Holiday
Greetings to Our Family and Friends
Christmas 2015
Welcome one and all
to our Christmas Newsletter for 2015! We
hope this newsletter finds you well and happy.
It's been another busy year, filled with landmark celebrations for
family, friends (and even Jean) along with a host of escapades for our boy
Quincy, so read on and see what we've been up to!
OLD
MAN WINTER
Ringing in the New!
After a great weekend at
the AgileDogs CPE trial at the end of December, we were tuckered out and chose
to spend a quiet New Year’s evening at home and sleep in the next day. Not much ringing involved, but we appreciated
the much-needed rest to start the New Year.
After that little
respite, the holiday celebrations continued into January, exchanging gifts and enjoying meals together
with friends. Always fun to share the
holidays with those we love.
The rest of January
turned out to be just as cold as last year, which drove us indoors for our amusements,
most notably an anniversary showing of the Wizard of Oz on the big screen. If you’ve never seen this classic film in a
real movie theater, we highly recommend it.
Just follow the yellow brick road…
Of course, Quincy kept us busy with therapy dog visits. Here he is with our friends Karma and Savannah,
bringing joy to the residents of Kingsway Manor in Schenectady. It’s
so rewarding to be able to visit our senior citizen friends and share a little
love along the way.
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| Karma, Quincy and Savannah |
We were glad to see the
last of another freezing cold January and get ready for some football fun. This year we watched the Patriots squeak out
a victory over the Seahawks in Super
Bowl XLIX with a
party at the Wards. Although our team
wasn’t in the big game, we enjoyed good food, good friends and team
spirit. Let’s hope for next year for our
Giants!
February is always a
busy month and this year was no exception, with another back to back weekend
of parties, starting with our annual
Valentine’s Day dinner with the usual suspects.
This year, we returned to Sake
Japanese restaurant in Latham for fun, food and theatrics.
Another great year in
our Valentine tradition—love you guys!!
Quincy’s 6th
Birthday
This year, Quincy
celebrated his 6th birthday in fine style, with cake, presents and
lots of love. We’re so lucky to have him
and we couldn’t do it without our wonderful family and all they do throughout
the year to help us take care of Q. Thanks
and puppy kisses all around!
SPRING IS IN THE AIR!
February passed quickly
and we were on to warmer weather and thoughts of spring.
March saw another happy birthday celebration for Gary, and with it, an extra special gift—another 300 at bowling! Gary hit his 5th perfect game on March 10th at Westlawn Lanes, during our Tuesday night league. That’s 5 more than Jean will ever get ;-)
We kept the party going
for all things spring with another dinner at Sake on the 14th, with
family and friends. Never get tired of
that place and the funtastic food!
But perhaps the most fun
of all this month came from Quincy, and his first photo shoot of the year.
Quincy’s Children’s
Place Photo Shoot
Quincy continued his
modeling activities this year with his first shoot on March 12th,
for client the Children’s Place. The Children’s
Place is a clothing retailer headquartered in New York and Quincy was featured
in their Back to School ad campaign starting in August of 2015. This photo shoot was held at Milk Studios in
New York (in Chelsea). For this shoot,
he had to to wear a paper crown on his head while posing with a young girl
dressed in black, white and pink, all of which he did with great aplomb. As usual, Q. was an angel throughout, working
equally well with children and adults.
He did exactly as asked and the crew loved him. He continues to amaze us with his ability to
respond to commands amid great distractions.
He’s a pro!
Here’s some behind the
scenes shots:
And the final ad that
appeared on the Children’s Place website in July:
As always, we are
thrilled to have a chance to have fun and donate Quincy’s earnings to Bark for
Life (more on that later…)
Normally, we are excited
to welcome spring, with longer days and milder temperatures, though this year
April got off to a bit of a rocky start.
