The Baddest Dogs at Brunch 

On Saturday April 30, 2005, Fog and Leopold escorted Aline and I to  Osteria del Circo, www.osteriadelcirco.com,  for a fundraising brunch to benefit Michael Thomas, who walks our friend Gina's dog.  Michael has been battling lymphoma, and has no health insurance, and needed help with his medical bills.  He also supports his 12 year old brother.  The Maccioni Family, one of the premier restaurant families in New York, had generously volunteered to sponsor the event.  The Maccionis also own the very famous Le Cirque, which is where all the Ladies our Lunch, lunch.  Fog and Leo were dressed in their best wing tip collars and bow ties, which I made for them- they were dressed to go just in time!         

Upon our arrival at Circo, Leopold was a little hesitant to negotiate the revolving door, but Fog showed him the way!  Fog had learned that agility trick from Kesha when she visited New York- when entering the door, the handler should be on the inside and the dog on the outside, furthest away from the axis of the door.  This is contrary to the standard "heel" position, with your dog on your left.  We were greeted immediately inside the restaurant by Mostro and Darla, Marco Maccioni's 2 dogs, who we know from the Park.  Here's Mostro.......his name means "monster" in Italian, but he is really a lamb. 

Marco's dad was already rushing around, an impeccably dressed blur who was busy orchestrating the event, making sure that everything was perfect.  .Aline, who has been to Circo many times for business lunches, enjoyed seeing Marco dressed casually in a shirt and sweater.  She had only seen him in his beautifully tailored suits!!  It was fun to recognize "the dog people" who we usually see in their jeans or sweat suits, instead dressed up for a special event.  On the whole, we clean up fairly well!!  We made our way to the balcony area of tables, where we had an excellent view of the room and were hopefully out of the way of most of the guests. We were joined by our friends Marylisle and her dog Flouff, and by my friend Catherine, who has been traveling the world for the past 3 years.  We were immediately offered the most beautiful pink drinks in long stemmed flutes, Bellinis, perfect for a spring brunch. 

Fog sat next to me, smiling as broadly as could be.  He was delighted to be in a new place full of so many wonderful smells, and SO many opportunities for thieving delicious morsels.  The wait staff was very skillful at keeping the hors d'oeuvres  just beyond Fog's nose!!  Fog was so over stimulated by all that was happening around him, that he couldn't stop "talking" about it, and proceeded to bark thru the entire brunch!!!  I felt very sorry for Jordan Francis, the singer who had volunteered to entertain.  He was heckled mercilessly by that Bad Grey Dog!!!  

We were served a delicious variety of hors d'oeuvres- creamy mozzarella rounds on toast, garnished w a half cherry tomato and a leaf of fresh basil, miniature mushroom quiches, miniature pizzas, thinly sliced prosciutto wrapped around cubes of fresh melon, and chicken liver pate,  Later platters of crunchy biscotti cookies were served.   Flouff remained the only one of our group that was fairly well behaved, although she was a little intimidated by all the activity, and was most comfortable sitting on Marylisle's lap!!  

The canine guests were also treated throughout the afternoon by our gracious hosts.  At one point, one of the employees walked past our table with a huge plastic bag full of BONES!!  You should have seen the look on Fog's face- it was pure RAPTURE!!

Shortly before the introductions, Aline got sick of Fog's barking, and she had me trade dogs with her.  She was able to get Fog to hush, but soon after, Leopold decided that he was bored and wanted to go home- so he began to howl at the top of his voice.  Well, you know that once one starts to cry like that they all do, so as Gina was making the introductions, all the dogs in the room were howling!!  Gina introduced her co chair for the event, MacDella Cooper, who was instrumental in gathering the raffle prizes.  You can view other efforts that Macdella Cooper's Foundation supports by going to www.macdellacooper.com  I was very proud to have sold over $300 worth of raffle tickets!!  As the distribution of the prizes began, I laid out all my friends' ticket stubs, so I would be ready to speak up when our winning tickets were announced!  A neighbor of Gina's had purchased 100 tickets, so he won 2 prizes.  Linda, who owns Chipper,  won a piece of Fine Jewelry by Miata Jones Design, www.miatajonesdesigns.com, and the designer was in attendance to present it to her.  Marlene, who has 2 black Labs, won a prize too.  Sadly,  none of my ticket holders won prizes!!!  But thank you to all for donating so generously!!!

Gina introduced Michael, who was so humble as he addressed the crowd.  He thanked everyone for coming and supporting him.  He was so overwhelmed as he told us how grateful he was.  It was very moving.

As we all filed out, we were presented with Gift bags that contained Animal Fair magazine, a CD and a offer for a free skin evaluation at SkinKlinic.  Marco was at    the door to thank everyone for coming, and to gift the doggies with their own treat bags, which contained a big mouthwatering bone stuffed with raw meat, a special recipe from the Chef !!!!!  There was a lot of excited tail wagging on the way home!!

Many thanks to Gina, Macdella and especially to the Maccioni Family and staff for their hospitality!!  We will definitely look forward to our next visit to Osteria del Circo!!!

XO Gail & Fog

PS- As of 5/9/05, the Raffle and Brunch raised almost $14000 !!! We are so grateful to our good friends who have been so generous !!!  THANK YOU!!!!     

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