Take-out Mamma

Posted on May 19, 2011

What’s taking so long Daddy? You’ve been looking at this Thai ordering menu for the last 10 minutes and you still haven’t made a decision. Jeez, I thought I was indecisive—you know, when it comes to choosing which Daddy to follow around the apartment but you surpass me by a landslide. Can’t you see I’m falling asleep between the vegetarian and curry options on the menu? Snort! You always play this game. You entertain yourself with the idea of trying something new but you never do. Just order your usual: Thai fried rice with vegetables and vegetarian duck—no eggs—those poor chickens have suffered enough. And for the little guy, order his usual: a large order of vegetable Ra-Ma and let’s be done with it! Oh, sorry about that, I swear I don’t have restless leg syndrome, I just can’t find a comfortable spot to sit on your lap. Is this menu greasy? My chin is feeling damp and my stomach is grumbling. I’ll wait for you to make the phone call before I start to squirm, shift and move around. I’ll get you to give me a few soft-chew treats—you big lug!

Snort, Snort!

Posted in First-person narrative | 4 Comments

Fort Tryon Bark!

Posted on May 17, 2011

A dog and a park go together like a drag queen and an ill-fitting pair of lucite heels. Seriously, Mamma’s love affair with her park is no joke. She loves her long walks through floral-lined paths and the freedom of running on a grassy patch without her leash on—all while her two dads run frantically after her giggling and laughing like a couple of school girls.

With that said, Mamma has the privilege of living two blocks away from the amazing Fort Tryon Park. This public park is located in Washington Heights (our hood of almost 10 years) and is situated on a 67-acre ridge overlooking the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, the New Jersey Palisades and the Harlem River.

Fort Tryon Park is also the site of The Cloisters, a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to medieval art and culture and home to the Unicorn Tapestries. The actual castle-like structure was brought over from Europe and reassembled, stone by stone, on its spot in the park.

Here are a few photos of our little Biscuit angel enjoying the flowers alongside the many paths through this amazing park. She really knows how to distract the average, puzzled tourists looking at their maps with her epic tongue. Mamma was on her way to the New Leaf Cafe (located within the park) to have lunch with Bette Midler when I snapped these photos. Our Biscuit is a busy pug about town—between her marathon naps, her numerous walks through the park and her general community socializing, she still has the good sense to make time to stop and smell the flowers.


And here she is yawning—tired out from two minutes of photo taking!

Enjoy

Posted in Outdoor Life, Portraits | 2 Comments

On the road again!

Posted on May 13, 2011

Mamma is gearin’ up for another road trip and this time it’s to Washington DC and Old Town Alexandria. Our Biscuit has left the Mammamobile from her previous road trip to Boston behind and has upgraded to an obnoxious pink Cadillac—Barbie Edition. Seriously, when Mamma B is behind the wheel of this baby she turns into a pug version of Lil’ Kim. Thank goodness we won’t be driving through Queens on our way down, the last thing I need is for Mamma to run over Nicki Minaj while blasting Lil’ Kim’s Black Friday song on the radio. Anyway, it’s time to hit the Interstate 95 and our destination is aunt Linda’s crib in Richmond, Virginia and cousin Charissa in Washington DC. Mamma intends on visiting the grand monuments along the outdoor mall (weather permitting) to show her patriotism. She’s also got a whole list of antique stores and second hand shops to visit so stay tuned, their might be a new “Christmas pick” post in the works for the near future!

See you all next week!

XoXo
The Biscuits

Posted in Travel | 2 Comments

Celebrating 25 Years of Farm Sanctuary

Posted on May 11, 2011

Farm Sanctuary is an American animal protection organization, founded in 1986 by Gene Baur and Lorri Houston as an advocate for farm animals. It promotes laws and policies that support animal welfare, animal protection and vegetarianism/veganism through rescue, education and advocacy. Farm Sanctuary houses over 800 cows, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and goats at a 175-acre animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. They also house over 400 farm animals at a 300-acre sanctuary in Orland, California.

