Now why would I ever want to live in Arizona?

See how lovely is the Minnesota White Christmas!  NOT!!!!!

Anxiety or Grief

Anxiety has ruled my summer this year - unavoidable, but real.  Now that my two older dogs have left this earthly life, the anxiety has ended.  This is good and, since they lived full lives and died in my arms and in peace, it is also good for my Bertie and my Princess.  The remaining dogs are getting comfortable in their new routine. 
Life is easier, but for the grief - that feeling that something important is missing from my day to day life.  This too is passing, as time is a healer.  Now my anxiety centers on getting ready for my annual drive to the Southwest. 
I can't wait to get out of the cold and snow.  And I used to be so hardy too.
Now if only I could take all my friends along with me to Phoenix, I would be pretty content.  Still, new people to meet and befriend in Phoenix, and, of course, there's also my wonderful family there.

Shoveling

In former days I would never shovel until it had stopped snowing.  Today I have shoveled at least four times already - hoping I get it up before it is too heavy to lift.  Mostly though I do it for the kids.  The two old guys really need some help getting out and getting it done.  The younger ones are so spoiled they have to be urged to do what's right and proper.  My life revolves around their idiosyncracies and needs.  And there's not much else that has to be done to keep me from simply curling up and watching the snow fall.  All that shoveling and I'm already too tired to read without falling asleep.

Winter Exercise

I get my winter exercise by shoveling the walk.  The kids get theirs with a knotted sock.  What do YOU do with your old socks?

Could have been much worse

I fell on my face today - straight down on an unyielding sidewalk after tripping over a bump.  I didn't fall on my nose, thus it is not injured or flattened or twisted.  I did not fall in a way that will produce black eyes, thus I will still be able to appear in public regularly.  I fell on my right upper cheek (the one on my face, which sadly is not as well padded as the others), which of course you would know because I already said I had fallen on my face.

Injuries are all inside the right side of my "big mouth", which will not impair my using it to entertain you with all the details of this sordid tail; however, this injury will seriously interfere with my eating and, probably, my drinking.  I am leaving now to stock up on Instant Breakfast type drinks.  I just ate a little cheese and a little peanut butter on bread - and it hurt to chew. 

I blame my mother and the last physical therapist I was treated by.  Both admonished me to keep my head up and shoulders back, which makes it hard to see the hazards on the ground.  Probably, it was my own fault as well.  Sigh!!!

Oddities in Robbinsdale

New Iris picture of the bloom that arrived on October 1st and one that still is trying to emerge.  I use the picture to verify this strange phenomenom. 

Seems to be a really low budget campaign going on in my neighborhood, specifically along a couple blocks of the drive.  Haven't yet taken the time to find out who "Kitten" is, whether it is someone's name, or a description of the kind of person someone is supporting for sheriff.  Of course, chalk messages on the sidewalk are cheaper than billboards, but rather useless when they are ambiguous.  I think I'll write in "Dog".

Blessed pets

As we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis at a Morning Prayer service tomorrow, it seems timely to recall the following event that occurred earlier this year. 

"A Canadian priest's decision to give a mutt a communion wafer has some Christians panting with fury"  It seems that St. Peter's Anglican Church in Toronto, long known as an open and inclusive place, doesn't even turn away a dog at the communion altar.  "That’s how a blessed canine ended up receiving communion from interim priest Rev. Marguerite Rea during a morning service the last Sunday in June.  According to those in attendance at the historical church . . . in downtown Toronto, it was a spontaneous gesture, one intended to make both the dog and its owner – a first timer at the church — feel welcomed. But at least one parishioner saw the act as an affront to the rules and regulations of the Anglican Church. . . . "  The Week, July 29, 2010. 

While I am, as you know, a dog lover, I can see that this may have taken dog loving a little far, but creating a theological crisis over it does seem extreme.  After all, "all creatures great and small" are God's creations.  We announce each Sunday at my parish, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Lake of the Isles, that "All are Welcome at Christ's table."  Probably that will not come to mean "all creatures are welcome at Christ's table."