Grrrrr

Before you go any further, please read this. It needs to be said. The Bulldog tied outside a café would no doubt agree and his expression  certainly mirrors that of Raheny himself….

We had the neighbors round for beans and greens yesterday. Black eyed peas and collard greens are traditional new year's day fare in the US, particularly the South. Assuming that the good luck attending them would still hold, I did the Italian version…cannelloni and kale.

We headed down to Petaluma this morning to take Ozzie for a walk at a regional park there, with the promise of coffee and a fabulous loaf of bread from Della Fattoria, our favorite bakery/cafe. We had just learned from Dana that Jim's father died yesterday and Jim is on his way to Indiana for the third time since Thanksgiving.  His aunt died just before Christmas. A couple of loaves of dense, wood oven baked bread and some biscotti sounded comforting. Alas, Della Fattoria is closed for the month of January…

It was very cold as we trudged up a steep hill under a grey sky with a chill wind blowing in our faces. We were both silent as we thought about Jim and his family, not to mention our own mortality. Our thoughts are  with Jim as he deals with the sad task of burying his father and supporting his mother.

The only good thing about our walking climbing choice was that there was nobody else around, so we took Ozzie's lead off and let him sniff, chase sticks and check things out in the underbrush to his heart's content. We did avoid the pond as I'm just not ready for a wet dog in my new car….

We warmed ourselves with coffee at Peet's in Petaluma. I commented to OilMan that Peet's has gone corporate…they never would have had a sign on the wall advertising a 'salted caramel latte' back in the day. My regular latte, however, was delicious and as someone who has become addicted to Aztek Mochas ,I don't wish to sound snarky about a place that I once referred to as 'my living room'….