It has been a long time since my last post. Can't believe that since then Darren's parents (Dan and Judy) have come and gone. It was built up in anticipation and was so good. We just had a grand time hanging out. I think Dan and Judy had fun seeing some sights too but maybe not as many as they had planned to see because of a stomach virus that a few of us were suffering from. While the bug definitely slowed us down, I feel like we had some great times sitting around together and entertaining/being entertained by the kids. I did take them to the farm while they were here, it did snow again on that particular day, and we did go to Cambridge and ride the punt boats as we had done with my parents. My favorite part of the punt boat ride was watching the do-it-yourself folks who were manning the boats themselves (without an experienced punter tour guide) and ramming themselves into the sides of the river or losing their sticks that they push their boats with. It made for a good laugh. I do think they must have been having a laugh themselves, or they would have cried. After all, they had to know the risks involved in DIY punting. For pictures of our escapades, you should see my father-in-law's blog at danbloghog.blogspot.com.
Today, being Monday, was my day at the farm again. Oh to hear the whole farm bleating at me as I enter. They are all waiting for food and I am their hope. There is so much of that need that is like caring for a baby. Normally when I am in and out of the food shed fetching the animals' meals I am accompanied by a forward goat,or two, or three. If I leave the shed door open, I am bound to find one bounding out of the food bins as I approach. Today when I thought I was just turning around to the regulars, I was beseiged by 3 male pigs. I admit, while amused, I was a bit freaked out. (They are supposed to be in their pen and I've been told that they can be a bit agressive--they probably are harmless but they do jump forcefully up against the fence when you throw their food in the pen.) I just decided to go with it and bring the goats their feed but then I decided to bring the feed to the male pigs' pen in hopes they would go back in. That was of no use, they did not go to where I threw it inside the pen because they didn't know how to get in. They were unnerving me at this point with their noisy snouts and I was imagining getting nipped multiple times by these rude guys. I was really thankful for Peanut who gave them some growls and barks--I think it at least distracted them (though only minorly) when they were getting at their rudest. When, I left the area around their pen and had no more food in my bucket, they were through with me and I stumbled upon Francisco who tempted them back into the pen by throwing food all the way to the pen. He also noticed a board which had come loose and had been their escape route. With that ordeal over, I was able to enjoy visitation with the rest of the animals, appreciating the chickens really for the first time because I had never gotten to feed them. Death is part of life on a farm and so today I found a dead baby goat in a littel pen with a chicken. I don't know how he got there. Maybe he was sick and so they separated him from the rest. Last week I found a dead pig--he hadn't been doing well I guess so he had a pen to himself. Before I left to pick up Lulu, I fed a lamb from a bottle and gave it some scratches. Francisco was still there mending fences. Glad he is an experienced farm-hand and can show me the ropes.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Did I Ever Tell You?
No I don't think I did.
A while back when we were commuting, as a family, to the church retreat on the tube, this event unfolded. As soon as I rolled the stroller, with J in it, onto the train, he said, with all the jubilation of an expectant mother, "Mom, she's gonna have a baby!" This was a comment about the woman we were crammed against in front of us. Not wanting to draw more attention to the statement I just kinda whispered in his ear something about not commenting on her looks--she was most definitely not of the age to have a baby. He tried to say something again but luckily this woman was in a conversation with a male friend and either didn't hear Jesse or just chose to look as though she hadn't. Perhaps our American accents covered for us. Anyways, Jesse got off the stomach topic, and then said something like, "Look mom, but she even has big cheeks and a big nose." Needless to say, I was glad when that train ride was finished.
Last week Luci said, "Mummy, when I was in your tummy, I used to eat dog hair." She is constantly coming up with craziness.
