Another cool thing that happened to me last week was that I received a phone call from someone I hadn't heard from in months. P. is one of my pet-sitting clients, and she is just so nice. We talked about our various travels (mine to London, hers to New Zealand), and just generally caught up. Then she asked me to walk her dog on Friday, which I was more than happy to do, despite his tendency to be a total freak.

Friday turned out to be quite a wonderful day, in fact. First I met up with Misti and Steve at Whole Foods. We sat and visited for a while, and laughed a lot. Then I drove us all out to the marsh where I teach. I haven't been there in months, and I've really missed it. Misti and Steve let me lead them through the tours I always give the kids, first around the actual water treatment plant itself, explaining the function of the various buildings as we go, and then through the marsh, where we looked for scat, tracks, feathers, otter slides, and other evidence of animal life. I had such a fun time being there again, sharing a place I love with people I love. It was a lot of fun, and I am really looking forward to March, when I get to have new students and teach this stuff all over again!

Friday evening, I went to see the doggies. The older dog had hurt her paw, so was not allowed to go on an official walk around the block. Instead, she got to have a potty break in the backyard. Mr. Bailey on the other hand needed to burn off some energy! When I let him out of his crate, he took off like a scud missile! Up the stairs, down the stairs, around the couch, onto the couch, around the floor, up in the air, up the stairs... He was insane! I laughed at him, as I kept trying to coax him over with liver treats. I finally wrangled him into his gentle leader, and we were out the door. P.'s letter ran through my mind and it made me laugh again.

"Kula should not go on a walk. Bailey can do anything. May the force be with you."

Bailey stunned me by being a little angel on our walk. He is so attentive to verbal and hand cues, trying to do whatever you tell him, while also trying to see what he can get away with. He is funny and sweet, a happy puppy. Well, I suppose he's a year old by now, but man does he still seem like a baby! Such is the way of labs.

We went all the way around the block before going back inside, where I gave the pups their dinner and tucked them in for the night.

Saturday was a sleepy, sleepy day.

And Sunday I got to hang with Misti and Steve again! We had lunch before heading to a Psychic Fair. I only heard of these last year, and had never been to one before Sunday. As you may or may not know, I am a fan of many things deemed "new age" such as energy healing, chakra balancing, and aura reading. So I knew I'd enjoy it.

There are lots of other things at a Psychic Fair, too, I found out, such as a variety of stones and crystals, some of which are carved into animals, cool faerie tee shirts, all sorts of books, henna tattoo-ing, and tiny Shaman-like flutes, which I could not resist. I talked about music for quite a while with the guy at the booth, who was extremely nice and believed that music can be a very spiritual thing, something I totally agreed with. He played little songs on his handmade flutes, and I said I might be back. I saw lots of other things and listened to a talk given by a really nice man before eventually heading back to purchase a tiny flute. I love my silver flute and have collected a few different kinds of other flutes, so am happy to add this one to my collection. I was first drawn to its color (bright green) and was told by the flute maker that it is meant to be representative of a reptilian spirit creature. Very cool!

Weirdly enough, that wasn't the first time I'd been drawn to snake-related stuff or had it pointed out to me that day. I'd also happened upon an interesting snake sculpture, and Misti showed me a pretty box with snake carvings in it. I believe in totem animals, that the universe sometimes shows us things via symbols we identify with (for me, animal symolism is more than appropriate). I definitely found out some cool things back when dragonflies were in my life a lot. And last year, I even had many visits from spiders, which I am just now realizing I never wrote about.

Okay, briefly, spiders: I was taking care of a client's cat, and I kept walking into spider webs in her backyard. Then an itty bitty spider decided to hang out near my shower, on the wall. It was there daily, and it didn't bother me, because it was so little. I didn't bother moving it or killing it, because when spiders are small enough in my house, I figure, hey, let's live and let live, shall we? Well one night I walked to 7-11, and as I walked back, I walked through another spider web and said, "Damn it! That's like the millionth spider web I've walked through this week!" At that point, I realized maybe I ought to look up spider symbols. The next day, my shower spider had vanished, and I took that to mean I'd finally gotten the message to just pay attention to the spiders already. Then I completely forgot to look up spider stuff for a whole day. Then I went into the bathroom and sure enough, shower spider had returned. Then I really did go and look up spider symbology (Infinity - Patterns - Interconnectedness - Patience), and the shower spider left, never to return. It was pretty cool.

So now my focus has shifted to snakes, which apparently symbolize: "power, life force, transmutation, rebirth, shrewdness, sexual potency." I'll have to reflect on that to figure out what it means for me right now. Or, look for a resource more in depth than that. For now, the first thing that comes to mind is that I have been reflecting a lot on the power of meditation, and the life force of the earth and how it affects me, though I didn't think of it in those terms, exactly. I don't know. Something about this stuff is just really cool to me. I like taking a glimpse into the types of things indigenous peoples might have reflected on either in older times or even current times. It's fascinating stuff.

Anyway, I had a wonderful time at the fair and hope to visit another one sometime soon! I'm also really glad I got to share the experience with Misti and Steve. It's good having friends who like the same "weird" stuff you do!

When I got home that afternoon, I was feeling great -- full of calm, happy energy from having a great day. As I walked toward my apartment, there was a guy with his tiny dog. It was a super-fluffy, red Pomeranian, a lot like the one that attacked me several years ago. Crazy as it may sound, having a four pound dog attack you really is quite terrifying and I've been really wary of Pomeranians ever since. I hadn't touched one since that incident, I don't think. But this little pup looked really cute, and I was feeling so good that something just came over me. "Can I pet your dog?" was out of my mouth before I could even think of it.

"Sure!" the guy said. The dog's name is Precious, and he is a year old, and "kind of bashful," his owner told me. I had squatted down to pet Precious, who ran behind his owner to hide. So the guy squatted in front of me and picked the dog up, holding him in his arms so I could pet him. I ran my fingers through Precious's thick fur, as he licked my hand. Then the little dog's face reached out toward mine. I didn't feel afraid at all, surprisingly, so I leaned in just a little, and got a tiny little Pom kiss on my nose. "Aww, thank you!" I said. For not biting off my face, I thought. I pet Precious a couple more times, thanked the guy, wished him a nice day, then headed upstairs to my apartment, feeling amazed and happy that I'd finally taken a step toward getting over my Pomeranian fears. What a sweet little dog!

It may have even been because of Precious that I had such great dreams last night. I dreamt I had a dog and that I was taking him with me everywhere I went. In fact, I even led him into a parking space and tried to park him just like a car. He was a big red Chow. I realized I didn't have a leash for him and brought him inside, where there were other people sitting down, as if it were a classroom for people with dogs. I said I thought my dog would be good but that I'd sit in the back row in case we had to leave because of sudden barking episodes or something. The teacher seemed fine with that, so I sat down, and my dog put his head on my knee. I looked down at him, and suddenly he was a beautiful white Samoyed that reminded me of Moose. One of the ladies from my London trip was sitting next to me and she looked fondly at my dog. I looked down at him fondly, too, feeling love swell up in my heart for him. That's when I woke up, trying to keep my eyes closed to spend a few more minutes with my dream-dog. It really was nice. Just like the weekend I had. It's been a great couple of days, really.