Zelda's 1st birthday

At the end of every month, as grocery money gets low, Tom asks "is she ready to be cooked up yet?" and I feel her sinewy limbs and poke her ribs and prod her belly, trying to get measure of her plumpness. Then I say, "not yet. Wait another month."

It's hard to fatten up a border collie. While we wait, here's a sample of her first year of life: