can I help it that the ‘puter cord was RIGHT THERE, in front of my muso (nose), and flew into my mouth when I chomped off the end of my bone?? Nooo!!
The problem was, la mia ragazza was already, um, slightly frazzled over finishing off my PhotoShoppy dress for Myrna's wedding. In fact, she had taken to self medicating with certain controlled substances in order to stay calm while using that rascally lasso tool to outline my charming but irregularly shaped head and darling beard.

As you can imagine, taking down the ‘puter in one fell chew didn’t go over so well. In fact, la mia ragazza was pretty irritato (irritated). I thought, sheesh, what’s the big deal, just get some colla (glue) and put the cord pieces back together, but apparently THAT’S not how you fix a chewed-up ‘puter cord. She looked on the internets -- grazie al cielo (thank goodness) for battery power -- and found a replacement. And then she told me I could just forget about my next spa session with the groomer because the power cord cost as much as a day of beauty. It is so amusing when I think about it: why would I care about not going to the groomer??? She might as well have said, “Lucia, you can just forget about having your teeth drilled today.” Oh, grande affare (big deal)!!!

Santa vacca (holy cow)!!! It just hit me: do you think la mia ragazza is looking for a kitty because of what I did to the ‘puter cord!?!?!!? Could I be ... replaced!?!?! Will she change the locks while I'm away in Salzburg!?!?! Oh noooooooo….!!!!!

Tanti baci!

Lucia

PeeEss: È Terra Giorno (It's Earth Day), everydoggie, kitteh, hammie and hooman. Be green! (Naturally, this is especially pertinent for all terriers, since we ARE, after all, earth doggies!)

La Dolce Dormita

Ciao, miei amici!

As Hamlet once said, “To sleep, perchance to dream … aye, there’s the rub.” Well, to sleep and to dream, you first need a decent bed and aye, there was the rub for me! Santa vacca (holy cow), I had grown so much in these past months that my once-comfy crate pads had literally worn thin. I had been waking up ogni mattina (every morning) with sore leggies, pains in my neck and a generally poor disposition, so clearly, drastic measures had to be taken. After many nights of off-tunefully vocalizing my deep discontent to mia ragazza – which I usually did from the hours of 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. – she finalmente (finally) did some research on the internets and entro pochi giorni (within a few days), this ginormous object arrived at the door to mia casa:


Because by nature I am molto curioso (very curious) and anche perché (also because) I am, of course, il cane della casa, (the dog of the house) – ergo, it’s my responsibility to thoroughly screen all incoming packages, mail, hoomans, leaves and dustballs – I nosepoked mia ragazza until she got le forbici (the scissors) and cut the tape holding the box closed. Now, there’s nothing I enjoy more than to shred up a big cardboard box – and this one looked particularly tasty ....
but when mia ragazza reached into the box to pull out its contents, I was so enthralled that I barely took more than a glancing nibble at the box, itself. Why on earth would I want cardboard when I could feast my eyes on QUESTA magnificence (THIS magnificence):


So coolly and beautifully verde (green), so ergonomically designed, so sturdily constructed, so … superiore in ogni modo (superior in every way)! Surely Brunelleschi himself could not have engineered more fantastice curve (fantastic curves). I circled il glorioso oggetto (the glorious object) to complete my inspection and spied this:

But of course it was splendido e perfetto (splendid and perfect)! It was made in la mia bella patria ancestral (my beautiful ancestral homeland), obviously by gifted artisans of the most extraordinary skill and talent. I jumped right in to give it my patented la Principessa e il Pisello (Princess and the Pea) test. Hmmmm ... [cuddle … snuggle … burrow] … mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm …sì, è la perfezione! ( yes, it’s perfection!) Truly it lives up to its name: Perla! (Pearl!) And miei amici, I can confirm to all of you, my Perla is a gem of a bed!

Ah, mia ragazza, my leggies thank you, my darlingest fuzztush thanks you, my neck thanks you, my back thanks you, my chinnie (which can rest comfortably now, propped on the sturdy sides of my new bed) thanks you, Madonna mia, my whole entire Lucia-ness thanks you!