When Rebecca, a girl considering IC London, was here last week, there was a knock at the door at 9 p.m. When I looked through the peephole there was no one and then a man came back around the corner. I opened the door with Peanut growling and he dangled a badge at me saying he was a television licensing officer. I said "At this time of night?" He said, "Yeah we come until 9 p.m." He said that he needed to take a look in our flat to see if we were operating a tv. Feeling well protected and accompanied by Rebecca I let him peek into our lounge, which I could see he was very afraid to do with Peanut straining to get away from me. We were cleared, and he left and I was glad to have had this experience which until then I had only heard about. FYI, you have to buy a license to operate a tv here and they will come and check and see if you are operating one illegally.
I had a good time volunteering for my first time on the farm last week, though it is impossible to remember the amounts of food each animal gets fed. However, Carol wrote out some great instructions for me this week telling me how many scoops go where. Unfortunately, there was no set of instructions mapping out where to find the missing scoop. Oh well, Francesco and I did a fine job I think though he did most of it since I was half entertaining a sick Jesse who stayed home from school with me. Actually at least half the time he curled up under a blanket in our wagon. And the other half he help pull a cart that we had loaded 3 handleless buckets of feed onto. Peanut chased only a few goats this time and mostly tried to stay away from spunky Buster a beautiful, almost 2 year old dog that now lives at the farm. My scary part of the day was slipping water into the ferrets cage--I was told they could be nasty and Francesco had seen Carol wear gloves when she fed them, but luckily for me it was uneventful because I had no idea where the gloves were. My favorite part of farm time was petting the cows' hairdos and also, the 3 seconds when I was feeding a baby sheep a bottle of milk. A time when I averted disaster was when I was able to extract my sinking wellied foot out of the mud in the pen of a loner pig. I was about to fall over but thankfully I regained my footing.
Jesse's class had a Easter bonnet parade today. It was great to see the most of the kids heads piled high with chickens and eggs and all sorts other things they and their parents had piled on. One kid could not keep his bonnet on unless the teacher was holding it up because it was so heavy. Jesse's was totally minimalist because it had not been the focus of our attention since he's been sick the past few days. (Yes we sent him to school today anyways because he didn't want to miss out and neither did we want to miss out on sending him since he is about to have a long school holiday). Both kids are now napping which just never happens anymore, really a good thing since it will mean that they are up later tonight.
A while back when we were commuting, as a family, to the church retreat on the tube, this event unfolded. As soon as I rolled the stroller, with J in it, onto the train, he said, with all the jubilation of an expectant mother, "Mom, she's gonna have a baby!" This was a comment about the woman we were crammed against in front of us. Not wanting to draw more attention to the statement I just kinda whispered in his ear something about not commenting on her looks--she was most definitely not of the age to have a baby. He tried to say something again but luckily this woman was in a conversation with a male friend and either didn't hear Jesse or just chose to look as though she hadn't. Perhaps our American accents covered for us. Anyways, Jesse got off the stomach topic, and then said something like, "Look mom, but she even has big cheeks and a big nose." Needless to say, I was glad when that train ride was finished.
Last week Luci said, "Mummy, when I was in your tummy, I used to eat dog hair." She is constantly coming up with craziness.
When Rebecca, a girl considering IC London, was here last week, there was a knock at the door at 9 p.m. When I looked through the peephole there was no one and then a man came back around the corner. I opened the door with Peanut growling and he dangled a badge at me saying he was a television licensing officer. I said "At this time of night?" He said, "Yeah we come until 9 p.m." He said that he needed to take a look in our flat to see if we were operating a tv. Feeling well protected and accompanied by Rebecca I let him peek into our lounge, which I could see he was very afraid to do with Peanut straining to get away from me. We were cleared, and he left and I was glad to have had this experience which until then I had only heard about. FYI, you have to buy a license to operate a tv here and they will come and check and see if you are operating one illegally.