On April 4th,
the day before Easter, we were busy getting ready for our family dinner
celebration. It was a beautiful
day—sunny, windy and fairly warm. Q. was
itching to get outside, so we opened the kitchen door and let him out into our
fenced back yard. He immediately began
chasing leaves like a madman, running at breakneck speed and twisting and
turning to try to catch the blowing leaves.
Next thing we knew, he dropped to the ground, screeching in pain. We rushed him to our wonderful vet, who
X-rayed his spine, legs and hind end. No
broken bones, thank goodness, but he clearly had done some damage as he
displayed lameness and was not fully weight bearing on his left side.
That started us on a
long journey to try to get an accurate diagnosis. We took him to an orthopedic specialist, a
neurologist and several other vets trying to figure it out. In the end, he was diagnosed with a
strain/partial tear in the ligaments in his hip joint. We opted to treat this with a course of
physical therapy with Jenn Wolfe at Shaker Vet, and we could not have made a
better decision. Jenn and her staff
worked on Q. with cold laser, core exercises, massage and water treadmill for 8
weeks. He made a complete recovery,
back to his old self running around the yard and even competing in
agility. We continue to condition him
with treadmill, core exercises and stretching to make sure he is strong enough
to do agility. A million thanks to the
amazing vets at The Animal Hospital, Alternative Veterinary Therapies and
Shaker Vet for bringing him back better than new!
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| Q-Man gets his cold laser treatment from Jenn Wolfe |
Easter 2015
Although Q. was not
feeling his best, he was still happy to see everyone at Easter, and we were
glad that he was not seriously hurt and everyone was still able to come. Easter dinner is always
cause for celebration at our house. Once
again the Easter Bunny brought loving family and delicious food with him. A wonderful entrée into spring!
After a wonderful Easter
celebration, we turned our attention back to Quincy’s rehab. and preparation
for our annual Bark for Life event the first Saturday in May.
Which brings us to our
proudest moment of all for 2015.
Bark for Life
2015
As you all know, Bark
for Life is a great community fundraising effort for humans and their dogs to
support the American Cancer Society. This
year’s walk was held on May 2nd, at Cook Park in Colonie.
Once again this year,
Team Q. (Quincy, TDI buddies Karma,
Savannah, Prancer and Glinda), hit new heights in our fundraising efforts for
the ACS.
Thanks to the incredible
generosity of our family, friends and colleagues, Team Q. was able to raise $$3,245, more than
three times our original goal, AND $200 more than last year, making us the #1
FUNDRAISING TEAM at the 2015 Bark for Life event, TWO YEARS IN A ROW!!! We were so excited to be a part of this
effort and to do what we can to support the American Cancer Society and help
those who are undergoing treatment for this disease. Stay tuned for Bark 2016--Team Q will have
more surprises in store for our cause!
The excitement at the
beginning of May was followed by even more joy as we celebrated our niece’s
wedding two weeks later. And what a
wedding it was!
Jess and
Aaron’s Wedding
Jess and Aaron tied the
knot (literally, with a medieval hand-fasting ceremony) on May 16th at the Isaac Winslow House in Marshfield, Mass., where Aaron serves as Executive
Director. The Winslow House is a
charming mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built around 1700, the Winslow House was
built for one of the founding families of the Plymouth Colony now serves as a
museum, providing an appropriately historical backdrop for a beautiful
wedding. Jess and Aaron chose a theme of
time travel for their celebration, and everyone came dressed from their
favorite time period in history. That
made for some lively conversation and unforgettable images of their special day.
Can you tell what era we
were representing?
It was a cloudy day, but Gary had Ray Bans to complete the look!
By the end of May, Q.
was feeling a lot better and his vets agreed he was ready to get back into
limited action. What better way than
with a photo shoot?
Quincy’s
PetSmart/Material Girl Photo Shoot
On May 29th,
Jean and Quincy travelled to Manhattan for a photo shoot for Madonna’s Material
Girl clothing line in conjunction with PetSmart’s Material Girl pet clothing
line.
This shoot was so much
fun—we got to meet Lionel Richie’s youngest daughter Sofia, who is the Material
Girl model for the 5th Anniversary photo shoot.
