Irene the sun dog

There are probably now hundreds of pictures of the Hymie’s shop dog and mascot, Irene. She’s been photographed by Rolling Stone and was featured in a calendar (“Miss June”). Here’s a picture one of our regulars, Jacob, took yesterday.

The sun pours into the entrance of our shop all afternoon, and even on a cool fall afternoon that little room becomes oppressively hot. Papa John designed it to be a solar collector. There’s even a fan that pulls hot air from the ceiling of the entryway and blows it into the shop at foot level (it’s pretty cool – you can ask to see it if you’re curious). The sunlight even warps our 50¢ from time to time (okay to bring one back if it turns out to be warped).

Anyway, Irene sits in the entryway and melts her brain. She gets this funny face that Jacob caught in his picture. It’s the same thing she does in the garden when she’s here at our house. She’s a little black dog with a tiny snout and she can’t cool off so she gets hilariously loopy. Sometimes she has to lie down while she’s drinking water which makes it even funnier.