Day 2 of 100 - Camp DOGwood and other truth in advertising

Today Cindy Jae had an outing with a few other puppies and their families. The Lions Club has a camp on a nearby lake where they host people (mostly adults) who are visually impaired for a week of fun in the sun. It's mostly adults who come to swim, fish, and even waterski using special skis. They go horseback riding and bowling, they have ice cream socials and watermelon parties, or they can spend all day rocking on the screened in porch enjoying the cool quiet. It is an awesome place.

We spent time talking to one of the campers, a man named Lonnie who proudly showed me pictures of his two small children. He had just gotten tossed off the tube as it was pulled behind the speedboat because he was "talkin smack" to the driver :-)

Cindy Jae was fairly well behaved for the outing, especially since I had planned according to the fact that she always works better when she's tired. We had taken her out to a park early in the morning where the girls ran off some of her energy.

Then we got to the camp very early and she spent more time walking around in the heat and getting to lay of the land alone. Having the other dogs around is a big distraction for her. At the end we took pictures by the entrance to the camp, then took our 5 guide dog puppies to Burger King for lunch (for the people, not the puppies). We were the talk of the lunch crowd ;-) But afterward, the sad moment came when we put Cindy Jae and all her stuff in a different car and they all drove away, taking our puppy away to their house for a few weeks. One of the other raisers is taking care of her while we're on vacation. Cindy Jae has stayed with them a couple of times already and she loves their family almost as much as us.

We had taken a group picture in front of the Camp Dogwood sign, but Kate couldn't get my camera to work. We figured with the name of the camp and how many guide dogs they have on campus at any given time, it was a fitting place for a group photo.

It was truth in advertising.

Speaking of which, I have a complaint about the liberties companies take when trying to sell their product.

A few weeks ago, I found an awesome fabric and knew just the type of pattern it needed. So I sat myself down and located the perfect pattern in the book. Then I checked a different book and found a similar pattern marked "It's So Easy!"

Guess which one I chose.

I see that it calls for bias tape and a zipper, but the pattern is just so perfect for this fabric that I push ahead. After all, it says it's "easy". I get home, roll out the fabric, check the cutting layout and realize that "It's So Easy!" means that one little shirt and shorts requires *9* different pattern pieces, many of which you had to cut out *2*. Hello! That many pattern pieces should automatically disqualify it from the "easy" category.

But I persevere. I cut out all the pieces, and because I've got my own kind of crazy going on, I decided to make a few changes to the outfit - lengthen the shirt, make capris instead of shorts, add a contrasting band...

Because it just wasn't going to be complicated enough.

Life came rushing in then and the pattern pieces were shelved until I decided to get started...last night at 10pm. I have to say the pattern is well written with mostly clear directions and good illustrations. But that doesn't change that there are approximately 23 steps to assemble just the shirt! And I had to baste! And measure seams to the eighth of an inch! I worked a little last night and finished the whole thing this evening.

It really wasn't complicated, just complex. It was NOT a pattern that should have been titled "It's So Easy!" But I have to admit that it was worth it. It's cute. Awesomely amazingly cute. I love when a fabric, pattern, and the style of the wearer comes together so well.

And no, I will not show you a picture of it. Not yet. It's being held for a special occasion. Just keep an eye out here over the next couple of weeks and it'll show up.