Sofia was so nice and
great to work with. She has dogs of her
own and she and Quincy got along famously.
The shoot was held in
The Jane Hotelin lower
Manhattan, an historic hotel built in 1908.
The hotel has provided shelter and hospitality to everyone from
survivors of the Titanic to the cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Here’s some shots of Q.
with his co-star, along with a video --
watch for Q. at :52 seconds.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss him!
We finished out an exciting month with an exciting Memorial Day weekend for Gary. With Q. still on the DL, Gary got to run our friend’s champion agility dog at a local trial. Pistol (a.k.a. Woozle) is a blast to run—she lives up to her name with formidable speed and smarts. Gary had a tough time keeping up with her, but that managed a pretty good Q-rate for the weekend. Well done, Team Woozle!
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| Lisa, Gary and Pistol |
Gary wasn’t the only one
having all the fun. On June 17th,
Jean, Elise and Michelle went to see Kinky Boots at Proctor’s. With
songs by Cyndi Lauper and great dance routines, it’s such a fun show. Get to see it if you can!
The party continued the
next weekend, with a very special event for Quincy.
Quincy’s 50th
Therapy Dog Visit
Those who know us well
know we are dedicated to bringing love and smiles to our senior citizens
residing in care facilities in our area.
Quincy’s work as a therapy dog is a source of great joy and pride for
us, and on June 21st, we were happy to celebrate his 50th
visit as a TDI Therapy Dog, at Clare Bridge memory care facility in
Niskayuna. The day was made even more
special by sharing it with our friend and neighbor Judy Danto and her therapy
dog Karma, who celebrated their 100th visit on the same day!
We’re on our way to more
visits each month; can’t wait until we reach 100 too J
Quincy wasn’t the only
one celebrating a milestone this month.
Our Uncle Tom turned 92 years young on the 21st as well, and
we helped him celebrate with dinner at Treviso, in the Italian American
Community Center. Uncle Tom loves
spaghetti and meatballs, and we sure enjoyed helping him celebrate. Happy Birthday, Uncle Tom. We love you!
As June drew to a close,
we focused our attention on another of our favorite causes, the Paws in the Park community walk and fundraiser, for the benefit of the Mohawk and Hudson RiverHumane Society. This
year marked our 5th time attending
the event, so we decided to kick our fundraising efforts up a
notch. So we signed up our Dog Days Sun
Visors to be one of the vendors. We
were able to raise an additional $35 through the sale of our visors. We had a great time, saw some old friends and
made some new ones. It’s a great chance to come together and help
out the animals. Quincy even won BEST
TRICK for the second time!
No time to rest, as that
very same afternoon we joined dear friends Lee Ann, John and family to
celebrate Alex’s graduation from Guilderland High School. Alex graduated with honors and is off to
Rhode Island to study pharmacy. Well
done, Alex. Good luck in college!
SWEET SUMMERTIME
With summer upon us,
agility season was in full swing. We
were fortunate to have such a great team of vets to get Quincy ready to
compete, and he got back into action with two trials this month, the first a
CPE trial at the beginning of July at Sugar Bush Farm, and the second a TDAA
trial in New Lebanon. He did very well
at both trials, earning some qualifying scores (when he wasn’t sniffing ;-) ) Not too bad for being on injured reserve for
3 months!
July 4th is
always party time for us and this year was particularly special, as we got to
celebrate our dear friend Lee Ann’s 50th birthday with her family at
their beautiful camp on Sacandaga. We
played the requisite games of washer toss and Scat, followed by a yummy BBQ and
topped off with cake, ice cream and amazing gifts. A good time was had by all! Happy
50th birthday, Lee Ann. We
love you very much!!!
The party continued with
Lee Ann and family just a couple of weeks later, as we embarked on our annual
vacation in Cape May.
