At what cost, the health of a child?

We had a scare recently with Sophia - who has been very healthy since we adopted her (yes Steve, I said we. He would insist I say *I*). It couldn't have happened at a worse time either - over the weekend when we were at our communication workshop at Seattle Center.

Sophia was a little off her food Friday night but still ate most of it. Her tummy was growling quite a bit Saturday morning; I figured she was just hungry. She ate all of her breakfast as far as I can remember. We had to leave around 7:30 AM (way earlier than I leave for work) and we didn't get home until about 6 PM. This is unusual for us, since I am only usually gone about six and a half hours on a workday, and weekends are usually shaped around what I can do with Sophia.

Saturday when we got home she was so happy to see us - she always is. We noticed her tummy was growling really loud and when I put my hand on her tummy I could even feel it. But she seemed in good spirits and we piled into the car to go to Fauntleroy Park and hike on a trail we hadn't been on yet.

My first real clue that something was up was when she didn't want her usual yummy treat when we got in the car. She walked just fine, tho, and there was no more tummy growling. When we came home about an hour later, she wouldn't eat her dinner. Then she hunched up and went running outside, and she tried to make herself feel better somehow. Then she started to cry out.

Steve went and looked up the 24 hour emergency vet information online - we found there are only two in the city, and the closest one to us was in Wallingford (the other is in Lake City). So we all got into the car. Sophia curled up in her bed and looked miserable.

We arrived at the vet and I was impressed with the office and how nice the staff was. Sophia didn't even seem too freaked out. She normally submissive-pees on the floor at our usual vet when they go to pick her up and put her on the table. This lady vet (I am pretty sure she was younger than us even) was very good, and Sophia never got scared. The vet even picked her up and carried her off to have xrays done.

Sophia was gone quite awhile and we talked and read in the exam room while we waited. The vet had asked me had I ever been told Sophia had a heart murmur? And she explained to me, with sound effects, of what she had heard. I refused to panic, because I am only able to deal with one crisis at a time.

About a half hour later she brought Sophia back, along with her xrays. These are the first xrays Sophia has had since I have had her. You could see on the xray a huge bubble of gas in her intestine. I still want an explanation of how you can see gas, which I would imagine is like air and is invisible, on an xray. Unless it's not invisible. Anyway, we talked about what Sophia has been eating lately, and I tried to think of what I could have given her that was outside her normal varied diet (I feed her all sorts of things...) She had a Canine Cat-a-loni from Three Dog Bakery on Friday night...I let her lick out my yogurt container that morning...she had some popcorn on Thursday night...

The vet said they could give her some "gas-x", like Mylanta or something, and I could take her to see my ordinary vet on Monday morning. If we were concerned with an obstruction they recommended a barium trace which would require her to stay there overnight. I am pretty moderated when it comes to health and always start with the least invasive option. So they gave her a squirt and off we went. Total bill: $230.

You could tell she was feeling much better, and she tooted in the car on the way home. Sophia doesn't normally have gas, and boy did it stink!! Ick! We gave her a little dinner when we got home, to tide her over.

Sunday morning, I opened a can of "Cowboy Cookout" dog food, not her normal cooked stew from Natural Pet Pantry. I only put about 1/4 of the can in her bowl and had to take it outside since she was sitting in the grass in the sun and she was not motivated to come in and eat. I was able to get her to eat most of it, hand feeding her the last little bits out of the bowl.

It was hard being gone all day Sunday. I had called my dog walker to see if she could come and check on her around midday, but she has a retail job on the weekends and wasn't available. I told Steve I would want to come home on our lunch break from our workshop to check on her. But by noon I decided it was easier to not go home since she would be confused by our arriving and then leaving again (and without her). So we got through our workshop (a lot of work!) and got home a little past 5:30.

Sophia seemed fine! We went for a walk and she's always happy for exercise. She even ate some dinner. I had planned on taking her to the vet on Monday anyway, for a nail trim, but I was starting to think I could take her in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning.

Monday morning a little past 6 AM, Steve woke me and said Sophia's tummy was growling again. I sat up and listened, and then Sophia got up and went outside and started throwing up white foamy stuff. A friend of mine at work has a Boston terrier that does this when her stomach is completely empty. So I wasn't super concerned, but knew we were going to be at the vet's office right when they opened at 8 AM.

