Leavenworth-Wenatchee-Ephrata Row by Row Experience

         My husband John had a meeting in Leavenworth, Washington.  It’s a great town about 150 miles (or three hours) away, so I packed my bag to tag along. We left at about 4:30 after he got home from work. To get there we took I-90, and despite all the trips we’ve made through Snoqualmie Pass the scenery up there still takes my breath away.

         When we got to Roslyn, we stopped to eat dinner. We haven’t been to the little town where the TV show Northern Exposure was filmed in years.

The camel mural is still there. We parked right in front of The Brick, went in and ordered a couple of burgers.

Holling wasn’t bartending and Shelley wasn’t our waitress, but the food was delicious and hit the spot.

          Then we wound through the Okanogan Wenatchee mountains on to Leavenworth, the town with a colorful history including overcoming economic hardship at least three times. Its latest comeback was to re-create itself with an alpine theme by turning itself into a Bavarian Village. Now days there are festivals and events year-round along with outdoor activities that attract over two million visitors a year. We’ve been there several times and usually just enjoy walking around the little “German” town, looking in the shops and eating German food.

       

Sauerbraten and Schweinshax'n at King Ludwig's Restaurant.

       

This time I had another plan.  While John was in his all-day meeting, I would go on my own quilt shop hop. On the western side of Washington, the Row by Row Experience is going on at certain quilt shops. Each participating shop designs a quilt row and offers the free pattern of it to shoppers; kits that include the fabrics can also be purchased.  I found out that Row by Row is also going on in eastern Washington. In fact, it’s going on in all 50 states! It started in June and will finish up in September.

Row by Row quilt at The Attic Window.

         I knew right where the quilt shop in Leavenworth was because I’d been there before. Fifteen minutes before it opened, I was parked in front of Dee’s Country Accents on Commercial Street.

       This shop is packed full of goodies and looks deceptively small when you walk in because you can’t see that there’s another floor downstairs where the fabric is. It feels almost like you’re in a library because the shelves of fabric reach the ceiling.

       It’s very organized and the lady there helped me find the patterns I wanted. I asked if they were participating in the Row by Row Experience, and she said no, but she told me how to get to a nearby quilt shop that was.

       The quilting community is great that way, always willing to help a quilter who’s on a mission without much of a plan. She directed me to Leavenworth Quilt Co. and said that it is right next to Prey’s fruit barn on the way out of town with a huge American flag. I remembered seeing that flag on our way in.

        When I got to Leavenworth Quilt Co. 5-10 minutes later, the door was locked. I was jiggling the handle when owner, Lynn came to my rescue explaining that she had it closed because she was moving things around. She apologized saying it was a mess in there. I told her that was fine, then I’d feel right at home.

        I loved her shop! She had a broad selection of fabric and a row that included her shop’s logo and also reflected the shop’s surroundings.

During the half hour that I was in the Leavenworth Quilt Co., UPS made a delivery and at least three customers came in who were Lynn’s friends as well as customers.

          One lady who used to live on the west side told me two more shops to go to. While Lynn got online to find the addresses and write them down for me, the other gal told me that it was a beautiful drive to the Wenatchee shop—that I would follow the river and along the way there would be orchards with signs telling me what kind of fruits they were growing. They agreed that I was lucky because the smoke from the wildfires had eased up from a few days ago and this would be the last day with temperatures in the 100s. I thanked them and headed back out onto Highway 2.

          She was right, it was a beautiful drive, and I decided that we will definitely have to get some fruit to take home with us after driving through all those abundant fruit orchards.

          When I got to Wenatchee, 20 minutes later I was on Wenatchee Ave, the same street that the The Attic Window was on. This would be easy. I guessed that the shop would be in the downtown area so I followed the signs to the city center. Their downtown is bigger than Puyallup’s. It was well marked and there was plenty of free street parking.

          The Attic Window is one shop over from the corner of Wenatchee Ave and Palouse.

When I walked in, I interrupted their lunch. They jumped up to help me, but I told them to finish eating while I shopped. Their row is called “Skipping Stones in Wenatchee.” It is a row of six hexagons in bottle green and blue batiks, my favorite color palette.

         I think I talked to the owner, Diane, and told her that Lynn in Leavenworth had sent me to her shop. I asked her how long it would take to get to the next shop, Fabric Patch in Ephrata. She said it would take about an hour, although she said other people estimated 45 minutes, which led to a conversation about how fast/slow people drive and getting speeding tickets, whether they were doing roadwork, etc.