Cape May 2015
Once again this year, we rented a condo at Regent Beach (our
favorite place to stay) and enjoyed our usual activities--chillaxing on the beach,
shopping, mini golf and an abundance of fine dining. This year, the water was exceptionally warm
(right around 75 degrees, as opposed to the usual 70 or less), and we had nice warm,
sunny days and temperate nights. The
food was spectacular (as usual!) and we got to see the resident dolphins cruise
up and down the coast every day, from our balcony and right offshore on the
beach. In addition to our friends the
dolphins, this year we got to release a Swallowtail butterfly at The BirdHouse
nature store on the outskirts of town.
Definitely a highlight of the trip!
This year we all made
the trek out to the Lighthouse and climbed all the way to the top. The views are spectacular (provided you’re
not afraid of heights!) and we got some great photos.
It’s always a great time
in Cape May, and we can’t wait to go back next year!
As July turned to
August, our plans for our annual BBQ took a different turn when Gary
experienced a bout of kidney stones, landing him in the ER and off to the doc
for treatment. We were disappointed to
cancel the festivities, but better safe than sorry. So far so good on the treatment, and we’re hoping to get that party off the
ground next year!
August wasn't a complete
dud, however--Quincy kept us busy with yet another photo shoot, this one for
Chase Bank (shhh!!! don't tell Bank of America ;-) )
Chase Bank
Photo Shoot
This shoot was in Long
Beach, NY (out past LaGuardia airport), in a private beach house on Long Island
sound. What an amazing place—the house
sat right on the beach and had a beautiful outdoor living area complete with
pool, BBQ and sunken hot tub. Quincy
even got to see the beach and the ocean for the very first time!
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| First time on the beach and in the ocean! |
 |
| With our wornderful agent, Kara |
Q.’s was his usual
charming self, wearing antlers and trying to figure out what to do with a bone
that was bigger than he is...
The photo shoot was for
the customer engagement photos the bank will use in their branches over
Christmas. Federal law prohibits taking
pictures inside a bank, so we only have the proofs from the photographer, which
turned out very nicely. So stop into
your local Chase Bank branch and check out Q’s ad campaign and let us know what
you think.
August came to an
eventful close with another great weekend at the AgileDogs Agility Camp at Stockade Agility in Glenville. We had
two great days of instruction with master teachers Tracy Golin Sklenar and Monique Plinck, both of
whom have represented the United States in national and international agility
competitions at the highest levels. We have
a lot to learn, but fortunately, we have the best teachers!
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| Tracy showing Quincy the ropes |
FALL FUN
Every year, we’re amazed
at how fast the summer flies by. This
year was no exception, but we consoled ourselves with our annual trip to Sacandaga
for the end of summer/ Labor Day BBQ
with friends with Lee Ann, John and family. As usual, the food was delicious, the
scenery to die for and the company divine.
The best way we know how to
usher in the fall.
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| The Good Life |
 |
| Snoozin' at Sacandaga |
September saw another
landmark celebration for Gary’s mom.
Julie’s 85th
Birthday
This year,
mom celebrated her 85th birthday on the 11th, and we were glad she was able to enjoy a
little Italian food and birthday cake with us.
She is hanging in there and doing amazingly well and for that, we are
most grateful!
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| Happy Birthday Mom! |
With fall comes the
close of the harvest season and along with it, the annual county and state
fairs. Our favorite is the Big E, (a.k.a. the Eastern States Exposition) in West
Springfield, MA—the combination state fair of all the New England states (ME,
NH, VT, RI, CT and MA). This amazing
fair has hundreds of vendors,
prize winning farm animals and some of the best food you can find
anywhere. We don’t get to go every year,
but when we do, we can’t wait to enjoy the delicious pizza from the American Flatbread Co. in the
Vermont state building (complete with their own fieldstone pizza oven), and the
sweet treat chocolate covered cranberries from the Massachusetts state
building. You can literally eat your way
from one end of the fair to the other, all while shopping at unique crafters
and commercial vendors. We never get
bored at this fair—there’s always something fun to do and good to eat.
