Lupe and Ayla

We picked up Lupe, a Toyota Townace minivan that is on the smaller and narrower side. She's a special model called the Field Tourer. This name calls to mind great adventure--in not just any car, this one is for field touring, it's rugged and rough. Men, it's not really a minivan. This is no minivan, it's a FIELD TOURER! It's got fog lights and racy decals, yes, it's to be used for Field Touring! We have since removed most of the horrid decals from the side of Lupe. She was so named because of our affinity for Mexican music, and because Lupe is not far from lupine, meaning "of the wolf", which calls to mind our old dog. Ayla sometimes had a wild look about her. We left her behind, and she died not long after we left. Her breath had been growing shallow in the weeks leading to our departure and though we convinced ourselves otherwise, her time was upon her. Mary was heartbroken to not be there when Ayla went; that doggy having been her companion for 12 years. Ayla was a remarkable animal. I could fill pages with stories about her . . . Ironically, on Christmas we found ourselves staying at a campground in Hanmer Springs with a dog named Ayla, named after the main character in CLan of the Cave Bear, as was our Ayla. So, on a family-oriented day, it was poignant to meet a Southern hemisphere Ayla, and she obliged us by letting us walk her over to the playground, where she demonstrated some Southern hospitality for Estin (pic).