We went to Tagaytay for the afternoon so that the dogs could swim in
the lake around Taal Volcano. Kathy pitched Patch straight into the
water so that he could learn how to swim. Although the initial shock
of cold water drove Patch quickly out, he soon discovered that he
couldn’t resist his breed’s love of water and ran back in. Lucas had a
ball, too.

While the two dogs gamboled in the lake with my sister watching over
them, my mother read “The Sound Of Paper” and my dad took pictures of
the brightly-colored yachts racing. I settled back with a newly-bought
sketchpad and a just-sharpened pencil. Following my desire to become a
renaissance girl (hah! just because I’m into computers doesn’t mean
I’m into only computers!), I decided to play around with art today.
After a few preliminary sketches of odd things like boats, my toes,
and a very wet Patch (not all together, thank goodness!), I
rediscovered my sense of shading in a pencil-shaded sketch of Kathy. I
smudged it with a paper napkin and it came out nicely, although I
couldn’t quite get her eyes right. After that, I used crayons to draw
a cat eyeing a fishbowl. Maybe there’s hope for me yet…

On the way back, we heard a loud crash from the back of the van. The
cooler had gotten dislodged, and Lucas poked his still-wet head around
our seat. He refused to go back. Kathy got up to move the cooler back
and secure it. As soon as her back was turned, though, Lucas clambered
into the seat! Spoiled dog! Zigzags are even less fun with a large,
_wet_ dog who uses you to brace against the twists and turns. We set
up the jumpseat, but despite all my pushing, he refused to move. I
ended up transferring there instead. Kathy spent the rest of the
return trip in the back seat and I spent it awkwardly sleeping on the
jumpseat, while Lucas enjoyed the trip stretched out on the main
seats. Really, that dog…