Oops! I read to the end, I swear, but I neglected to talk about myself! 

In fact, I did have a great weekend. I went to my old haunts, Brooklyn NY. My daughter lives there now, in a building I own and once operated a food business in. It felt very much like being home again. I didn't expect that. I hadn't been able to go for years, ever since my son got really sick and I couldn't leave him for long. My daughter had a medical procedure scheduled and asked me to be there. I drove nearly 7 hours, anxious about having to be in a hospital setting again. I've had quite enough of that, as I believe you understand well. Her procedure went better than expected though, so that was a relief. 

But the BEST thing about the trip was very unexpected. I'd heard that the neighborhood, Park Slope, was a great neighborhood for dogs. Indeed there are a great many dogs on the sidewalks (and pregnant women, another thing Park Slope is known for), and they are all well-behaved, and friendly on leash. I noted these things, because where I live, dogs are poorly behaved and it's hard to walk my dog on leash because many of the dogs can be aggressive. There's no dog park here, so I have always thought the problem is that the dogs have nowhere to socialize, to sort out what good and bad behaviors are for themselves. 

Well, Park Slope borders a gorgeous 526 acre park, Prospect Park. Dogs are allowed off leash in the entire park from 9pm to 1am, then again from 5am to 9am! I took my pooch there, not knowing what to expect, and what we found was dog heaven! Hundreds of dogs in sight, whichever way you look. There may have been thousands in the park at one time. All off leash. I spent nearly four hours there over the weekend and did not see one single altercation between dogs. Not one. They've even got little ponds they can swim in! The people are all happy, friendly, and oddly healthy looking, and the dogs are ecstatically happy! My Hazel has not socialized much (I take her to dog parks everywhere we go, but there is not one anywhere near where we live) and I was worried, but she did great. She could pick and choose which other dogs to hang out with. It was quite amazing to watch her choose. Makes me think humans could make better choices, more personal choices, regarding whose company they want to keep.

Thank you for asking. I got to tell you about my four hours of bliss.