I absolutely WILL be in bed by ten.

So, I have twelve minutes to write this. I don't quite know where to start today. I guess I'll start with how my day started, which was like this:

Six dogs en route to Chrissy Field - This is Bama, and snuggled together in the front are Rosie, Matilda, Kai, and Finnegan - to the left in the back (and too big to be in the picture) is Kamaji, who you've seen before.

It was brought to my attention by Matilda's owner that she did not make an appearance on my blog after I spent the night at her house in Berkeley, so here is the lovely lady. She's a boss. There's no other way to describe it. And fantastically cute.

 So, I went walking with my friend Kate at Chrissy field (yes, the very same Chrissy field where, not too long ago, Athena put me into prison) and I witnessed the real skill of dog walking (I kid you not - no leashes, and six dogs heeled when she asked and waited as bikers, joggers, or children passed in front of us. Damn skill.) as well as the cold that San Francisco has to offer. But it was a beautiful, slow way to start the morning - damp fog creeping under my hoodie, scarf blowing into my face, watching the dogs play in the waves and the sand.

Jasmine tea with honey at Arbor Cafe.

Then I went to one of my favorite cafés, caught up with an old acquaintance (and gave a short German lesson), and studied some for the GRE. My mood was starting to dip at this point, for various reasons. After that, I went to the BART station to pick up a friend of mine and while I was waiting, I was overwhelmed by some of the conversations I had heard during the day. By now, everyone has heard about the court case and verdict with Zimmerman. Here, too, a film called Fruitvale (the name of another BART station) has recently come out and it's about a shooting at that BART station. My friend was telling her boyfriend, a black man, that she was worried about him wearing a hoodie with the police actions the way they have been in Oakland. A friend of mine from growing up was robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco last week. Two cooks were shot at a restaurant last week that I've walked past at least fifty times in downtown Oakland.

I was about to cry with all of these thoughts in my head when I saw a homeless man outside the train station holding a puppy that couldn't have been more than five weeks old. He was tugging it around on a leash and as a woman walked by, he scooped it up and it squealed like it was in pain. The woman said something to him, and he responded harshly but I couldn't hear what they said. The sunlight was so bright and I shaded my eyes and couldn't tell which was putting tears in them more.
The woman walked towards me - "He needs a puppy like I need a hole in the head," she said. "God bless that puppy." I nodded, and she walked away while shaking her head. About ten paces away, she turned back. "You know, " she said, "Maybe he does need that puppy. Mine sure helped me." The dog she had on a leash looked up at her. She sighed and walked away.

The tears felt a little different then.

After my friend got to the station, we walked to the grocery store and then back home. Draped gently over the front fence we found a bag with a jar of jam from a neighbor. It was such a lovely welcoming home. We made ourselves a nice dinner with some fish that her father had brought, lemons from the backyard, and lots of vegetables. And afterwards, we made shortbread cookies.

Some of them we dipped in chocolate.

And served them with tea.

Tea and this jam. This is not the jam I found when I got back to the house - though I think I'd be capable of eating it that fast.

 Eventually, we took our tea and cookies to the back steps and looked out at the sky, the trees, the chickens.

A few more berries were ripe. Berries and jam - it's like the circle of life.

 Then we came back inside and finished our tea while she revealed her early birthday present to me - an earring-making kit that she had brought with her to make me my present. I mentioned to hear about four months ago that I thought I didn't have enough earrings - she remembered that, made two pairs right in front of me and we had a lovely, lovely time.

I didn't make it into bed. It's 10:09. I think it was worth it.