What a great day!   Mom and I went to the Jinny Beyer quilting store in Great Falls, followed by a nice hike at Riverbend Park.  The quilting shop was gorgeous, and I don't know how I restrained myself and didn't buy anything.  But, I'm taking a class there on Tuesday, so the opportunity is not lost.  Then we found our way to the park -- the country is lush and beautiful, and it's hard to believe that we were really only about 20 minutes away from Arlington.  It was quiet and we basically had it all to ourselves.  The area surrounding the park is a mega-mansion bonanza -- we saw track mansions, and a lot of new ones going up that all looked the same -- stucco/stone big ol' monstrosities.  I'm sure they're wonderful and have...well....everything -- but how much do you really need?  Cars that I saw were all huge, sitting outside 3 and 4 garage homes.  But, I must say, it's a really beautiful place to live.

I told Mom that this is the kind of day I've dreamed about for so long -- having the opportunity to take a beautiful day and just go off on an outing with her (or someone else I love).  It's not that I hated my jobs, but there were certainly times when I'd think about what I'd rather be doing, particularly on a sunny fall day, and today was exactly my vision -- I kept reminding myself today that this is my dream, right here, in the present...and it was just as good as I had envisioned.

When I got home I took the Jer out for a walk.  He had firm opinions about the direction, so I just let him lead.  We ended up at Kate's apartment door!  I mentioned that this was where little girl lived, and he just bounced up and started looking for her.  I kind of had to drag him away:-)