We went to our regular vet and they took another set of xrays. In this film you could see the end of the gas bubble down near her tail end. It was kind of weird. And my vet did not hear a heart murmur. He said she just has some gas, and I could stop and buy some Pepto Bismol and give it to her. I almost forgot to get her nails trimmed in all the excitement. Total bill: $150

I picked up a bottle of cherry Pepto Bismol and using the dropper they gave me got most of 1 teaspoon in her mouth. We were outside in the backyard doing this, since I was imagining a mess all over the house trying to do this. And she even ate some breakfast.

Off I went to work, feeling better about the whole thing. I worried about what I would come home, too, tho, since she had seemed better before and then got worse again.

When I came home, she was happy to see me. Then she grabbed her new toy (one a got at Three Dog Bakery on Friday but hadn't been able to play with yet) and out the doggy door she went to throw it around and race around the yard with it. I think she was cured!

Steve and I talked a little bit about the cost of this little emergency. He had commented on the emergency vet cost, and I had joked back don't make me add up all the money we spent on Persi and his scrapes! I haven't even told him how much Monday's trip to the vet was. It all had to go onto a credit card.

The cost of health care for a pet is sometimes a touchy subject. There are some people who think pets are just animals and are expendable as soon as they are inconveniently expensive. Many of the Italian greyhounds who come into rescue are there because they broke a leg and the family can't or won't afford the vet bill. A broken leg can run around $2,000 depending on how bad the fracture is.

To me, my pet is like my child. I try not to treat her like a "human", and work to understand dog psychology and be a good pack leader to Sophia (with the help of books and the show, Dog Whisperer). But for all intents and purposes, she and the cats are our furkids and I know when the chips are down we wouldn't think twice to spend whatever was needed to save their lives. I have had to make difficult decisions regarding two of my cats - Whizzin, who I had put down 3 years ago, and Cheerio, his sister, who is going to be 16 this fall, has hypothyroidism that is not going to receive further treatment. The medicine caused her white blood cell count to go dangerously low and the vet said I had to take her off of it. He told me my next option was radiation treatment - very expensive and she would be gone for up to two weeks in vet care to do it. I decided I couldn't do it, due to the cost. She has had a long life and my job now is to make sure she is comfortable and happy and the she doesn't suffer. I give her pain medicine for her arthritis and occasionally a pill for vomiting and stomach inflammation, but soon her time will come to cross the Rainbow Bridge. I am glad I have been able to give her such a good life.

Growing up we had a family dog, a black lab named Dan, who spent his life on a chain in the yard (or running loose in the countryside). I remember then not thinking anything about it. Now I feel really sad about it, since that's a miserable life for such a social species like the dog. I also remember my dad saying if anything bad ever happened to the dog he would have him put to sleep, he wasn't going to spend any money on an animal. I remember being real proud of him when Dan was hit by a neighbor's truck and dad took the dog to the vet - and then brought him home in a leg cast. I remember thinking dad must have realized how much Dan's life meant to us. I remember crying in the rain as I dug his grave when I was a 17. It was a sad experience, one I never will forget.

My volunteer work at the animal shelter is for the animals - but also for me. By being around something that is often considered depressing and painful by most people, I am able to understand it better and come to terms with it for myself. It also helps me deal with what guilt I have for the care given to our family pets growing up, knowing it wasn't my fault since I was just a child and couldn't know better. Admittedly, I am not so strong as to keep track of the dogs at the animal shelter by name, knowing who found a home and who didn't. Emotionally I can't do that. But I can make the dog's life a little better whenever I come in contact with him - whether it's feeding him a snack, giving him a blanket, or taking him out to the "canine corral" to meet a potential new family. I know whatever time I spend with the animals there, whether it is cat or dog, the animal will benefit from my strong leadership and comforting presence.

And Sophia, my dog, my child, I will do everything in my power to give her a long and healthy and happy life. It's my responsibility - and a joy as I am well rewarded with her love, affection, and obedience. The big bonus? She rarely talks back, and won't be hitting me up for college money.

The Art & Science of Love

Or: Learning How To Talk To Each Other



Homo sapiens have been gifted with the use of speech. Unfortunately, it's more like mis-speech, really. Our world is full of miscommunications. Since it's baseball season I will explain it to you with a baseball analogy: Even the best batter misses the ball at least 70% of the time. So even the world's best communicators are misunderstood a majority of the time.

