The Equinox is as Good a Time as Any

Summer is officially over. Dare I say, yay? I am an autumn person. A winter person, even. I'll take spring in a pinch, but summer. Ugh. I don't like heat, I don't like blazing sun. I don't like the sound of lawn care equipment raging through my neighborhood from dawn till dusk seven days a week.

Today summer is officially over.
Now we get to put extra blankets on our beds, snuggle without sticking together, drink hot coffee outdoors, have peace and quiet while the children are off at school. And pumpkin flavored everything. Basically all that's good and right with the world.
This summer was, as always, very eventful and over in a flash.
To condense the accounts to a reasonable size,
I've been hard at work on a top secret project* which will hopefully be revealed to the world very soon.
Mr. Cate worked on almost a dozen films, from short to feature length, that are heading out into the festival circuit, and one television pilot that looks fantastic. Next year looks to be even busier for him.
We lost a dear old friend, Lola the cat. She was with us from the beginning, when it was just me and Mr. Cate and one rascally cat in a little apartment in the city. That was nearly 16 years ago. She had a great run, and was a tough old bird to the end, but we had to see her off onto her next adventure in early August. She will always be missed, and always be remembered as a bright spot in our lives.

We also brought a new friend home to join the family, our very first official Cate family dog.
Meet Otis.

He's an older fellow, a little bit of greyhound, a little bit of lab, and something else probably too, something that loves to track and dig, based on his favorite outdoor activities.
He's spent the last few months with us now, sleeping on our sofas and beds, riding around with us in the car, enjoying snacks and walks in the neighborhood, and basically being the cutest, sweetest dog that ever was.
My apologies for the grainy photo. His propensity to come trotting right up to you whenever you look at him, combined with my inability to frame a shot has made me as good a dog photographer as I am a cat photographer. Which is, terrible. It was sheer luck that he sat still long enough for this picture.
We'll practice. We'll get there.


*Top secret project hint. A while ago I decided that if I ever sold a book, I would get a dog... to be continued :)