Just a thought… It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]

It’s haircut day! No, not for me; my in-house stylist took his beard trimmer to my bangs several weeks ago and it seems to be holding up while I wait for the line at my salon here in Sidney to stop ringing busy. I can wait. I won’t even go for highlights; “Just a cut ma’am.” I’ll bide my time but, honestly, once I get in the chair I may tell Jude just to cut it all off. Thankfully, like most good stylists, she’s also a pretty good judge of what I shouldn’t do.

While I wait – something we’ve all gotten good at – at long last, Molly is getting groomed. We had an appointment for last week with a mobile unit; seemed to be the perfect work-around while COVID-19 worries abound. Then we heard from the woman running the business that things were so slow, she wasn’t going to be able to make it. I responded that I didn’t quite get it, but we’d look elsewhere. What else can we do, right? I respect anyone’s reasons for not wanting to do something these days.

Our usual groomer (we find Petsmart in Victoria to be reliable and easy to book online) wasn’t open for business, so I got a recommendation from my aunt. And wonder of wonders, we made an appointment for today at a spot much closer to home. I do love to support local businesses – especially these days.

The biggest problem has been Molly’s nails. The last time she went to be trimmed was more months ago than we can count, and her nails are now so long that she’s having trouble getting a grip on our hardwood floors. Like a party girl in stilettos on a slick tile floor, her feet are sliding out from under her. She’s fine on carpet, our bed, couch, and so on, but at her senior age, we don’t like our Bambi-on-ice risking pulling anything except our heartstrings.

So here’s the before picture, which I took the other day while she was sleeping. This is fairly new for us, her having her tongue out. She’s not missing teeth, she has just started to do this. Some dogs do it their entire lives. We think it’s adorable and probably just comes with age. That, or she’s expressing what she thinks of us being around 24/7.

Which reminds me of a question someone posted online. When everyone goes back to work, will dogs wonder if they’ve done something wrong? Hmmmm….

We’ll post an “after” shot for you here on Monday. Goodness, our girl needs some attention.

Okay – I promised you a video today. If you’re like me, friends send you memes and movies that have touched them during the pandemic. To me, this is just about perfect: it’s a familiar and popular song (Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time”) with the lyrics reworked ever so slightly. And it’s done by the Phoenix Chamber Choir out of Vancouver. From Burnabynow.com: “Singers (choir members and alumni) recorded their individual parts at home in their own spaces, accompanied by a ‘click track,’ and then sent in the videos for editing and compilation.”

Here you go – the finished product – which I promise will lighten your heart for today. Thank you for sharing a bit of your week with me and I’ll be back with you here on Monday.