This is another reason I love independent quilt shops. You really are visiting these shop owners’ “homes.” They aren’t reading from a script, “What are you making? Would you like to open a credit card with us? Are you on our mailing list?” There’s usually a sign up email address list near the register, but they aren’t pushing it. They are real people taking the time to talk to another real person.

After our conversation, I decided to skip the shop in Ephrata. I didn’t think I had enough time and I was worried about the wildfires. I hit the sidewalk in search of a place to eat lunch.

Across the street from the Wenatchee Convention Center I spotted The Lemolo Café and Deli. It was packed, so I knew it would be good.

I walked under “Big Foot(?)” hanging from the ceiling, to the back where the kitchen was bustling. The menu was written on a huge blackboard.

 I ordered the turkey, bacon, avocado sandwich and an iced tea. My tea theory, that only places with hot climates know how to make good iced tea, held true. They gave me a free refill in a go cup that kept me cool all the way through 102 degree heat back to Leavenworth. (P.S. 102 is scorching hot even when it's a dry heat.)

Our second morning in Leavenworth, I woke up and thought, “This would be a good day to drive to Ephrata.” John’s meeting was going until 2:00. The night before, we decided to stay an extra day so that he could get out of the conference room and actually enjoy Leavenworth. I could buzz over to Ephrata and then be back by the time he got out of his meeting.

I looked at a map on Google and wrote highway numbers down on the paper with the quilt shop list that Lynn had given me the day before. Follow the Wenatchee River down on US 2 East to Wenatchee, then cross the Columbia River and take WA 28 East to Ephrata. It was simple enough until the crossing the river part where there were exit and entrance ramps that required looping around and crossing over three lanes in a hurry.

With that out of the way, I could enjoy the scenery which was impressive. On the left were jagged, soaring cliffs. At the base, orchards were squeezed in between the bluffs and the road. On the right it was Roll Columbia, Roll and it was hard to keep my eyes on the road driving past the Rock Island dam.

Eventually the landscape softened into hills and flat farmland. I drove through Quincy and on to Ephrata.

                The Fabric Patch was easy to find and with over 6000 bolts of fabric all under $9.50/yard, and a hallway filled with sale fabric priced at it $5.99/yard, it was worth the drive.

Room-like sections categorize fabrics by holiday: Christmas, Halloween, 4^th of July. And just when I thought I’d found the end of the store, there was more. They offer long-arm quilting services and have a block of the month. They also sell fabric online and if you need more of a fabric that you bought there, the online store makes it easy to find it.

          I was so busy taking it all in and lugging sale bolts off fabric to the cutting table, I almost forgot to ask for their row of the Row by Row Experience. I’m glad I remembered because it’s a scene that captures their area—a fisherman standing in the river fishing with a big one on his line.

 As I was checking out, someone didn’t quite close the door. One of the ladies managed to grab it and secure it before the wind caught it.

When I pulled out of Ephrata the wind was gusting up to 35 mph carrying dust and tumbleweeds with it, but that was OK, I’d eaten enough bratwurst in Leavenworth and bought enough fabric in Ephrata to make sure I wouldn’t get blown away.

Laura Keolanui Stark is trying to decide which row to start making for her Row by Row quilt. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.

Yet Another Dog Story

Yet another dog story. . .  I am staying with my parents in Kailua, Hawaii to help them out and to help my brother-in-law settle my sister’s things. 

It was a dark and stormy night. Around 8:30 I texted home that I missed my dogs, Kona and Suzie. We were working on thank you notes to all the people who have sent their condolences for my sister Cynthia.

          Suddenly we heard a strange noise. Someone was trying to break through the gate by the front door. I yelled, “Who’s there?” I saw something white come over the gate and thought that if it was a cat, it must be pretty fat and klutzy to make that much of a racket.

Bruce opened the screen door, bent down, and said, “It’s a puppy.”

        There sat a small bedraggled, muddy and wet white dog. I picked it up and brought it inside. It was scared, and needed to be cleaned up.  I figured out that it was a girl dog and took her out to the laundry sink to give her a bath. Bruce and my mom rounded up some old towels. She was comfortable having a bath. Tons of dirt came off of her.

          She cleaned up well and was adorable. I thought she was a terrier mix, but Bruce thought she was a shih tze. Looking at online photos, Bruce was correct. She was calm sitting on my lap. 

