Philadelphia

Had a whirlwind two night trip to Philly last week, and it was perfect. My bestie Lynora and I drove down on Thursday and returned on Saturday, and we spent most of our time with her son Jonathon and his friends. They took us older ladies out on the town ... and I am still recovering! A special thank you to all of them for making us feel like we were not "moms" but friends :) Some highlights included ...

Doubletree: great hotel in a great location (and down comforters and pillows)


Mexican Food, Dirty Martinis, Pork Belly, Fried Chicken for Breakfast, Cheese in the Room


Jokes and stars at the Whispering Wall


Smoking in a bar - legally


Philadelphia Museum of Art, complete with wine, armor, jazz, and Fred Flintstone


The man peeing on the sidewalk but he really wasn't


Tarot cards that were scary true (that will have to be its own post sometime soon)


Me sleep talking and refusing to leave for the fire alarm (or so I am told)


The "rough" ride home


My first Whopper Junior (that helped me survive my ride home)


Jobathon and his bike


Rating all the servers for Jonathon: bra-less girl, sausage-skirt-panty-panel girl, beautiful hostess, Logan ...


The special hand tattoo (I just checked - mine is gone)

As I think of things to add I will continue this list. It really was a special time with special people.

Routine

Sure, animals are labeled as unpredictable, but 99.9% of the time they are as predictable as the tides. Take my four little goats. Every morning, I can count on the following things happening without fail:

In the excitement when I open the gate to put down their grain bowls, Elly and Sal have to come out and then turn around and go back in.


Elly and Vinny eat their grain up on the platform while Sal and Jasper eat down at the floor level. Always. 


Just to make sure there are no leftovers, Elly will visit each bowl after the boys walk away from theirs.


After sprinkling the fresh shavings on the platform, Jasper will sniff all around and then paw at it, scraping away for who-knows-what reason.


Sal is always waiting for the bucket exchange. Morning and night, he stands ready to have the first drink from the new bucket of water, often sticking his head in there before I can even set the bucket down.


Any approach from Bumble the "wolf" results in Elly charging him.

If ever one of my goats did not exhibit their special behavior, I would know that something was wrong. I suppose that's why it is difficult to leave my animals in somebody else's care: because how would they know something's wrong with an animal until it is too late? Fortunately I have a great house/animal sitter, but still. Following a routine when taking care of animals is as important as watching them go through their routine. Everyone feels comfortable, everyone feels safe.

~ the afternoon routine includes a sunny nap on a spool ~

Zen ~ Happy

This was on my calendar today ... very timely as this has been a personally difficult week ...

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.

Osho

moss on our property