(Photo at left: Steve demonstrates his ability to "self-soothe" without the guidance of the Gottman method meditation sequence. He says he learned how to meditate at a smoking cessation program long ago. Wendy noticed the dialogue one partner reads to the other is basically the same as what her hypnotherapist uses to relax her. The purpose of "self-soothing" and relaxation is to lower the heart rate, thus being able to "listen" better by not being in a state of fight-or-flight.)

Steve and I have been married for over 8 years. Most of it's been great - while also being hard. We are always facing job, health, or financial situations (who isn't, I guess). I long for the days of being able to pay bills without needing to check the bank account first. We had that for a short time - before we bought a house and tripled our housing costs (now quadrupled). I want there to be so much money in there it won't matter.

One thing we are really great at is having fun together. We really enjoy each other's company and doing fun things. But "everyday life" sometimes is more difficult due to those little miscommunications along with other long-term misunderstandings. We thought it would be super if we could add some new communication skills to our toolboxes.

We generally ddidn't feel we needed "counseling". What we needed was a course on talking to each other - and listening to each other. Steve read a white paper written by the research assistant to a professor at the University of Washington and by way of that and a suggestion from someone else, we found The Gottman Institute. http://www.gottman.com/

We signed up for The Art and Science of Love: A Weekend Workshop for Couples with John Gottman, Ph.D., Julie Schwartz Gottman, Ph.D. and Certified Gottman Therapists. They only hold these workshops a very few times each year, and people fly to Seattle from all over the country to attend. We are fortunate to live in the Northwest. We signed up for it in early February - and sometimes it felt as if April couldn't get here soon enough! http://www.gottman.com/marriage/weekend_workshop/

We safely made it to April 22nd. We're pretty good when it comes to disagreements - we both will get heated but the sun never sets on an argument and we've always been real respectful of each other and never stooped to name calling or other harmful behaviors. I think we both felt our attendance at this workshop was for "enhancement" and not "relationship repair".

The Gottman Institute rents out the Rainier Rooms at Seattle Center. Not just one room - ALL of them, the entire BUILDING. Every room was arranged with widely spaced pairs of chairs facing each other, for the work sessions we would be engaging in over the two day workshop.

What I came away with is that understanding one another is a lot of work. And solving gridlocked issues is tough - especially since as you talk the issue you think you're talking about metamorpheses into something else. Marriage isn't easy, altho I like to think ours is easier than many, despite all of the "challenges" we have been faced with over the years. Confirming that you are indeed in a strong loving relationship is a wonderful feeling. Truly being great friends and being able to have a good time together is a real bonus!


The weather this weekend was fabulous! We spent some of our work sessions outdoors on the plaza. It was also Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival at Seattle Center. There were some martial arts demonstrations, and some great Japanese drumming!

The Way I See It

from the Starbucks quotes on cups campaign

The way I see it #83:

They told you that beauty is in th eye of the beholder. What they didn't tell you is that it is best seen with the eyes closed. What you look like isn't important. What is important is who you are inside and the choices you are making in your life.

-- Tiana Tozer
1992 Paraolympic silver and 1996 bronze medalist, women's wheelchair basketball.

Coming Full Circle

Yesterday Steve and I installed our new "circle garden". The garden was already there - there were three circles across the back yard that had fruit trees in them at some point (only an ancient cherry to the left of this circle remains). But this will be the first year I truly tried to garden here productively.

For the past five years, I have gardened in a p-patch, a neighborhood community garden about a mile from home. I am now even on the Board of Directors of P-Patch Trust, the nonprofit that supports a land conservancy initiative and assists the city with management of over 70 gardens across the city.

The problem with p-patches is that it's not in your back yard. When I first became involved as a gardener it was because I was interested in being part of a community, and also saving money in water costs. Other than watering, which I did when I used to say I could hear the plants crying and telling me they had reached their absolute limit, I could go out for monthly guerilla weeding operations, and often drag an unwilling Steve along for an hour under the hot sun. It was really hard on my back and I needed the help - a 200 square foot garden is pretty big for one person (and a playfield for tons of weeds).

Last year our p-patch was supposed to go under the bulldozer for redevelopment. It has been there for about 25 years and the whole area was going to be re-done as a really nice park, and the p-patch was going to receive improvements. So I was afraid to invest too much into it. I adopted Sophia in May, as a walking companion and also to keep me company in the garden. She visited the p-patch with me only once. She sat there, bored out of her mind, and then constantly would walk around and tangle her rope with plants and other people's garden hardware. It was more trouble than it was worth. I never went back.

Last fall we bought 10 yards of dirt to renovate the side yard. I hired a designer after I had the fence built, and there was a lot of labor involved in stripping out about 6 inches of sod and clay then hauling in new soil. Thanks to my friends Katie and Steve (who were paid - we're pretty good friends but I still value their time) and Stephen who helped too, my "perennial retreat" is on its way to being a really nice oasis.

Meanwhile, about 3 yards of really nice soil remained in the driveway. Yesterday Steve hauled most of it to my circle garden in the back yard. With this input of new soil, this could finally be a really good gardening space. And it was right here at home - in Sophia's yard. She could keep me company without being bored on the end of a rope.

The hill seen closest to the front of the photo is what's called an "herb spiral". You build a big mound, and then create a spiral design that you plants herb in, starting at the bottom and working your way up. I chose rosemary, lemon thyme, chives, and Italian flat leaf parsley, with an alpine strawberry crowning the spiral. There';s room for more. By watering the spiral from the top down you are water efficient, and are able to pack more plants in by working vertically.

The curving paths were inspired by the shape of the garden and the spiral position. It seemed a natural thing to do after the spiral was built, I am very pleased with how it looks.

To the right hand side is the salad section, with several kinds of heirloom leaf lettuces and some edible flowers. To the left side is Persi's grave marker, with creeping wooly thyme and another perennial as a permanent companion to the statue. To the left of this Steve planted carrot seeds. The trellis behind is for three kinds of fragrant sweet peas, one of which will get to 7 feet tall. And on the far right but invisible here are a number of small strawberry plants that survived from last year and I had to honor their survival by keeping them.

There's a lot of room to add more plants. We're big on salad, so will be picking out some more great varieties later in the season. I am also contemplating a tomato plant - I usually grow several every year but you have to be really good about watering them. I will be getting less sun here than at the p-patch, but maybe it will be enough. Lord knows, I have no excuse to not water every day if needed!

After working in the garden, Steve needs a nap. Sophia is always available for nap time. Havana was laying down on him at first but I disturbed her. Many mornings she will walk up your body and wake you with her whiskers tickling your face as she smells your breath.

Sophia launches her own blog!

Sophia has launched her own online diary called "Paws for a Moment" on the Dogster.com web site. I read an article in the PI this morning about the site and had never heard of it. I guess I am a little slow when coming to find out about things like this. Shoot, it took me years before I got around to my OWN blog. Now I am going to be ghost-writing one for my dog! (Article in the Seattle PI: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/265972_petsites10.html)

Well, it will be fun writing from a four-legged perspective. I don't get the opportunity for true creative writing very often. Altho I do animal thoughts here at home, giving a voice to the furkids here under our care. I've often thought of trying to do a children's book with this "talent", but can't seem to keep it funny for more than three lines.

So, be sure to bookmark Sophia's Dogster page, and paws for a moment! http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?j=t&i=296383

MINI Road Trip

I made a run to Portland yesterday to Rasmussen MINI for service on my car - although my warranty expired 4,000 miles ago, they give you three more incidents before 60,000 miles. One of the amps for my stereo went out so I just had static in the back of the car. Not completely unbearable but annoying nonetheless. And since I am looking for full-time work I thought I better take advantage of having a flexible job and get my butt down there.

I took Sophia with me this time - it was to be a pretty short service appointment so not enough time really to see a friend or family while there. She had a bed and toys in the back and got to lay in the sun and nap. Although I don't know how much she slept since she seemed really tired when we got home.

She was a big hit at the dealer - I think I met almost everyone who worked there, from the car washer to the executive. Having her along forced me to stop for breaks, which is good since on the way home I was having trouble staying awake. So getting out and walking around - for her sake - is good for me as well.

One of the best parts of going to the dealer - besides the red-carpet service, is that they wash my car (including the rubber mats inside). And people only notice a clean MINI. As I was headed back to the interstate some people passing in the crosswalk pointed and said "look, there's a MINI", and then another person says "look, with a little dog!" Sophia was leaning on the front dashboard and looking at them through the front windshield. It's been a long time since anyone noticed my MINI it's been so grimy.

Back to the comment about looking for work: I started looking for a full-time job three weeks ago since Steve’s contract at Microsoft is up June 11th and we don’t know what’s going to happen – if he will get another position somewhere or be unemployed. He's required to be away from Microsoft for 100 days, and there aren't many other employers in this area needing what he does. Some of the worry was erased in the last few days, tho. Late last week they offered him his position as a blue badge (real) Microsoft employee. The only hitch is the department manager needs formal headcount approval, which should come with the beginning of the new accounting year after July 1. And then on Monday they gave him a promotion and a raise – they went to his agency and said they wanted to raise him to a Programmer Writer II (he was I) and pay him an additional 30%. It goes into effect next week. Just the raise portion of his salary is more than the additional money I could bring in if I landed a FT job paying more than I have ever made before.

I am waiting to see if I get an offer from Seattle Housing Authority – I had a really great interview on Monday and since it’s a government job in affordable housing and has good benefits (it’s union I believe), and the salary was $38k/annum to start, I would take it if they offered it to me. I am going to keep looking – I am looking for something high paying, in marketing, or something really unique and fun. All three would be perfect of course! But some of the pressure is off of me to find something before June since we’re pretty sure he’ll be going back in July on a perm basis.

Well, Steve left early this morning to drive down to Bimmerfest in Santa Barbara, CA. A few days ago I warned him about speeding and getting another ticket and if he did I would divorce him (of course, if I really meant that I would have left about three years ago...but the threat worked for a number of years.) When I said something to him this morning about not needing a wall charger for his cell phone he said he did since the outlet in the car had something plugged into it already. I asked him, what? He's borrowed a radar detector from someone in the BMW club. Awww, he really DOES love me!!

Anyway, I ended up getting up super early, too, and am off to the office. Besides doing our taxes and volunteering at the animal shelter I have lots of plans with girlfriends all weekend! It's going to be fun, and I won't be sleeping alone thanks to Sophia.

The perfect chandelier

I never thought I would actually find the perfect chandelier.

We've been rearranging things at home. We finally bought our first "real" furniture, some of the Stressless and Ekornes leather pieces from Norway, and a hutch that has a dining table that folds out and seats 6. About 3 years ago we bought two pairs of cast iron wall sconces (PartyLite) and have them posted on opposite sides of the room from each other - one pair above the fireplace, and one here (the door to the kitchen is on the left, door to the hallway is on the right). When the placement of the hutch caused us to abandon the previous dining area (as dictated by the light fixture/ceiling fan above it), I wanted to find something new to put above the new dining area to sort of set it off and say "see, here is where we eat". I didn't want anything complicated (something electrical probably would never get installed) so I was on the hunt for a cast iron candle chandelier.

If you've ever googled "cast iron candle chandelier", you will get thousands of hits, including electric candle chandeliers - definitely not something I wanted. So I sort of gave up the online hunt and sent an email out to my friends telling them to keep their eyes open for something like this.

*I* am the one who actually found this piece, tho. I couldn't believe it. Not even a month after my initial hunt, I wandered into one of the new shops along 152nd in Burien (I buy Sophia's food at Natural Pet Pantry), a little shop called Grass Roots. This chandelier was actually hanging outside in the garden area, because technically it could go either way. I took a picture and told Steve about it, but then it was a few weeks before we could get down there and show it to him in person. He agreed with me, this was it. It was almost an exact match to the other pieces, it just needed to be painted black (it was a dark gray).

So there it is, in all its glory. And when I throw a party outside, I can take it outdoors to grace the patio!

Sophia's Birthday - In the Pink

Sophia turned three on April 1st and we had a very special day. (Click on photo at left to enlarge)

Early Saturday afternoon (once the weather had cleared a bit) we parked in Pioneer Square and went to Zeitgeist Coffee House at 2nd and So. Jackson. I wanted to show Steve the art on display for the International Shrinky Dink Festival. I also knew they were dog friendly and would have no trouble with me bringing Sophia in to get a decaf mocha.

We walked back to First Avenue and headed north for Pike Place Market and Three Dog Bakery. It was about a mile walk and we window shopped on the way. As we stepped into Three Dog Bakery it was quite crowded. Almost immediately there was a strange man standing in front of me who asked, "Can your dog come play in my office?” Now, this is a bizarre question, and I wasn't quite sure how to answer it. I asked, "Are you asking if I get to take my dog to my office for work? No I don't get to," he said no, no, and motioned for me to follow him.

