The Bad news: Miss Maisie's cancer is back and she's starting to fade.

The Good news: we're working hard to make sure her last weeks involve plenty of outside time, extra cuddling and roast beef heros.

We drove Maisie up to the Rockefeller State Park the other day and had some nice quiet time in the woods. She's such a city dog, she didn't quite have any idea what to do with herself off-leash. I think she had a nice time. All three of us needed a break from the stress we've been under (house flip-flopping, fatal illness, job loathing, impending-birthday-aging-dread). The park was lovely and huge and empty.

On a technical note, I have no idea why the quality of this video stinks so badly. Same camera, same compression settings, I'm baffled. I'm working on it. It bugs me.