E ora a dormire, forse per avere un dolce sogno (And now to sleep, perchance to have a sweet dream)…. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……………

Tanti baci!
Lucia

Easter Greetings!

La mia ragazza and I wish everydoggie, kitteh, hammie and hooman

Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter)!

Tanti baci!

Lucia

If Music be the Food of Love, Click "Play"

Ciao, miei amici!

Call it fate, or kismet or -- my favorite -- destino (destiny) but sometimes, it just seems certain things are meant to be! This is a molto speciale (very special) post dedicated to il mio dolce azzurro ragazzo (my sweet blue boy), theBUSTER. Sigh ... he is un sogno! (a dream!)

(I'll let you in on a little secret: you'll have to read Buster's Sunday post to figure out what my post for today means...!!)

Tanti baci!

Lucia

PeeEss: Santa vacca (holy cow), la mia ragazza almost lost all of her remaining marbles trying to follow the PhotoShop directions, can you tell!?!? Giggle...!!!

Monday Morning Thoughts

Ciao, miei amici,

These fiori (flowers) are for the people of Italia Centrale

Stiamo pregando per tutti voi. (We are praying for all of you.)

Abbracci di conforto,

(Hugs of comfort)

Lucia

Troppo Occupato!

She’s been busy, I’ve been bored … that spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e
Un italiano lezione in una storia
(An Italian Lesson in a Story)

Ciao miei amici!

You know those days when you want your umana (hooman) to AGGIORNA (update) YOUR BLOGGIE, ALREADY and to giocare (play) but no matter how long you sit nicely and stare at her sweetly,

she just won’t stop working to pay much attention to you? And you know how you stubbornly refuse to give up because you just know that if she’d take a short break and lanciare la palla (throw the ball) with you, she’d really like it? And you know how you bark a little to remind her of this, but nothing happens, so then you bark louder and a lot more …

… until she gets up from her scrivania (desk) and says, “Let’s go outside,” and you’re really happy? And you know how you both walk outside and she clips on your lead and then goes back inside so you instantly realize that “let’s go outside,” really means, “you’re going outside” and you get a little … irritati (irritated)? And you know how you look around your yard, feeling frustrated, until you spot the dirt in the giardino fiorito (flower garden) and trot over to check it out, and even though you KNOW you’re going to catch the dickens later for doing it, you don’t care and so you start to … dig? And then you know how, before you realize it, your viso e zampe (face and paws) are all dirty and there’s un grande buco (a big hole) in the flower garden and lots of mud everywhere? And then you know how you hear la porta (the door) open and you think, wuh-ohhhh and then you hear something like this:

“LUCIASTOPRIGHTTHISMINUTEISWEARYOUAREADEVILDOG!!”

Well, that happened to me today. Sigh. Or maybe giggle … I don’t know which, really!! BTW, mia ragazza is testing out a new photo editing program that she found on the Internets – can you tell!!?!? She thinks drawing those red horns on my noggin is realllllly funny. Hmmph.

Importante!
And now, under the heading of, “Not Related to the Original Bloggie Topic but Very, Very Important,” here’s a molto speciale (very special) ode to Principe Azzurro. The literal translation of Principe Azzurro is “Blue Prince,” but it’s also an Italian idiom for “Prince Charming.” How perfetto (perfect) for mia dolce Busterigo (my sweet Buster!) the Kerry Blue Terrier!

Yes, I know it’s a little silly and not at all on the level of Busterigo’s magnifico (magnificent) haiku, but I had to come up with something quickly when mia ragazza pulled the rug out from under THIS, which I WAS going to write to Principe Azzurro:

“Who knows? Perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us yesterday, separate, in the evening...”

Sigh ... such belle, romantice parole (beautiful, romantic words)! But mia ragazza said someone named Rilke already wrote them
and if I pretended that I wrote them, it would be plagiarism. Oh, le complicazioni di romanticismo! (Oh, the complications of romance!)


Tanti baci!
Lucia