          She explored a little, drank a little water and then laid down on a towel and throw rug that my mom brought out for her. My dad was happy to see her and talked to her. She was a well-mannered little thing, and not a puppy.  She was obviously well loved, probably by a woman because I was her favorite. We decided that in the morning I’d take her to the Humane Society on the other side of the island.

           After Bruce went home, we went to bed. She sat and looked at the door while I read a book, then eventually settled down and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up because it was raining really hard. I was glad that the little dog wasn’t out in it.

At 6:00 am she woke me up to go outside. I tied a length of light blue ribbon that Bruce had given me around her neck as a makeshift leash and took her out.

 Then I went back to bed. She went back to her rug, until she heard the dogs next door barking. She jumped up on the bed to look out the window.

I couldn’t get back to sleep so I started looking up veterinarians on my phone. There were two close by. One of them opened at 7:00 and the other at 8:00.  After the 7:00 one, Kailua Animal Clinic, opened, I called and asked if they could scan the little cutie to see if she had a chip. They said they could and if they found a chip, they could contact the Humane Society to track her owners down, but they couldn’t hold her there. I was hesitant to take her to the other side of the island because I knew her home had to be nearby.

I put her ribbon leash on and drove right over. They scanned her and she did have a chip! Coincidentally, they were her vet. The receptionist, also named Laura, pulled her chart. The dog’s name is Cappy. She is six years old. They called her owner and told her that we had Cappy. I talked to the lady who was so happy to hear that we had Cappy and she said she’d be right over.

It was a happy reunion. She belonged to two sisters who were about my age. They had gone to an awards ceremony last night and apparently Cappy thought she’d follow them.  She dug through a plastic potted plant that they’d put by their gate to keep her in. They also have a 100-lb. dog who wasn’t as adventurous and stayed home.

When they got home, Cappy was nowhere to be found. They searched the yard, under the house, everywhere. They called the police. They didn’t sleep all night. They woke up this morning and started printing “Missing” fliers. They called their relatives here and on the big island to tell them that Cappy was missing. I told them that Cappy was famous. Even people in Washington had seen her picture, since I’d been texting it home.

I told them that I was amazed that she climbed over a three foot gate to get into our yard. They smiled and explained that they have baby gates up to keep her in rooms and she jumps over them.

When I got back to my parents, I looked at a map to see how far it was from Cappy’s house to my parents’ house. Her short legs had carried her about .7 miles, and across two major thoroughfares. Her owners can’t explain why she headed our way. It’s nowhere near where they walk her. But she navigated it safely for a happy ending to yet another dog story in my life.

Laura Keolanui Stark can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com. She was happy to borrow a dog friend for a night.

Eulogy for Cynthia Keolanui Iverson

Cynthia Louise Keolanui Iverson
July 26, 1960- March 7, 2015
Beloved Wife, Daughter, Sister, Auntie,
Faithful Servant and Child of God

On March 7, 2015, my sister Cynthia Louise Keolanui Iverson died after a long and courageous battle that started over twenty years ago with breast cancer and ended with lung cancer. 

On April  11, 2015, we held her memorial service at Hope Chapel, in Kaneohe, Hawaii. She was a greeter at the Four Square church nestled up against the Koolau mountains for 17 years. 

Several hundred people filled the sanctuary to celebrate her life and offer their sincere condolences. Her ashes and photos were surrounded by leis and their sweet scent as we said good-bye.

I am sure that when it is our time to enter Heaven, she will be there to greet us.

Cynthia was loved by many family and friends scattered all over the world. I thought that those who couldn't come to her memorial service would still like to be a part of it. Here is the eulogy that I gave for my beloved sister.

For those of you who don't know who I am, I'll introduce myself the way Cynthia liked to introduce me: I am Laura, Cynthia's BIG sister. Cynthia and I got a kick out of this little joke from the time she passed me up in height, which was when she was in third grade and I was in eighth.

Laura (12), Cynthia (7), and Bob (8) Keolanui

The thing about my “little” sister was that there was nothing “little” about her. When Cynthia entered a room, the first thing people noticed about her was that she was big. She was 5’10” tall, her hair was thick and curly, like a halo which made her look even taller, and her charming personality lit up the room like sunshine.

She was larger than life. She had a presence and a beauty about her that made people sit up and take notice. Her big smile made everyone want to meet her. Going anywhere with her took longer than usual because she always ran into a friend who was eager to talk to her. She was the outgoing one. I was the shy sister. She was like a celebrity and her popularity extended beyond Hawaii.

