We had a wonderful celebration for Mikey who is now 9 years old. He has his summer haircut and a very becoming freckled coat. Molly who usually is very controlling and wants all his and her toys agreed to let him plan the activities, invite what friends he wanted for his party and tell us what he wanted on the menu for his birthday dinner. The day began with Mikey and Molly playing Follow the Leader so Mikey could assert himself as the leader for the day with a respite from Molly’s controlling behavior. I took several photographs of his birthday party and it was a great success. He did tell me that since he is fifty in human years and Molly will be 14 next month that he was concerned about their May- December romance and plans for marriage. When I told him the story of Pricilla and Elvis Presley, he listened very attentively. I said “Mikey Pricilla was about Molly’s age when she and Elvis fell in love and had to wait to consummate their marriage”. Mikey’s eyes sparkled and he was riveted to Elvis and Pricilla’s romantic story. Elvis Presley is one of Mikey’s heroes and he followed the musical career of this legend loving Elvis Presley's hit songs of the fifties. Knowing Mikey is a purist at heart and had a difficult time accepting his idol’s transition in his later years when he performed to love addicted women in Las Vegas. Elvis went so far that he would throw his sweaty scarves to love sick women betraying his early years of raw talent. We never touched the inflammatory subject of his tacky movie career. OMG!! Mikey plays his favorite songs on his Ipod, and the Classic Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel is at the top of his list for obvious reasons. Mikey told me something that I did not know that I added to my fun fact file. He said, Elvis Presley’s 1956 classic of this popular song became one of the top certified singles of all time with sales of four million. It is the only single released prior to “We Are The World” (another song on his list) in 1985 to reach quadruple-platinum status. Love Me Tender, When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again, Hard Headed Woman, Anyway You Want Me (That’s How I Will Be), Blue Suede Shoes and Heartbreak Hotel that reflected his feelings about his breakup with his first love Annie, are among his favorites. He never resonated with Neil Sedaka'a popular bestseller, Breaking Up is Hard to Do, Hard Headed Woman is dedicated to Molly. What a clever and astute guy!! Mikey added some of Molly’s favorite songs to his long list of Elvis' hits that reflect his precious companion’s youthful taste in the songs Teddy Bear, All Shook Up and Treat me Nice. It is interesting that Elvis combined songs on a single and sang Treat me Nice with Jailhouse rock, a single with an amusing pairing of songs and as Charlie pointed out an oxymoron. Mikey is such a loving canine that he does not understand that nice treatment does not usually occur in jail. However, I understand his point of view since the movie of the same name was uplifting and jail looked like fun as Elvis rocked out in the starring role. I admire Mikey’s observations, interesting debates and opinions now that he is fifty-six. Both of us have a profound love of music that I have not experienced with any of the many wonderful dogs I have shared a special bond with. Each dogs gives us something different and special. Dogs love music, our universal language that reminded me of my English Setter Willard who loved to dance with me. He initiated dancing to the heavy beats of rock music by standing upright on his legs and putting his paws around my neck. My precious Willard had great R&B demonstrating his great rhythm loving the Motown classics. Michael’s Jackson’s album Thriller had the opposite effect on my son Kevin; the rhymic tones put him to sleep when calm new age or classical music agitated him with a milder frequency. I can’t count the many times I listened to Billy Jean, so my son would sleep and Willard could dance. I have videos of my favorite canine dance partner that are priceless and hope to have the time to upload some of the most amusing videos of my dogs dancing with me and Kevin. I loved talking to Mikey about rock music in the 50’s and Pop History Listening to Mikey’s Elvis Presley hits was very nostalgic and I shared with him some of the amazing fads during Elvis Presley’s rise to fame when I was a young child. For baby boomers, you might remember, the biggest fad of all time-the hula-hoop that originated from the Hawaiian dance it users seemed to imitate. I told Mikey about the sales and his eyes popped open. Wham-O the company that sold 25 million hula-hoops in two months and almost 100 million internationally manufactured 20,000 hoops a day at the peak of popularity. I have studied pop culture extensively so I hope you can share these nostalgic memories if you lived them or are hearing about this trivia for the first time. I thought it was amusing that not all nations thought that the invention of the hula- hoop was a great