Every year Farm Sanctuary’s shelters open their doors to many suffering farm animals. Some of these animals are found during their investigations of stockyards, factory farms and slaughterhouses—animals who are abandoned at auctions when they could no longer walk, or thrown into dumpsters because they were no longer “productive.” Other animals come to Farm Sanctuary from SPCA’s and humane societies that need their assistance when farm animals are left to starve to death. And amazingly, some of the animals who reside at Farm Sanctuary took matters into their own hooves and escaped from the slaughterhouse! All of these animals have one thing in common—they needed refuge from the cruelties of “food animal” production and Farm Sanctuary was there to provide the safe haven they desperately needed. You can learn more about how Farm Sanctuary came to be and the tireless work of Gene Baur for animal welfare, animal protection and vegetarianism/veganism by reading his book entitled Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food. Baur provides a thought provoking investigation of the ethical questions involved in the production of beef, poultry, pork, milk,and eggs—and what each of us can do to stop the mistreatment of farm animals and promote compassion.

On Saturday, May 14th, Farm Sanctuary will be having a 25th Anniversary Gala to celebrate and honor 25 years of groundbreaking progress in farm animal protection. This event will take place at Cipriani on Wall Street here in NYC and will be a three-course gourmet vegan dinner followed by celebrity guest speakers and a silent auction of artwork. Farm Sanctuary will also celebrate on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, CA.

The Biscuits hugely support Farm Sanctuary and the amazing work they do everyday. Mamma would like to dedicate this post to all of those animals that have been rescued from torture and have been given refuge and a chance at life on the grassy plains of Farm Sanctuary! Congratulations, Gene, to you, your staff and all your volunteers. Keep up the good work and making our world a more compassionate place for all animals!

Posted in Animal Welfare | 2 Comments

Bedtime Mamma

Posted on May 9, 2011

As you may already know, Mamma Biscuit sleeps about 22.5 hours a day. She’s an extreme professional napper in our book. She’ll go into a quick 45 minute nap to prepare for one of her “real” naps and when she’s engrossed in a “real” nap, she starts to smell like corn chips. Not only is she so incredibly content and cozy in her coma-naps but this formula of sleep also keeps her wrinkles and folds as young and fresh looking as a baby pug! That is Mamma’s beauty secret to staying so youthful looking. We would have put her on Madonna’s beauty regimen but the idea of smearing baby placenta on her face to promote poreless skin (or in her case, a luxurious coat) seemed too extreme, expensive and unethical—so marathon sleeping it is as a logical solution for Mamma’s beauty remedies!

With that said, Mamma has two donut beds at her disposal for her napping convenience. Mamma’s day bed is a Laura Ashley toile bed that resides in the living room of her pug palace. It’s in a perfect spot—directly in front of the TV screen in case she decides to open her bug eyes during a riveting board room scene between Nene Leakes and Star Jones on The Apprentice or to simply know exactly when one of us heads into the kitchen for a snack. Her second day bed is in the office and is red with white polka dots. She retires to that sassy bed during the late afternoon hours and is lulled to sleep by the tapping of the keyboard keys while one of us is online.

However, at night, Mamma retires to our queen size bed with us. It’s amazing how much room she will actually take up on this bed. Our Lady of Biscuits will muscle her way in between us. She’ll curl up, pressing against either one of us. By morning, both Tommy and I are at polar opposite sides of the bed, teetering on our respective edges while Miss Biscuit is sprawled out in the center like a Diva! Not only has this taken a toll on my back (note to my budding sciatica) and Tommy’s general discomfort but somehow, we feel compelled to accommodate her. Boy she has us whipped!

Anyway, here is our royal bed hog sitting upon her queen size bed. Yes, it’s really not our bed anymore, it’s hers! After all, we are fighting a losing battle with her—I mean look how adorable she is! Is that a face you want to reprimand?


Happy napping!

Posted in Beauty & Grooming, Portraits | 7 Comments