Almost July 4th

Where do I begin? What in the world goes through a dogs head when we do shit like this to them? Only a dog will take shit like this and keep coming back for more. Good friends are like that. They listen to all your shit and stand by your side no matter what. Beardsley (far left) and Cash have become good friends. So have Jamie and I. We just moved into a loft under the Williamsburg Bridge and these pictures were taken on our roof. Beardsley is staying the weekend. Remember how awesome it was when your folks went out of town and you got to stay the weekend at your best friend's house and make forts and eat whatever you wanted because his pantry was so much unhealthier than your's? I bet Cash is thinking - Yes!!!

Guns Meat Roses

This is Sivan and Mindy. I've known Sivan for 21 years. We met on a soccer field in South Florida. Sivan comes from Israel. When we met I immediately liked him because he was wearing an Appetite for Destruction t-shirt. I loved Guns N' Roses. I even named my hamster Axl Rose. One week after getting Axl I dropped him in the bathroom and returned him to the pet store because he wasn't perfect anymore. That's what I was like as a child. A neurotic perfection plagued me. It still does but now I focus it on food and my dog. Sivan and Mindy came to visit us in Brooklyn this past weekend and it was close to perfect. This picture was taken moments before we devoured The Goddamn Best Egg Sandwich in the world at The Diner. Chew on this little list of ingredients:

eggs (over easy)
thick brown toast
butter
organic leafy greens
sliced sour pickles
bacon
aged gouda
fontina
raw purple onions sliced razor thin

hell, yes.

The Allegheny Mountains

Photo by Shaena Mallett.
www.shaenamallett.blogspot.com

Alanna & Arlo

Years ago I booked a trip to Napa Valley to visit a friend. I got a puppy sitter for Cash and listed my tiny Soho apartment on Craigslist because that's what you do when rent costs as much as a body part. Alanna & Arlo subleased my place. They were strangers. I landed in San Francisco and got a frantic call from Cash's puppy sitter saying she could not look after Cash. All of a sudden her place was too small, there were too many people living with her and there was no room for Cash. Cash was four moths at the time. Lame. But that's another story. I called absolutely everyone I knew in New York asking them to look after him but no one could on such short notice. I had never boarded him so that wasn't an option. I was out of options. I called Alanna & Arlo, who again, were strangers, and offered them a full refund if they would so kindly look after the meatball for a week. They agreed whole heartedly. That was two years ago. This picture was taken at Marlo & Sons in South Williamsburg on Alanna & Arlo's last day visiting New York. We crushed soft-shell crab sandwiches and drank bloody mary's and coffee. Thank God for good friends.

Matisyahu

Say hello to Matthew Paul Miller. Better known as Matisyahu. He sings reggae and if you've listened to his tunes you know he's the shit. We met Matt on Kent and Grand in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He was with his family in a little park on the water. Cash and I were there with my friend Christian discussing the physics of love and life. It's really quite simple. The more love you push, the more love gets pulled away. It's kind of a bastard but when you understand it and can practice it well you're in damn good shape. Matt pushes a lot of love so be sure to blast his new album when it drops this summer. Peace.

Dumpling Man

This photo of Cash and Patrick Matamoros was taken on Mother's Day in front of the infamous Dumpling Man on St. Marks Street. Neither Patrick nor I are mothers yet but Cash does turn two tomorrow and I am still very much amazed by him and the people we meet on the street. If you've been following The Cash Chronicles since the beginning you've met Patrick. He runs Chapel, the world renown vintage t-shirt label on Mercer and Prince in Soho. Hence the killer orange Harley t. It'd be great to not wear clothes. But we have to, so you might as well wear the best, right? If you're in the neighborhood go say hi to Patrick and try on a t-shirt. Tell him Cash sent you for 30% off.

Lieutenant John

Lieutenant John is old. It sucks to get old in this country. Our society is obsessed with youth, sex, and power, and we shun old age and decay. Isn't it terrifying that we discard old people when their working life is finished and they are no longer useful? Isn't it disturbing that we cast them into old people's homes, where they die lonely and abandoned? Sometimes I think that the most affluent and powerful countries of the developed world are like the realm of the gods described in the Buddhist teachings. The gods are said to live lives of fabulous luxury, reveling in every conceivable pleasure, without a thought for the spiritual dimension of life. All seems to go well until death draws near, and unexpected signs of decay appear. Then the gods' wives and lovers no longer dare approach them, but throw flowers to them from a distance, with casual prayers that they be reborn again as gods. None of their memories of happiness or comfort can shelter them now from the suffering they face; they only make it more savage. So the dying gods are left to die alone in misery.

DOG

Dog backwards spells God. I met God in a small kitchen just down the street from my loft in San Francisco. He told me he still loves you. And that I couldn't have Cash in his kitchen because if the health inspector walked in he would kill him. So I left. I snapped this photo on the way out. Watching Cash strut home I thought about being a dog, about living my life in the moment, seizing every opportunity for what it's fully worth and not worrying about tomorrow or yesterday because worrying solves nothing. Living in the now. I like to think this will work because I play silly games in my head and now backwards spells won.