idea. Japan banned the hoops thinking they might promote improprieties. The Soviet Union said the hula-hoop was an example of the “emptiness of American culture.” Well, maybe they had a point there: <). Things changed radically in the 60’s with the impact of the cultural revolution. The faze was short-lived. But our young entrepreneurs were already into another hot idea they had. I love frizbees and when I told Molly, the athletic Frisbee addict to buy Mikey one as a gift for the first birthday party she attended she was thrilled. Molly is already making her list of birthday toys she wants when she celebrates her two year old (14 in human years) party on September 20th only weeks away. I have made my list and would be glad to share it and if any of you have suggestions for great dog toys besides decorating her bedroom with Charlie’s pillows, shams and duvets, please let me know. The must amusing toy he received for his birthday was a gefilte fish with a sqeaker that says loudly OY VEY!! The toy represents a food primarily eaten by people of the Jewish faith for holidays and light meals, especially when homemade by a loving grandmother. It is very unexpected when a fish yells OY VEY! Since they love toys with sounds. now I have a farm of animals and a cachophany in my living room. I laugh when I hear the expression OY VEY blended with the moos of cows.!! I Can you imagine all the associations of animals complaining with realistic sound? I have the coveted gefilte fish recipe his aunt Amy made for his party, from scratch in two versions, one with chicken for Mikey and his friends and another for his vegetarian or vegan relatives and friends. If anyone wants the recipe, it yielded 5-6 pieces of Gefilte Chicken. Molly added to her long birthday gift, another gefilte fish with more “OY VEY's”, a Yiddish exclamation of dismay or exasperation meaning “woe is me” or “of, no” I think the company would have a hit if they followed by with another gefilte fish with a related exclamation “ver iz mir”. Hearing all the whining from this toy I wished they had one that “OY just by itself or “Oy gevalt for variation.” since unlike his Irish Catholic girl friend he is half Jewish or "Buish" as he prefers the blend of Buddhism and Judaism to define his spiritual identity. Listening to the words Oy Vey this weekend brought back memories of my wonderful grandmother who I call Bubbe. Her first language was Yiddish and Oy Vey was one of her expressions. My grandmother who came to Ellis Island in Steerage at seventeen to roll cigarettes leaving her family to be wiped out by theHunspeakable crimes of the holocaust still bring tears to my eyes. She is my hero who worked with only one distant cousin to help her to save enough money to save one brother from the evil is the most poignant and touching story that was ever told to her young and sensitive granddaughter. I could not understand the unbearable pain she suffered as we held hands watching movies like the Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof as she relived the trauma with loving understanding of a child who loved her dearly. I like to be informative in my narratives so for those interested in some fun reading, go to amazon.com or Barnes and noble where I saw the book Yiddish with Dick and Jane by Ellis Weiner. I guarantee that you never owned a funnier parody or more amusing language than Yiddish to express shades of feeling that English could never express. There are no two old friends like Dick and Jane and their baby sister Sally to teach us This language that has a long and rich heritage. The illustrations are wonderful in the style of Dick and Jane primers and tell this classic story and refreshing story 50 decades later about what it is like to grow up in a perfect world and then come to terms with the real world. As the book jacket states, You’ll plotz, kvell and want to give copies to your friends. So nu that means what are you waiting for? So schlep to your book store and buy a copy of this or if you are politically minded, you will laugh when you read Yiddish with George and Laura, jenna, Barbara and Bar. ? ? I am presently reading, Drek! real Yiddish your bubbe never taught you that I will discuss in my private gallery. I think I will create a new subcategory of the books I love, a listmania that is informative, poignant and very funny. My first book on the list for sci/fi or science fiction is Pariah written by Timothy Goodwin, an eloquent writer and artist who I was fortunate to meet on the art wanted website. I love to support the members of this website and being a fan of writers of imaginative literature has been a life long passion that I have integrated in my work and stories that some of you have read about the lost princess and a prince’s heroic efforts to find her. Timothy is writing his next novel, Garden of Tears and will send you the material if you are interested. I hope to interweave his stories with my photos given how well the prosaic is a great match with my otherworldly sci-fi photographs.