Yesterday my brother Bull and I rambled through the Schuylkill Environmental Center here in my neighborhood of Philadelphia. We were out to pick the wine berries that are out and abundant (and free!) at this time of the year. In the 90-or-so minutes we were out there, we came upon two eastern box turtles, a snake, some stupid bugs, a bullfrog, some other frogs and tadpoles, a toad, and a deer.

Today I mourn the death of my #1 cat, Chloe (seen here a few years ago). Chloe was actually the second cat that my friend Kathie and I adopted, but the first I truly loved. Kathie found her among some homes being refurbished by Habitat For Humanity in West Philly in over 17 years ago. Chloe lived with me from a tiny studio apartment in Rittenhouse Square, to a house in East Falls, and finally in my current home in Roxborough. Some years ago she moved to Oregon with Kathie and her boyfriend Jason and came to live in Portland.