Four-Legged Friends: Howl at the Moon Edition

Cheryl Wheeler: Howl at the Moon

[purchase]


David Stocker: Penny the Moondog

[purchase]

Cheryl Wheeler is one of those artists who can have you laughing uproariously or crying inconsolably - this song, inspired by/written for James, her new-at-the-time border collie, has the latter effect on me...

David Stocker was a finalist in our South Florida Folk Festival songwriting competition in 1998 and 1999, and the tune above was one of his entries, which became a howl-along at every opportunity - David is now better known for his participation in the group One Drum...

Both of these songs remind me of my own dog Rocky (official name Rocky Raccoon, after the Beatles' song), who has slowed down considerably in his almost-15-years with our family - he is adorable, wise, affectionate and loyal. Rocky spends most days curled at my feet (if I'm on the computer) or following me from room-to-room (if I'm doing chores around the house)... yet he gets super-excited when one son returns from work... or the other comes home from college for the weekend... or as soon as I get back from my walk and take the leash out of the drawer for his own turn around the block - he is immortalized in the blogosphere here, when Christine Kane took a picture of him the weekend she played my concert series a few years ago and stayed overnight with us before driving to a gig in Tampa the next day...

Rocky is doing his doggie-dream hiccup, even as I type - "a tale of two souls, four paws, one heart" indeed...