When she came to visit us in Washington, she had a list of friends to visit, and ran into a few by chance. This was the first time she’d been to Washington state! Once, we stopped to look at some model homes near Olympia, Washington and it turned out that Cynthia knew the realtor who was showing them. My kids, who were little then and trained in “Stranger Danger,” looked at me with fearful questions in their eyes and I reassured them, “It’s OK, your Aunty Cynthia has lots of friends, everywhere.”

"The hills are alive" on Hurricane Ridge, in Olympic National Park, WA.

Her big heart was one of the major reasons so many loved her. That big heart showed itself at a young age. We grew up in a military family, and we moved many, many times, sometimes more than once in a year. When we moved to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas I was going into 9^th grade. Bob would be a 5^th grader and Cynthia would be in the 4^th grade. That school year, I would attend my tenth school. It was not easy being new kids and the only Hawaiians in school after school.  I was tired of the whole ordeal. It was hard saying goodbye to friends every time we moved. We would only be in Kansas for a year. So I decided to opt out. I wasn’t going to make any friends this time.

The Keolanuis leaving Hawaii for Panama.

While I unpacked the boxes in my room, Bob and Cynthia went out into the neighborhood to look for kids our ages to befriend. It didn’t take them long. I heard Cynthia come into the house with someone. They headed straight for my room! I closed and locked my door.  Cynthia knocked. “Open up Laura. I found a friend for you.”

Since I was five years older than Cynthia and therefore much more mature, I told them to go away. Through the door I heard Cynthia talking me up to this stranger, saying lots of flattering things about me. Then she introduced us through the closed door and left a potential friend named Joby there for me.

This was so typical of Cynthia. She made friends easily and generously shared them when she saw a good match. She knew that eventually I’d have to open the door. It turned out that Joby was my best friend the whole time we lived at Ft. Leavenworth.

The next year we moved to Newport News, Virginia. Cynthia was in fifth grade. I’m not sure how she came up with this idea or set it up, but while other ten year olds were playing, Cynthia would ride her bike to a nearby nursing home to read to elderly people.

She and Bob went to Saunders elementary school. This is when she learned a lesson about not being TOO nice. Cynthia ran for class president. She put a lot of effort into her campaign, making signs and even giving a campaign speech. When she came home from school on election day, she wasn’t wearing her signature smile.

Mom asked her, “Did you win?”

“No. I lost. . .by one vote.”

What a heartbreaker.

My father asked her, “Who did you vote for?”

She had voted for her opponent!

In another family legend, Cynthia was the unwitting star. My mom had baked a chocolate cake and slathered it with tempting frosting. Bob and I walked by, separately, several times and sampled that frosting with our fingers. Later on, my dad called the three of us into the living room, lined us up, and said in a very fake stern voice, “Someone has been eating the frosting off your mother’s cake, and I know who it is because the person who did it still has frosting under their fingernails.” 

Laura, Bob and Cynthia, Ft. Shafter, Hawaii

Bob and I, the two guilty parties, clenched our hands tightly behind our backs and looked at the ceiling. Innocent Cynthia, who hadn’t been near the cake, immediately started looking closely at her fingernails.

Obviously she outgrew being that gullible, but at times she did view the world with childlike wonder. She was the Aunty who loved taking my kids to the Ice Capades and any Disney movie that was playing. She genuinely enjoyed watching videotapes of those movies over and over again, snuggled up with my Johnny and Sarah.

Aunty Cynthia with Sarah and Johnny in Puyallup, WA

Cynthia was always an exceptionally nice person who brought out the best in people, and she would go out of her way to help others. For many years she was on the board of the River of Life that reaches out to feed the homeless. She worked for the Hawaii Humane Society and kept an eye out to match the right dog up with friends who needed a furry four-legged buddy.  

My favorite “work story” about Cynthia was when she worked for BFI Recycling. She came home one day and talked about riding shotgun in a garbage truck while the driver told her about his job. She wanted a hands-on experience to understand how to do the marketing for the company.

Throughout her career, her public speaking and organizational skills were amazing. She easily coordinated large events and had all the connections to make it look effortless. We’ve all been a little lost planning her memorial service. I can’t even begin to count the times that I’ve caught myself starting to call her to ask her who has the best whatever, where should we get the fill in the blank? I keep expecting her to pop up and tell me what to do. But back to the memories …

The whole family: John and Laura, Bruce and Cynthia, Bob and Kathleen,
Larry and Christie (seated) Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Cynthia was a bit of a southern belle. She was born in Ft. Benning, Georgia and we spent many years in Virginia and also in Louisiana. 