I had a good time volunteering for my first time on the farm last week, though it is impossible to remember the amounts of food each animal gets fed. However, Carol wrote out some great instructions for me this week telling me how many scoops go where. Unfortunately, there was no set of instructions mapping out where to find the missing scoop. Oh well, Francesco and I did a fine job I think though he did most of it since I was half entertaining a sick Jesse who stayed home from school with me. Actually at least half the time he curled up under a blanket in our wagon. And the other half he help pull a cart that we had loaded 3 handleless buckets of feed onto. Peanut chased only a few goats this time and mostly tried to stay away from spunky Buster a beautiful, almost 2 year old dog that now lives at the farm. My scary part of the day was slipping water into the ferrets cage--I was told they could be nasty and Francesco had seen Carol wear gloves when she fed them, but luckily for me it was uneventful because I had no idea where the gloves were. My favorite part of farm time was petting the cows' hairdos and also, the 3 seconds when I was feeding a baby sheep a bottle of milk. A time when I averted disaster was when I was able to extract my sinking wellied foot out of the mud in the pen of a loner pig. I was about to fall over but thankfully I regained my footing.
Jesse's class had a Easter bonnet parade today. It was great to see the most of the kids heads piled high with chickens and eggs and all sorts other things they and their parents had piled on. One kid could not keep his bonnet on unless the teacher was holding it up because it was so heavy. Jesse's was totally minimalist because it had not been the focus of our attention since he's been sick the past few days. (Yes we sent him to school today anyways because he didn't want to miss out and neither did we want to miss out on sending him since he is about to have a long school holiday). Both kids are now napping which just never happens anymore, really a good thing since it will mean that they are up later tonight.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Farm Time
Yesterday, Darren's first day home after being in Africa (he had literally arrived at our house at 8:30 in the morning) coincided with my day off. I did want to see him so we hung out a bit after we dropped Lu off but then I needed my time so I read the newpaper a bit on Brick Lane. (Sidenote: I can't help myself from posting interesting tidbits from the newspaper...did you know they are considering posting carbon emissions on transportation tickets that you buy so that you can understand your environmental impact when you purchase?) I had a few things to do to prepare for our meeting last night so it never felt like an official day off but I did manage to grab Pea and take her to the farm with me, with hopes of hanging out with the baby lambs. My other goal was to be able to have one-on-one time with Peanut at the farm so that I could instruct her to restrain the inner urges to chase the sheep--she actually turned out to be very good yesterday with only one darting off. Her behavior was so good in fact the goats came up to the fence to see her this time instead of frantically running off.
When I arrived, I was happy to see this Muslim mom of 4 that I had conversed with on the farm before. It was fun to see her kids being able to be free within the fenced-in perimeter of the farm.
One of the farm workers who I am fairly familiar with said, "I like dogs, I am Muslim but I like dogs, most Muslims do not like dogs." If you've tracked my stories at all, you can assume this was a great encouragment to me. But I guess, after all, he is a farm volunteer. Soon after, this young man hopped a fence and ran over to the sheep pen where something was happening. The other mom and I and the 4 kids followed him. There was a brand new baby sheep and a dead mom lying on the ground. (Turns out this brand new baby and mom were not related.) Knowing that she was dead and that there might be other babies trapped inside of her, this man took a knife and cut her open amidst some gagging and revealed a couple of unmoving babies, one of which he pulled out lifeless and dripping. It was actually still a bit alive so Carol, the primary caretaker of the animals and an absolute lover of them, took this baby from him as it was fresh and dripping with amniotic fluid, put her mouth on its snout and tried to resucitate it. She tried a few times, slapping it here and there but to no avail. It was a bit of a sad moment but great to witness this interest and care for nature alongside these children.
As I walked out I said hi to the other baby sheep who nibbled on my fingers.
I am quite nervous about helping out on the farm but it is what I have wanted to do and am scheduled to learn the ropes on Monday after I drop Lu off at school. I know nothing about caring for farm animals and definitely do not have a green thumb but I am excited!
When I arrived, I was happy to see this Muslim mom of 4 that I had conversed with on the farm before. It was fun to see her kids being able to be free within the fenced-in perimeter of the farm.
