Maya passed away unexpectedly at home last Tuesday. She was 10 months old and a ball of energy; Dad said that pets take up more space than just their little bodies and that couldn't be more true than it was with Maya. It's pretty quiet without her round-housing Ollie or bombing down stairs in search of food, which makes us sad. But part of the sadness are the memories that we love:

In the midst of the emotions we left our suddenly quieter house and headed to Austin, where sympathetic friends were ready to let us be sad and have fun. We ate quite a lot of excellent barbeque, saw Lake Travis and enjoyed locale fare and adult beverages on it's edge, and had time at home to chill and not be too distracted to forget what we'd lost. We really loved Austin and the southwest feel of everything made with Texas limestone. Somehow fireworks summed up both the highs and lows: