I started it as a joke, but it stuck. I call Bud and Zinnia Beauty and the Beast. I think of Bud as being so ugly that he’s beautiful, or at least cute. He is full of love and personality, and he is fearless, a small dog of great spirit.

I often think of these two as models for humanity – the Wasp Princess and the Poor Country Boy come together, as humans so often struggle to do.

I took this portrait of Bud last night, and I love the color and depth of the photo. I think the green dots in his eyes are infrared layers in his retina.

Today Maria and I are heading off to a museum, and then to see the Harriett Tubman movie. Maria’s birthday is coming up this week, and I bought her tickets to the Williamstown Theater Festival for this summer, a bundle of four different productions.

We have come to love this theater company, full of innovation and wonderful writing and risk and energy. I have never gotten over missing the theater in New York but Williamstown is filling some of that hole for me, they sent seven plays to Broadway last year, this is a great boost to summer for us.

I bought a bundle of four different plays, a good deal, a good present.