One of the farm workers who I am fairly familiar with said, "I like dogs, I am Muslim but I like dogs, most Muslims do not like dogs." If you've tracked my stories at all, you can assume this was a great encouragment to me. But I guess, after all, he is a farm volunteer. Soon after, this young man hopped a fence and ran over to the sheep pen where something was happening. The other mom and I and the 4 kids followed him. There was a brand new baby sheep and a dead mom lying on the ground. (Turns out this brand new baby and mom were not related.) Knowing that she was dead and that there might be other babies trapped inside of her, this man took a knife and cut her open amidst some gagging and revealed a couple of unmoving babies, one of which he pulled out lifeless and dripping. It was actually still a bit alive so Carol, the primary caretaker of the animals and an absolute lover of them, took this baby from him as it was fresh and dripping with amniotic fluid, put her mouth on its snout and tried to resucitate it. She tried a few times, slapping it here and there but to no avail. It was a bit of a sad moment but great to witness this interest and care for nature alongside these children.
As I walked out I said hi to the other baby sheep who nibbled on my fingers.
I am quite nervous about helping out on the farm but it is what I have wanted to do and am scheduled to learn the ropes on Monday after I drop Lu off at school. I know nothing about caring for farm animals and definitely do not have a green thumb but I am excited!
Monday, March 03, 2008
Urban Strife
Lately I've been thinking how much I like living in London. The daffodils are blooming everywhere and life is good here. But crossing the green today on the way home from dropping off Luci, I was also in touch with how irritating it can be to live in urban areas.
This is not a post about how bad it is to live in urban areas. You just have to be aware of the cost and how difficult it can be--I believe it is not until you realize that, that you can enjoy and thrive living there. In San Francisco, if you were a regular rider of buses (or even just a walker of sidewalks), you had to fight being depressed as there were so many desperate, crazy, sad people on the bus with you. It provoked sorrow but also the feeling of "I need to know how to explain this to my children."
So today, I was angry with some old man who was shooing Peanut away from participating in ball fetching with his dog. They were getting along fine and besides Peanut doesn't actually fetch other dogs balls so there's no stealing involved. I decided to walk towards him and have him look at me,then I would say "She's friendly and she's not gonna take your dog's ball." He, however, did not look at me, so I said nothing and turned around in the other direction. I find it so irritating that there is a thousand reasons why dogs can't play together her--"Mine's aggressive", "They're both bitches", "He's afraid of big dogs", "She's just a little scared." Maybe I'll hear, "My dog doesn't like really furry dogs." It so irritating and I know there are some legit statements because there are aggressive dogs but I find this state of affairs a bit overly phobic and just irritating. Let's all just stand in park, you in that corner, me in this corner. It separates us.
Then I come home and get a knock on the door. Better answer it, I think--maybe it's somebody coming to clean the junk up from in front of my door. (About 4 nights ago, some neighbors upstairs ripped out their carpeting and some miscellaneous wood, and I've been juggling my patience ever since, since it was basically placed in front of our door. I watched the dumpster right beside my door sit half full for a day while the trash sat there. I did chuck some in but no way could I do it all, and I wanted to see what happened. And there is no excuse for this trashing of the sidewalk because, actually, everyone here knows that stuff is not supposed to go in the dumpster but along the wall near the street. It is acceptable to put large thing like that there and a city person will come remove it. It is a big long wall with lots of space in front of it.) So I open the door and the man says "Is this your carpet?" No--and I try to go on but he cuts me off. "Is this not your wood flooring?" No, same thing, cuts me off. "But look, the blue of the carpet is on your door mat." And at this point I am so irritated because I have felt really disrespected by the carpet at my door all week-end and especially irritated by the carpet lint that has blown up and dirtied my doorstep. So I tell him something like, "Look, I do not want to be accused. All week-end I have stepped over this stuff, and have had to move it over just to get my pushchair by with my 2 young kids." Apparently convinced by the authenticity of my reaction, he said "All right, all right, it's okay--I'll report the people upstairs."
After I shut my door, had a brief meltdown, then recuperated, I went outside to say "You should check to see if it's the people I said it was so that the wrong people aren't reported." And he said "No you were right, and sorry about that, I would have reacted the same way." Then I said "Sorry, you got the brunt of my frustration of seeing this stuff all week-end."
