Those of you subscribing to my RSS feed experienced the ill effects of my inexpert moblogging last weekend. This Miami girl was in Stowe, Vermont enjoying the scenery when the Vermont-sponsored wireless wigged out and uploaded my post thrice in a row. So much for smooth use of technology. So let me take this opportunity to heartily apologize for my gaffe—and to incite your mild envy over my weekend of kayaking, hiking and farmer’s market hopping.

For the record, I love Vermont—in the summer, that is (I’m a wimp for the arctic chills). My sister rented a luxurious country house for the month (complete with its own waterfall, stream and swimming hole on an excess of lush green acres), thus compelling my whole family to trek to Vermont by way of Boston (my college haunt).

It was a short trip (4 days and three nights is a tease, not a vacation), but it was full of vigorous, outdoorsy, dog-accompanied fun—and lots of great food. More interestingly, it also served as a much-needed reminder of what life is like outside South Florida.

I get so caught up in the heat, the traffic, the rudeness, the lack of sophisticated amenities, the ignorance, and the materialistic, oh-so-Miami values that I forget there’s a world out there where Hummers are an embarrassment and recycling bins actually make it to the curb.

Vermont seems a place where exercise is a lifestyle—not a means to a glorious beach body (and otherwise to be avoided at all costs). It’s a place where sex may not saunter across every street (as in my native town), but it’s sexy deep down nonetheless (OK, really deep at times, but people are so nice and so smart that it can’t possibly matter).

So what has this post got to do with animals or medicine? you might well ask. Ummm…nothing. Except that sometimes a vet needs to get out and clear her head of all her patients and pretend that dogs exist just to hike, swim and sleep with you. Now that’s no tease…that’s a vacation.

Here's Madison with me on the lawn: