Puttering around

Bailey and I go for a long walk after breakfast every morning and another one in the late afternoon or early evening. I'm lucky that she's young and has a strong bladder and regular digestion. Those two walks take care of her bio needs and I make them long enough that they take care of her need for exercise and energy outlet too. She's always content to nap when we get home and she's always ready to go to bed before we are.

Sometimes we have things to do mid-day, in between walks, but not always. I need to find new ways to entertain myself. There's shopping, cooking, and we often make excursions to look for a few specific items that we need at home. I like those mid-day excursions. They add to my daily step count while Bailey gets to rest up. When we lived back in Virginia, any down time that I had was usually spent puttering around outdoors. I could do that for hours, working on small projects around the house that no one except me would ever know were needing to be done. A trip to Lowe's would often be needed and we were fortunate to have one just up the road about 15 minutes away. I miss the puttering.

I have found a small hardware store (called a brico in French, pron. "breeko"), that's pretty decent and not far from where we live. Sometimes I walk there just to look around, getting ideas for things we might need. I've also picked up a few plants there.

After our walk Saturday morning Clay and I took the subway out to the suburbs. We were headed to a brewery out there that he had read about (Ninkasi) and were planning to have a beery brunch. Right next to the brewery was a store called Leroy Merlin. It's a huge brico, a DIY/home improvement store the likes of which I hadn't seen since we were last in Lowe's. We went in and wandered around the multi-story building. There were tools, home improvement goods, a garden center, and much more. All I can say is that it was the closest I've come to feeling homesick since we've been here. 

But, I wasn't thinking of being back in Palmyra working on our old house and gardens, I was fantasizing about a small French farmhouse on a nice piece of land with an old stone barn and plenty of garden space full of the rich, black, Flanders soil I see in the fields around here. 

Reality returned and we went next door for lunch and beers. We aren't ready to move to the countryside yet, maybe not ever. We are enjoying city life. But it was a nice thing to think about. 

The forestry theory in practice in this park is to let nature take its course.

When trees fall they are left to return to nature, at least if they aren't in the way.

The down trees make a lot of "up" opportunities.

I'm using this new harness all the time now, unless she needs to wear a raincoat.

Bailey loves being off-leash once we get into the wooded areas or the open field.

As always: FUCK TRUMP, FUCK ICE, FUCK THE GOP ENABLERS.