It's an interesting situation here. It seems you have to know when to fight the battles. And you have to stay in the fight without letting it consume you. When the water was basically out for 7 days, I desperately wanted to rage but I also was new and wanted to see what the residents who'd been here longer would do. In that situation, it seemed like they were doing the right thing but there was hardly any response. (Total illegality I felt, and have come to believe, as my friend has assured me there actually is a right to water in the law here. It seems like a no-brainer but they have signed it into law for a reason, and we were not even handed out water until days into it--oh and I wasn't even informed that they were handing out water.) The carpet on my doorstep was something I asked a neighbor about and then I felt I should wait it out to see if anyone else felt the same way and to not appear like the jumpy resident who's on top of reporting anything and everything. (This is after having to call 3 times to get my recycling collected last week when they didn't pick it up as they are supposed to.) I saw looks of curiousity and "What's this?" from other residents as they passed but of course none of them could be as irritated as me since it was on my doorstep. Maybe they felt it was me. But my intention was to wait until the end of the day and then make a call to the council. Thankfully it is already gone.
On an upbeat note, I forgot to mention that it was Mother's Day yesterday and Jesse pulled out a card and fairy cake for me. At church, all the women (not just mothers) didn't just get a flower but a bouquet of daffodils and crocuses. There were extras for us too, so I came home with four! Not too shabby!
This is not a post about how bad it is to live in urban areas. You just have to be aware of the cost and how difficult it can be--I believe it is not until you realize that, that you can enjoy and thrive living there. In San Francisco, if you were a regular rider of buses (or even just a walker of sidewalks), you had to fight being depressed as there were so many desperate, crazy, sad people on the bus with you. It provoked sorrow but also the feeling of "I need to know how to explain this to my children."
So today, I was angry with some old man who was shooing Peanut away from participating in ball fetching with his dog. They were getting along fine and besides Peanut doesn't actually fetch other dogs balls so there's no stealing involved. I decided to walk towards him and have him look at me,then I would say "She's friendly and she's not gonna take your dog's ball." He, however, did not look at me, so I said nothing and turned around in the other direction. I find it so irritating that there is a thousand reasons why dogs can't play together her--"Mine's aggressive", "They're both bitches", "He's afraid of big dogs", "She's just a little scared." Maybe I'll hear, "My dog doesn't like really furry dogs." It so irritating and I know there are some legit statements because there are aggressive dogs but I find this state of affairs a bit overly phobic and just irritating. Let's all just stand in park, you in that corner, me in this corner. It separates us.
Then I come home and get a knock on the door. Better answer it, I think--maybe it's somebody coming to clean the junk up from in front of my door. (About 4 nights ago, some neighbors upstairs ripped out their carpeting and some miscellaneous wood, and I've been juggling my patience ever since, since it was basically placed in front of our door. I watched the dumpster right beside my door sit half full for a day while the trash sat there. I did chuck some in but no way could I do it all, and I wanted to see what happened. And there is no excuse for this trashing of the sidewalk because, actually, everyone here knows that stuff is not supposed to go in the dumpster but along the wall near the street. It is acceptable to put large thing like that there and a city person will come remove it. It is a big long wall with lots of space in front of it.) So I open the door and the man says "Is this your carpet?" No--and I try to go on but he cuts me off. "Is this not your wood flooring?" No, same thing, cuts me off. "But look, the blue of the carpet is on your door mat." And at this point I am so irritated because I have felt really disrespected by the carpet at my door all week-end and especially irritated by the carpet lint that has blown up and dirtied my doorstep. So I tell him something like, "Look, I do not want to be accused. All week-end I have stepped over this stuff, and have had to move it over just to get my pushchair by with my 2 young kids." Apparently convinced by the authenticity of my reaction, he said "All right, all right, it's okay--I'll report the people upstairs."
After I shut my door, had a brief meltdown, then recuperated, I went outside to say "You should check to see if it's the people I said it was so that the wrong people aren't reported." And he said "No you were right, and sorry about that, I would have reacted the same way." Then I said "Sorry, you got the brunt of my frustration of seeing this stuff all week-end."