Husband Bruce and Cynthia at The Willows, Honolulu, HI

She could slide right into a Southern accent and to many, her name was Cindy. She was a lively square dancer and could do-si-do with the best of them. She liked cowboy boots and wherever we lived, she’d tune her car radio into the country station. That was something that she and I couldn’t agree on. I’m not a fan of country music. I like every other type of music, but not country.

As adults, whenever we were going somewhere, she would generously offer to drive. I’d walk right into the trap. She’d get a few blocks away from home and then turn the radio on—to the country station.  She would start tapping on the steering wheel, then she’d start singing, softly at first, peeking at me to catch my reaction. I’d make conversation over the music, look out the window, do my best to ignore all the annoying twanging going on. I didn’t last long, after about three songs, I’d lean over and click the radio off!

Laura and Cynthia, Kailua, Hawaii.

Sisters. That’s part of being sisters. Knowing each other’s quirks maybe better than anyone else.  Driving each other crazy. But oh, what I wouldn’t give to be riding in the passenger seat of my little sister’s car listening to that stupid country music and hearing her triumphant laugh when I snap the radio off.  

Laura and Cynthia, St. Francis Hospice, Nuuanu, Hawaii.

Laura Keolanui Stark can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.

The Best Therapist Has Four Legs, Fur, and a Wagging Tail

About four months ago, on November 1st, we welcomed a new member to our family. She’s a blonde Lab/Husky/Shepherd mix, or that’s our best guess. We named her Kona.

After T-Bone died in April, I didn’t want another dog. We aren’t getting any younger. We’d gone through losing two dogs and both times it broke my heart. John’s only comment was one sentence, a quiet, “I just can’t picture living the rest of my life without a dog.”

One of our top reasons why we had dogs was for security. T-Bone had a big bark. Whenever John traveled, I felt safe with T-Bone (and before him, Lucky) in the house. Suzie the dachshund, who we pet sit during the week, keeps an eye on things when she’s here, and she’s a fierce little barker, but as much as we love her, she’s not our dog.

So, we got a security system installed, with sensors and motion detectors everywhere, codes that need to be entered, remote access, the works.  We know it works because we regularly set it off. But, a security system isn’t dog, and it was pretty lonely around here without T-Bone.

In August and September, I flew to Hawaii to help my family who were having some serious health issues. It was a sad time.

My parents’ next door neighbors have the cutest black Miniature Poodle. She reminded me of Kimo, the Poodle I grew up with. Every time Sophie saw me go in or out of the house, she bounced up on her hind legs at the chain link fence between our yards wagging her tail like crazy to greet me. I couldn’t resist reaching over the fence to pet her. She cheered me up.

Her owners, or at least the husband, had told my sister a few times that they didn’t want their Poodle. They were more into their Labs. I was looking for some happiness and figured what the heck. I asked the wife if they had been joking before or if they’d let me take her back to Washington. Absolutely not. She was insulted that I’d asked. Her husband slunk back into the house without saying a word.

When my daughter heard the story, she teased me and gave me the nick name Cruella DeVil, the dognapping villainess in 101 Dalmatians. The whole thing made me realize how much I missed having a dog.

Back in Washington, at night while everyone else watched TV, I’d be online looking for Lab/Shepherd or poodle mixes at rescue shelters. I would read descriptions of dog after dog, watch videos of them, and find out how close they were. I kept an eye on shelters from the Washington/Canada border down to the Oregon/California border. I bugged John, “Look at this one. What do you think?”

He ribbed me a few times, “I thought you said you didn’t want another dog.”

It didn’t stop me. I was shopping for a mid-sized dog, who was no more than 3 years old. After about a month of looking at PetFinder, I found Hadu. The pictures of her were a little fuzzy, but she looked like she’d be a good fit. She was white and gold with a happy looking face. 

The description said:  

ABOUT HADU

I am about 9 months old.

I currently weigh about 58 pounds.

I came to the Grant County Shelter as a stray

I get along with other dogs, cats & Kids

And, she was right here in our town! I emailed Puyallup Animal Rescue and said that I was interested in Hadu. Sally answered that they would be showing Hadu and some of their other adoptable dogs on Saturday at a Petsmart near us. There was a pending adoption for Hadu, but if they didn’t claim her by 11:00, Hadu would be available.

