My name is Franklin.  I live in Brisbane with my mums, Tammy and Anna.  This is me on my favorite Gators blanket.  If my mums would let me have a Facebook account, I would use this as my profile picture.

We had visitors the other weekend from Sydney.  Their names were Gina and Dena.  They were nice around the house – a few extra pats and scratches for me – but the tall skinny one stole my seat in the car – usually I ride shotgun.   The short one let me sit in her lap, though.  I know I’m a bit big for a lap dog, but she didn’t seem to mind.

It was quiet the first morning they were here.  I think that’s because my mums and I left at the crack of dawn to go paddling and take me for a swim.  As we were leaving I thought I heard some mumbling about coffee from behind the guestroom door.  We don’t drink coffee in my house.  I think that’s why when we got home our guests were gone.  My mums said “Go find ‘em, Franklin!” and I tracked them down at the local café.   I am a very smart dog.

After my busy morning swimming and tracking I needed a rest.  From the commotion around the house – lunch making stations and bike fitting stations – I could tell they were leaving me behind.  As I settled in on the sofa for my afternoon nap, I heard them laughing and talking and saying things like “How wonderful to be on bicycles on this warm sunny day!”  I didn’t quite understand what they thought was so unusual about that.  My city is full of bike lanes and my mum Anna wears shorts every day.

They came home many hours later.  I heaved off the sofa and acted like I had been eagerly awaiting their arrival, but really, I had been enjoying my afternoon nap until I heard them coming.  From the sounds of their conversation, they had a fabulous day cycling the city, from meandering along the riverfront paths to picnicking in Roma Park.  It would have been nice if they’d saved me half of one of their pastrami sandwiches, but instead it was a dinner of kibble and carrots.

The next day was Sunday.  I look forward to Sundays because Sundays are Franklin’s Fun Days.  I wasn’t sure how this would go with company hanging around.  Sure enough, we left the house early morning to go roo-spotting but as soon as we found them, my mums made me stay in the car.  Our guests seemed quite entertained by the kangaroos.  They said they’d not yet seen them in Australia and yet here they were, surrounded by them.  I’ve seen plenty of roos and was eager to remind my mums that it was supposed to be my Fun Day so I barked a few times from the back seat to get their attention.   This only halfway worked as only one of them came back to keep me company.

Driving back home, my mums stopped at the supermarket to pick up more meat for our houseguest’s lunches.  That left Gina and Dena and I to patrol the parking lot on our own.  I heard a skateboarder and barked him away from us.  I think I might have startled the girls but it was my job to protect them from the evil, noisy boarder and I take that job very seriously.

Back home again, I continued to patiently wait for my Fun Day to begin but I had a bad feeling about it when the bikes were wheeled back out of the garage.  Sure enough, my mums and their guests left me behind again to take the train up north to Shorncliff, where they then rode their bikes along the shoreline path and enjoyed another picnic lunch.  I am not sure about having these houseguests around.  They seem to really like me and yet they keep wanting to ride those bicycles, an activity that excludes me.   I’ve overhead my mums talking about attaching a trailer to one of their bicycles to pull me in so I can enjoy cycling too.  That would be neat.  I would be the alpha of my neighborhood, riding shotgun in that.

On their last day here, our houseguests and my mum Anna went to Mt. Coot-Tha to go hiking.  I was okay with them leaving me at home this time for I could hang out with my mum Tammy while she worked.  She likes the company and sometimes I help her out when she needs a big word, like, say, “strident” to use in an email or a report.  My mums think I’m just crashed out on the sofa when they’re gone but I try to get in a round or two of Scrabble with my neighborhood pack, seeing how the board is left on the coffee table for me to enjoy.

Unlike my busted Fun Day yesterday, this last day was an improvement.  In addition to hanging out with my mum Tammy, she and our houseguests took me for a walk in the park.  I like going to the park.  There is much to sniff and wee on.  Then my other mum Anna had us all pose for pictures.  I like having my picture taken.  I sit very proud and stoic.   Sometimes when I sit like that they start calling me Mr. Pink instead of Franklin.  I think that’s because pink is the color of joy and happiness and that is me with my family and new friends.

(This pic credited to my mum Anna)