It's an interesting situation here. It seems you have to know when to fight the battles. And you have to stay in the fight without letting it consume you. When the water was basically out for 7 days, I desperately wanted to rage but I also was new and wanted to see what the residents who'd been here longer would do. In that situation, it seemed like they were doing the right thing but there was hardly any response. (Total illegality I felt, and have come to believe, as my friend has assured me there actually is a right to water in the law here. It seems like a no-brainer but they have signed it into law for a reason, and we were not even handed out water until days into it--oh and I wasn't even informed that they were handing out water.) The carpet on my doorstep was something I asked a neighbor about and then I felt I should wait it out to see if anyone else felt the same way and to not appear like the jumpy resident who's on top of reporting anything and everything. (This is after having to call 3 times to get my recycling collected last week when they didn't pick it up as they are supposed to.) I saw looks of curiousity and "What's this?" from other residents as they passed but of course none of them could be as irritated as me since it was on my doorstep. Maybe they felt it was me. But my intention was to wait until the end of the day and then make a call to the council. Thankfully it is already gone.
On an upbeat note, I forgot to mention that it was Mother's Day yesterday and Jesse pulled out a card and fairy cake for me. At church, all the women (not just mothers) didn't just get a flower but a bouquet of daffodils and crocuses. There were extras for us too, so I came home with four! Not too shabby!
Sunday, March 02, 2008
This week in a nut-shell
Luci has completed her first week of nursery. She loves it,does not mind being left, and has a new peace of mind I believe. She now has her own school and her own friends, storytime, etc. It did not free up lots of time for me this week however, because I had to stay at the school nearby just in case she needed me
Yesterday was our first birthday party (other than within the family) in London. It was Rose-Michaela's (she was Mary in the school play) birthday. Let's just state it how it was. Five hours long and scheduled this way, fairy cakes and sugary drinks for the taking, at least 30 kids, at least 30 parents, hip-hop music. It was a blast for the crazy kids who ran around the community center and I hardly had to take care of my kids except where it came to feigning concern over their sugary drink comsumption--at times like this where I am free, who cares! I got to chat it up with a couple of moms for a good long time. it was 7 when we left and the cake still hadn't been cut. Luckily my kids could be distracted away by party favor bags. I love to see my kids when they are dying for bed--it's just so satisfying!
Then today was church, and a monumental Sunday at that. Jesse used to love going to church in San Francisco with all his familiar friends and routines. And though he's liked it here, I haven't heard enthusiasm on a Sunday in a long while, which has made me sad for the loss of FBC. Today, when he found out it was Sunday, He said,"Yippee! It's Sunday!" and got so excited. After church we had a missional community lunch that we joined up with. J and L's friends Rachel and Ben,who are siblings also were there. They played monsters the whole time and then were wrestling at the end and pig-piling on each other. Again,this was another satisfying moment for me.
I am tired and want Darren to come home. I am also tiring of J's meltdowns every afternoon or evening since D's been away. Thankfully, there's always bed and a new day. The kids got cereal for dinner tonight.
Yesterday was our first birthday party (other than within the family) in London. It was Rose-Michaela's (she was Mary in the school play) birthday. Let's just state it how it was. Five hours long and scheduled this way, fairy cakes and sugary drinks for the taking, at least 30 kids, at least 30 parents, hip-hop music. It was a blast for the crazy kids who ran around the community center and I hardly had to take care of my kids except where it came to feigning concern over their sugary drink comsumption--at times like this where I am free, who cares! I got to chat it up with a couple of moms for a good long time. it was 7 when we left and the cake still hadn't been cut. Luckily my kids could be distracted away by party favor bags. I love to see my kids when they are dying for bed--it's just so satisfying!