September was over
before we knew it, but no time to rest, as October turned out to be a very busy
month, starting with our annual apple picking party at beautiful Indian Ladder
Farms. In addition to their delicious
apples, ILF makes the BEST apple cider donuts in the world! Apparently, a lot of other people think so
too, because there’s always a long line to get your dozen on. Well worth the wait!!
Our 24th
Anniversary
Once October rolls
around, sweet memories return of that day in 1991 when we said ‘I Do.’ After 24 years of marriage, life just gets sweeter and
sweeter. This year, we celebrated with
flowers and a trip to the Palace Theater to see one of our favorite comics, Wanda Sykes. It was a great
show, and a great way to mark our occasion.
Next year, a landmark—can’t wait!
Rocky Horror
Picture Show
This year’s showing the Rocky
Horror Picture Show at the Palace was on a Friday night, and Elise and Jean got
their Time Warp on with a big crowd of costumed partiers. Always a fantastic time, this year was no
exception, with a great shadow cast and plenty of audience participation. Next
year, Brad and Janet…
Just as we were
getting geared up for Halloween, we hit another bump in the road with Quincy’s
health. One night while chewing on a
bone, he cracked a tooth, and our vet
advised extraction for the broken tooth.
When he went in for surgery, an X-ray revealed 3 other impacted teeth,
one of which was partially abscessed.
Poor little guy had to have 4 teeth out!
He was a hurting unit for a few days, but after a week or so he
rebounded to his old self. No more bones
for you, Q-man!!
After that ordeal, we
had to regroup and get ready for the big day on 10/31. Just made it in time!
Halloween Haunts
Once again, those pesky
spiders came out of the woodwork to take up residence in the most conspicuous
places. The good weather helped produce
lots of ghosts and goblins, in wonderfully creative costumes. Dennis, Lorraine and Julie joined in the fun
and we had a great night. Wonder what
scary monsters will come round our neighborhood next year? Stay tuned to find out...
After the Halloween rush
was over, we were back in action in the agility ring with the Takes 2 to Q CPE
trial at High Goal Farm on November 7th and 7th. Even though he was only 2 weeks out from his
dental surgery, Quincy did extremely
well, earning 5 (out of 8) qualifying
scores, including another level 5 Full House Q (halfway to his Championship!)
and his last level 4 'Q' in Standard—now
on to level 5!! We continue to be amazed
at his progress and thankful for all our fantastic trainers for helping us get
this far. Here's a pic of the victor
napping with his spoils.
November continued to be
a busy month for Q-man and our TDI activities, starting with the annual
Operation Fuzzy Blankets event on 11/14,
where our Schenectady Chapter members make fleece no-sew blankets for local
underprivileged and ill children, veterans and seniors. Always a fun afternoon of camaraderie and
good will. Thanks to everyone at Therapy
Dogs International Schenectady Chapterfor making this happen!
And a couple of days
later, Quincy and Gary participated in a fun talent show with our TDI friends
at Kingsway Manor assisted living facility in Schenectady. We visit Kingsway often and have made friends
with many of the residents. It was so much
fun to have our Chapter members bring their talented dogs to show off their
tricks! Judging by the smiles on their
faces, the residents enjoyed it too. It
was a wonderful chance to Paws a While for Love.
This November, Jean had
a landmark of her own—she turned 60 on the 18th!! She’s not quite able to wrap her brain
around it yet, but as her mom always used to say, “It’s better than the
alternative!” Thank you to our loving family and friends for making the transition
to a new decade that much easier. We
love you!!
So, you can see we have so much to be
thankful for this year. We gathered
together at Julie’s house on Thanksgiving, grateful to have each other and some
delicious food to share (you know who was determined not to be left out ;-)
Although
we may not see you or hear from you as often as we’d like, you're always in our
thoughts and in our hearts.
We wish you peace and joy this holiday season and always.
Jean,
Gary & Quincy