Since Steve was there as escort, I shrugged and cut through the crowd and behind the counter and into the back office. There we were greeted by two little iggies, named Dash and Lyra. I got Sophia off her leash and she went about dealing with two little eager iggies in a small space. She did very well.

Randy, he introduced himself, is the owner of Three Dog Bakery. This bakery is the first Three Dog Bakery outside of the original corporate bakery in the country. Now there are several all over the country (http://www.threedogbakery.com/) He has two iggies and 2 labs, which were lying behind the counter in the store. He has owned it for the past 8 years along with his brother and brother-in-law, all which were working that day. Randy had driven by us as we were walking up First Avenue and said he hoped that's where we were headed since he saw I had an iggy. I suspect he was watching for us as he asked what happened to her purple coat. We had taken it off as soon as we came in since she gets hot and static-y.

After a visit and talk about the IG rescue community and future play dates, we headed back out to the store to look at the bakery items in the case. I picked out a Pupcake for Sophia's birthday treat, and also a Puppermint Patty Cookie and a Pup-tite Four. Steve perused the clothing rack and took a pink fleece jacket off a hanger to try on her. He found a good fit (size 14) and Sophia left the store sporting the new "Flower Power" jacket by Fido Fleece. http://www.kooldawgtees.com/images/ff-FLOWER_POWER0705.jpg I think she pranced a bit higher since she was now completely decked out in pink - she was also wearing her new pink ostrich feather collar and matching leash. We were a sight to see.

And people saw us - everywhere. It's hard to walk 20 steps without fielding a question from a passer-by, or a request of a small child to pet my doggie. Sophia has gotten very good with her public and takes petting really well - especially if it comes in the form of a scratching under her jacket where she builds up static and gets all hot and itchy.

We walked down the vendors on the street across from the market stalls - I wanted a chicken hom bow from the Vietnamese vendor. Steve didn't know what he wanted until we came across the French bakery, and he went in to get a ham and butter sandwich on a crusty roll. Sophia and I stood outside trying to not get stepped on and I always smile when people point and say look at that cute little dog! After Steve returned with his food, we walked down the block and crossed over the Volunteer Park and sat at a picnic table to enjoy our lunch (sharing bits with Sophia of course).

After eating, we decided to head into Pike Place Market in search of the Italian gelato shop. I didn't know where it was located and hadn't realized in advance how crowded it was inside the market. Nothing like a July day, but we still had to elbow our way thru. Steve carried Sophia and walked behind me. People pointed and ask questions as we make our way thru, and when we were walking Sophia kept poking me in the back with her nose - like literally every 10 steps I was getting a nose on my back. Steve thinks she was trying to be sure it was still me or something.

We finally got the quieter part of the market near the mini donut vendor and asked a stall keeper where the gelato place was. She said it was actually outside and the next door down. Steve put Sophia down since it was quieter here and we went outside to find Bottega Italiana. It was a cute little shop with small couches and seating areas, and they let us bring Sophia in. I saw on the counter they had ciocolitta (the hot drinking chocolate I adored while in Italy over Xmas) and decided I didn't have to decide between the two. First I would have something cold, and then I would have something hot! Perfect! http://www.bottegaitaliana.com/pages/20050615.html

So I tried a small gelato, which had one spoon of nutella gelato, and one of vanilla. Steve tried coffee and something else I decided would ruin what I was eating. She steamed the chocolate while we enjoyed our gelato, and Steve also had an espresso. Sophia got to lick out the cups and was very happy.

We headed back south for the car and stopped and watched the demolition of the parking garage next to The Lusty Lady. It's being torn down for a new mixed-use tower, retail and condos. The big equipment just tore it to bits and we stayed long enough to watch one whole section come down with a massive crash!

We came across Flora and Fauna Books in Pioneer Square on the way back. It was a place I had always heard of as a native plant steward but I had never been to. Sophia tried to stay awake while we perused the books. She was pretty funny looking - her ears were in super-alert mode, but those eyes were closed. I picked out a little "Latin for Gardeners" book, and Steve picked out one on Bonsai (something he's tried before and we currently have a bonsai cabernet grape vine).

We got back to the car around 5 PM and drove home, happy with our exercise and having thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon together. Sophia took a nap as soon as we got home!