Love the quote and adore the photos. What a fantastic project, and--as you said--a great way to meet people.

Love the friends you've made in Nueva - must introduce them to me when I come up to see ya! Absolutely adorable - but what? - no people? Yeh - roight (intended)!

Don (The Real): I don't know if it's from that book. The full quote is, "Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace."

Sorry -- first sentence was affirmative, not inquisitive.

Kundera is one of my personal links? I didn't look it up, but is the quote from The Unbearable Lightness of Being?

Are there no black labs in Manhattan, or couldn't you get them to stop licking you long enough to grab a picture.

There is no friendlier breed on earth!

And their faces are pure LOVE!

Here's our gang.

Thomas: I think Aaron needs to go out for a walk.

Aaron: Meredith is nodding in agreement with me. Oh, and P.S. ... all those times I pretended to like Andy Griffith, well ... I was faking it!

Jenn: You managed to confuse me with, "In other words, think it, dream it, but don't record it." Huh? W-woof?

Although I understand the adoration, more or less, of Canis familiaris (imagine italics), and why someone might think dogs are a "link to paradise," I think Kundera's quote is overwrought, calling to mind one of Sark's ruminations, that being, "Cats are angels with fur." In other words, think it, dream it, but don't record it. Now, the photos in the jodigallery say it all.

HA! Thomas, you beat me to it by two minutes!

NO BISCUIT!

FINE! You want to be like that? I want my Andy Griffith Show DVD Collection back!

And you know what? I think I just met someone who shares my loathing of the astoundingly dumb, and brainlessly loyal creatures. (No, not the Christian Coalition, I'm talking about Dogs.)

Of course I could be reading it wrong, and Merideth could be nodding her head (doggie-style, I might add..) to your professment of love for them. (Far be it from me to ever read a girl incorrectly....)

So if that's it, and we're through, then I have only one question left for you.

........

You wanna go for a walk? Huh? Do ya? Do Ya? You Wanna go for a walk? Who wants to go for a walk?

(raise pitch an octave here)

WHOOO wants to go for a walk?! WHOOOOOOOO wants to go for a walk?

That gallery made me want to put on my best "talk to the dog voice" and say, "Who's a big sweetie? You're a big sweetie!! Yes you are! You are!"

Aaron, the wedding is off. I can't believe you didn't tell me this before I had all the girls fitted for their hideous bridesmaid gowns.

Don't bother coming home tonight. Your stuff is already on its way to the landfill.

I completely, absolutely, whole-heartedly, and religously agree.

-nodnodnodnodnod-

I hate dogs. I really, really, REALLY hate dogs. Except those little yippy ones. I don't mind them.

(I'm sorry!)

Dan, may I suggest you consider law school after college?

What if I said I had a chocolate dog wearing new boots who was willing to try his paw at giving a foot rub?

(I tried to get that in there too, but it just wouldn't work)

Great photos! I bet they're all really happy to show off their "kids."

I've always been more of a cat person, but I appreciate how wonderful dogs are. When I bring a dog into the family some day, I want it to be a small dog. Maybe the small ones remind me of cats, or something. Or maybe it's because I always had Yorkies growing up.

Thanks, Tess!

Yes, I just approach people on the street ... and no, no one has ever refused. In fact, everyone (dogs and people alike) has been very cool about it, and is thrilled to participate. It's my favorite way to meet people.

Love the pics! What do you do, just go up to people and ask them to take pictures of their dogs? That's so cool. Ever had anyone refuse?

Oh just say it Aaron. Or is your bark worse than your bite?

not going to comment...not going to comment...not going to comment...Jodi will hate me....not going to comment....