Even though Big Ryan’s Tall Tales still didn’t get mentioned, I have to forgive the Old Colony Memorial as they gave me this huge, adorable picture on page 2! 2003 was a year of firsts as this is the first time I have a picture of me doing my craft in the paper!

This also shares a photo of the early days when I used a large golden retriever pup named Max (which I still have). Max was retired as he doesn’t fit easily into a backpack. I will say that I did love using the puppet, which was a gift from my brother and sister-in-law, but being so big and clunky made him difficult to transport.