Some dogs and people – Fate, my granddaughter Robin – have the rascal in their eyes. I think I see it in five week old Leroy, who will be coming to live with us in a few weeks. I went to the Mansion with Red today and the Mansion staff is excited about Leroy, one of the said “this is great, we are getting Red and a puppy!” And a cat also, looks like (more about that later.)
I think Leroy looks like a man of the world here, cool and poised and ready to meet his destiny. I was going to take him out on a little spin around town today, but I remembered he is only five weeks old, best to wait a wait or two. The day after he arrives, he will be at the Mansion, beginning his therapy training.
It think he has some pirate in his eyes. I am eager to bring him my first small dog – Maria’s first small dog also – and see what he can teach me about dogs and life. I believe every dog makes me a better human, and there is still a long way to go. Let’s see what Leroy has to offer, how he will train me.
Oh, well, the wheel turns. My daughter ended up at the doctor’s with an upper respiratory infection, she’s on antibiotics and urged me to go get checked out, I’ve lost my voice and am having lots of coughing fits. So I’m heading to urgent care and probably getting some pills.
Everybody gets nervous when you are a heart patient, which is why I hate to go, but I have lots going on – we have our Open House Next Weekend, and other stuff – so time to be a grown up. Later. It is a very beautiful day and I am more determined than ever to be proud of every day of my life.
There was a joyful noise in our town yesterday and this morning, as the New Round House Cafe began to open. The kitchen is not quite finished, so the cafe has opened up again serving coffee and pastries and muffins and scones.
There were lots of raves over the beautiful renovation of the new cafe space, once the town’s General Store. The gorgeous shelves and cabinets remain. It was as if the heart of the town was beating once again. The first tables and chairs were set up, people were sitting inside with their laptops, working from the cafe, and there was a steady stream of happy people coming in for coffee or just to look at the striking renovations.
I told Scott Carrino that the space was a destination all of its own, along with the food. This is a great moment for community, and for connection. In our town, we know one another, and that shapes and defines our lives together.
It was almost surreal to see people flowing back into the new Round House, as if the old one had never shut down. This place just fits here, and it looks it. The design and restoration, tasteful and evocative, is just wonderful.
When that is lost – just look at the political system in our country – there is disconnection and conflict. Our town is filled with disparate people – artists, carpenters, excavators, writers, professors and lots and lots of farmers.
At our care, you can see all of them, and we can see each other as humans, not as disembodied texts or “friends” on Facebook. Here community is real, and many of you helped to keep it alive for us. Hopefully, we can do the same for you one day.
Scott and Lisa Carrino have braved overwhelming odds to keep their cafe alive and on Main Street. I remember begging both of them to let go and give it up and have some peace and time in their lives. They chose to fight on and prove me wrong. I am grateful that they did.
Your support of their gofundme project to buy their building was the turning point, the beginning of the long hard campaign to keep the cafe going. And it worked. A mighty victory for the Army of Good.
Community is endangered by greed and development and corporate arrogance all over America. In our town, the Round House Cafe has fought and struggled to stay alive, and even grow. A joyful noise unto the world.
