I enjoyed a productive and fun-filled weekend that unfortunately for my pugs took me from home. I left them in the good hands of my mother, and though she spoils them perhaps more than she does her two-legged grandchildren, they seemed to miss me. Facetime is a great invention for keeping connected, but you've never done Facetime until you've done Facetime with a pug. You know all those little pug quirks—the snorts, the snuffles, and the spritzes they do, as if they are checking you out, examining you and ruling you okay with one final spray of spritzy drool? Well, if you don't know what I'm talking about you never met a pug. Those that do can just imagine how these cute characteristics translate to Facetime. Does an iphone have Windshild Wipers? It should. My pugs heard my voice and approached the screen as if to come inside. Maybe this is how the pug earned its flat face? From my point of view all I see are gigantic eyes and a hint of a nose before the screen is obscured by the residue of a snuffling snort.
"Hey, Alfie, hey Waffles," I say. "How are my girls." A final sniff and I see the two running the other way, turning their heads toward the door in the silly, naive hope that I'll come wandering in.