Then today was church, and a monumental Sunday at that. Jesse used to love going to church in San Francisco with all his familiar friends and routines. And though he's liked it here, I haven't heard enthusiasm on a Sunday in a long while, which has made me sad for the loss of FBC. Today, when he found out it was Sunday, He said,"Yippee! It's Sunday!" and got so excited. After church we had a missional community lunch that we joined up with. J and L's friends Rachel and Ben,who are siblings also were there. They played monsters the whole time and then were wrestling at the end and pig-piling on each other. Again,this was another satisfying moment for me.
I am tired and want Darren to come home. I am also tiring of J's meltdowns every afternoon or evening since D's been away. Thankfully, there's always bed and a new day. The kids got cereal for dinner tonight.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Peanut, Ambassador of Peace
Peanut and I have been buddies over the last several days in the fun and not fun moments of being stuck home alone with my 2 children. We have been managing together. She might not be helping with dishes or discipline but we are psychologically managing together. I know the look in her eyes...
Our neighbors (by this I mean our borough) in general do not like dogs. They clear to the other side of the sidewalk, sometimes stepping out into the street though she is on the lead. That's why it's so refreshing to find those energetic elementary boys in the park, who are one part intrigued by Pea and one part pleased at their bravery, that want to throw the ball with Peanut. We found one today who was happy to roam with us through Stepney Green and throw the ball. (This is so great for me because the novelty of a new person keeps Peanut slightly more distracted from the chicken bones and exercising more.) This boy finally tired of it, when Peanut tired. We were on the playground at that point where there were unusually large crowds of young men hanging out and around. There's usually a bunch but I would say there were about 3 groups of 10, with more in the backgroud which was tinged with some hostile testosterone. It doesn't make me too nervous because I have a dog and most of these kids are softies, but sometimes there is marijuana smoking (Aaaah, smells just like home in SF) which is just annoying. One group happened to be right where Peanut was lurking outside the fence and so they nonchalantly took to throwing the ball. (I happen to know that most of these guys cower, but try not to look like they are, when walking past Pea by themselves.) They asked what my dog's name was and were sucked into conversation with Luci who is always willing to talk about her dog.
I find these interactions satisfying in a way because it the potential trouble that brews when you are young, bored, and uninspired.
Now I'm tired. We went to a birthday party at a community center for about 5 hours. (Picture loud music, loud kids times 40 plus 30 adults.) The kids sucked up a bunch of sugary foods and drinks, ran around a ton, and have now crashed in their beds. I am grateful to hang with some of the school mums but I don't prefer big parties and really don't think I love my kids enough to EVER do a party like that no matter how much they begged!
Our neighbors (by this I mean our borough) in general do not like dogs. They clear to the other side of the sidewalk, sometimes stepping out into the street though she is on the lead. That's why it's so refreshing to find those energetic elementary boys in the park, who are one part intrigued by Pea and one part pleased at their bravery, that want to throw the ball with Peanut. We found one today who was happy to roam with us through Stepney Green and throw the ball. (This is so great for me because the novelty of a new person keeps Peanut slightly more distracted from the chicken bones and exercising more.) This boy finally tired of it, when Peanut tired. We were on the playground at that point where there were unusually large crowds of young men hanging out and around. There's usually a bunch but I would say there were about 3 groups of 10, with more in the backgroud which was tinged with some hostile testosterone. It doesn't make me too nervous because I have a dog and most of these kids are softies, but sometimes there is marijuana smoking (Aaaah, smells just like home in SF) which is just annoying. One group happened to be right where Peanut was lurking outside the fence and so they nonchalantly took to throwing the ball. (I happen to know that most of these guys cower, but try not to look like they are, when walking past Pea by themselves.) They asked what my dog's name was and were sucked into conversation with Luci who is always willing to talk about her dog.
I find these interactions satisfying in a way because it the potential trouble that brews when you are young, bored, and uninspired.
Now I'm tired. We went to a birthday party at a community center for about 5 hours. (Picture loud music, loud kids times 40 plus 30 adults.) The kids sucked up a bunch of sugary foods and drinks, ran around a ton, and have now crashed in their beds. I am grateful to hang with some of the school mums but I don't prefer big parties and really don't think I love my kids enough to EVER do a party like that no matter how much they begged!