Festival time folks! I am real excited… Ask me why? Oh! It’s your mails and messages to me that’s full of love, that’s why! Here I am again to give you a good dose of smiles. Hop on.

Mrs. Bradley used to be biased in terms of her daily news consumption. She’d rather listen to the fake news of Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert rather than the Fox and CNN. But nowadays she is glued on to any real news she can get. Her son, Michael, is drafted and in Iraq and whenever there is a car bomb set off in Baghdad she shivers here. She’s proud of her son, alright, but she is a mom. She loves to talk about Mike to anyone, who would listen and especially to me. Trips to Grand Canyon with her son come to haunt her and goggle-eyed she shoots the stories to anyone, who’d care to listen. Her memories fill the void now and she waits for the day when he would return. This All Angels Day, I have decided to get together with my gang – Megan, Steve, Ron, and Kate complete with Kong and hit the Arizona treasure, the Grand Canyon, with Mrs. Bradley on our side. It may not be enough to ease her pain, but I am sure her angel, Mike, would appreciate the gesture.

Is there life after death? My colleague Dave asked.
“Well, there is.” I replied.
“Really?! Tell me more, Bob.” He asked me wide-eyed.
“Well, after office, I do live… You see!” I said.

That’s not the only stupid question he has posed all day. He is a man full of that. And on this Ask A Stupid Question Day, I am gonna make sure he gets a questionnaire full of that from me.

I’m gonna shower all my hugs ‘n cuddles on my favorite pooch, Kong today… No matter how naughty he is! How the fellow has grown over the years! I still remember when I first got him… You won’t believe this, he was the sweetest little pup ‘n was jus’ the size of my hand! But the more he grew up, the naughtier he became! He started with tearing up my daily paper to shreds! Then he learned to raid the kitchen ‘n fridge! In no time, he was digging up poor Mrs. Bradley’s garden ‘n driving us all nuts! But after he met his alter ego Pirate, I simply gave up on him! He’s picked up a few tricks from his buddy and is now the reigning champion of chewing in our neighborhood! And don’t even think ‘bout asking me how he learned to do somersaults, ‘coz I haven’t the foggiest idea! Hmmm… You must be wondering how I tolerate this jumpin’-barkin’ nightmare from hell. Well friends, let me tell you this… If anyone adored you as much as Kong loves me, you’d settle for all that naughtiness and much, much more!

Moment of Zen for the week is jus’ this:
‘Smile and the world smiles with you.’
Write to me happily and I’ll write back to you with utmost joy. Action evokes a reaction. Do remember that.
On the way out, do visit Editor Bob’s Blog (Mondays and Thursdays).