Even though she was promised to someone else, we decided to go and check her out.  Maybe Hadu’s other possibility would fall through. Maybe we wouldn’t like her when we met her. Maybe there would be another dog there that we’d like. The new dog would have to get along with two cats and a dachsund. This was kind of a big order. It was all up in the air.

When we first saw her, she was calmly lying down between two crates.

A high energy Chesapeake Bay Retriever was on her right and a loud barking Lab/Pitbull mix was on her left. They didn’t faze her. That was a good sign. She barked once and it was a big, deep bark. That was a plus.

Sally let us take her out of the crate and walk her outside. She looked great! Her hips looked strong and sturdy—a good indication that she won’t have hip dysplasia which shows up sometimes in German Shepherds. She had a spring in her step. I was worried about the pink on top of her nose. Was it a scar? No, it’s pretty common with huskies and it’s called a snow nose.

The 11:00 deadline came and went. Now she was available if we wanted her. We went home and thought about it. We called Suzie’s owner and asked if she could bring Suzie over to see how they’d get along. We also called daughter Sarah who was on her way home from visiting her boyfriend 1-1/2 hours away to see if they were close enough to come and meet Hadu.

We all met. Hadu actually pranced and frolicked on the leash when we took her out again. Suzie was just fine with her. Hadu had plenty of love to go around to all of us. We unanimously approved of Hadu. The shelter approved us. After a flurry of filling out forms, buying a crate, food, toys, etc., we took Hadu home and renamed her Kona which means Lady in Hawaiian.

"Hadu" in the PetSmart parking lot.

When I looked over her paperwork, she was 9 months old in September when she was found in Grant County which is in central Washington. (That paperwork lists her as a Greyhound/Lab mix.) Later in September she was taken to WSU in Pullman (Whitman County). Their veterinary school spayed her. I like to think that even though she’s listed as part Husky (UW’s mascot), she’s part Cougar (WSU’s mascot) because they took care of her for a little while.

In October she got more vaccinations in Moses Lake (Grant County again). Then she came to Western Washington (Pierce County) and was fostered by Sally. A vet in Eatonville listed her as a Shepherd mix. She had hundreds of traveling miles under her collar for such a young pup.

It showed one morning when John took Kona with him on a quick trip to the grocery store. When he loaded her into the truck, she seemed dejected like “oh, this again,” and laid down on the floor in the backseat of his truck with a heavy head. Later when he pulled back into our driveway and led her back into the house, she was elated. We think that’s when it clicked with her that she was finally home.

Kona is still very puppy-like and learning how things work around here. She is eager to please so she’s easy to train.

She is finding out what is acceptable to chew—her ample supply of toys, and what’s NOT--our shoes, which I’m pretty sure she considers fragrant delicacies, or the vinyl tablecloth that I put under the Christmas tree skirt.

Uh oh. I wasn't supposed to shred this?

She started out not barking at all, but is barking more now that she knows this is her territory and she follows Suzie’s barking cues. She got out of the yard twice but didn’t go far, and we fixed the fence immediately. She gets along well with Suzie and one of the cats. The other one tolerates her.

"The girls" relaxing together.

She has not had a single potty accident in the house, which is good, but makes me wonder. Sometimes she’s flinchy around people who come to visit us, but we think she will become more confident as she matures. She may have been treated roughly before the shelter took her in. 

While out on a walk one day, a former democratic state representive who lives in our neighborhood tried to pet her and she shied away. I joked to John that maybe Kona is a republican.

She is a proud graduate of PetSmart’s beginner obedience class and is now enrolled in the Intermediate class. 

Her biggest obstacle in class is that she also goes to play in doggie day camp there once or twice a week so she spends the first 5-10 minutes of obedience class trying to get into doggie day camp to see her friends.

Kona hauling it in Doggie Day Camp. 

Kona romping with her friends in Doggie Day Camp.  

 It was kind of embarrassing when we called her to come and she ran right past us, and through the aisles of the store to get to doggie day camp, but we had to laugh. Everyone else sure was.

Her personality is exuberant and a little kooky. She’s learning how to hold that 60 pounds of enthusiasm in check a little more when she greets you instead of jumping on you like you’re a swimming pool she’s diving into. She’s gangly, but a good athlete and shockingly fast. Maybe she IS part greyhound. We are really glad that she’s part of our family, and she makes no secret of letting us know that she is very happy to be here with us.

Laura Keolanui Stark is smiling at another wagging tail in the house. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.