good times

there seems to be no shortage of fun things that happen when i set foot outside the front door. yesterday, a rainy run through the arboretum with the dog. it's such a quiet and splendid place, and fierce gets to run off leash on peter's hill! at the end of the run i finally stole some fallen quinces from the two quince trees i have been eyeing. i'm pretty sure quince is my favorite fall fruit (ok, unless we are putting winter squash in the botanical 'fruit' category). i am sure i looked like the biggest goofball sneaking around under the umbrella-like trees, looking for fruit that were un-bruised, un-slugged and un-whole-y enough to stuff in the pockets of my raincoat and sneak home with. the dog rolled in the wet grass, happy as a clam. i came home with a fair amount of quince and muddy pockets. a good deal all around.

this morning i (attempted) to bike to the house where a few classmates live for a study session...but i couldn't find their place. hmmm. maybe i wasn't supposed to study there afterall! but, i did discover the sunday farmers' market, tiny & delicious. the sponsoring non-profit had a bunch of 4 oz tubs of fromage blanc...that a farmer donated...for them to give to people...i know...unbelievable. so i gave them a donation and have creamy delicious cheese. and, cabbage was only $2 a head for fairly large heads. so now i'll be making a big batch of sauerkraut, not just a small batch. (except that the coop doesn't have kosher or pickling salt...which seems weird). then i biked home, earlier than planned, and got to study.

study break number two: 12:30 blessing of the animals at the unitarian universalist church. it's a short trip and the dog hadn't had a walk...so we went on an adventure. a small group of adults and kids, and 2 dog, 2 guinea pigs, 1 caterpillar and many stuffed animals (yes it was a blessing of animals and stuffed animals) gathered on the church steps. it was adorable. each type of animal got a blessing, including all the cats (in absentia) and stuffed animals (present and at home - for those stuffed animals that almost all of the adults present fessed up to having at home). it was super sweet, but my favorite part was watching a young/new minister have to make up a blessing for a guinea pig on the spot...it went something like this..."thank you god, for the guinea pig. their ability to (pause) hold still for long periods of time, their furriness, and their (pause) rodent-ness." if only i could remember it all, it was glorious. the caterpillar blessing was equally good ("power for transformation, furry-ness..."). it was so sweet to see all these adults just willing to just show their fond-ness for animals, and a lot of sweet tenderness too. especially some of the parents there with little ones, they were equally moved (i know, it sounds silly) by the whole thing.

then we walked to the new pet store. who knew that teeny-tiny dog snacks added up so fast? hmmm. the best part was that they have bite-meez which i haven't seen for years and made me so happy!

now home and back to the books. next time i will tell the story involving lowering a cat out of a tall tree in a purse.
adios!