Chocolate Bubbles

Laying in a bubble bath last night... candles flickering... incense filling up the room with vanilla and my Global Meditation CD playing in the background. Very relaxing. We'd been checking out open houses most of the afternoon, me and a friend. Oh, and Shadow, of course. It was a good opportunity for some "getting in and out of the Jeep" practice. After accidentally closing the door on his tail a few weeks ago (poor guy yelped, and I felt awful enough for several hours afterward to take him out for ice cream), I've been working with him (and nearly a box of dog cookies) to help him get over his skittishness about getting back in the Jeep. This happened once before, and it took him some time to get over it. But get over it, he will.

I've been looking mostly in the Delmar area, 'cause I'd really like to be somewhere within walking distance of stuff. It'd be great to walk to the supermarket and the library. Or take an early Sunday morning walk to get coffee and a biscotti for Shadow. So, that's been where I've been concentrating. It's pricey, though, and the taxes are high. But once in a while, something interesting pops up in my price range. So, I keep looking.

Afterward, we all went to this little lake where they used to rent boats and canoes, but now rent out a pavillion instead. It means it's sometimes pretty noisy, but it's one of Shadow's favorite places to go, so I do. I usually bring a book and let him splash around in the lake, but this time we had company and took turns throwing Shadow the ball to retrieve. I just can't throw it far enough for him, though. If one of us could throw it to the other side, and I don't even know how far that really is, he'd go after it. Sometimes, I call him back just because I'm afraid he'll reach his limit out there in the middle, and I'd be forced to jump in after him.

Eventually, he did reach his limit. Thankfully, he was onshore at the time, so we all headed back to the Jeep and went through the "get the cookie" procedure. Used to be, he'd be in the Jeep before I was even ready to leave, but I suppose I can understand his hesitancy, despite not having a tail myself. I can imagine.

Spent some time at Starbucks, just talking, and feeding Shadow his biscotti. Went through all his usual tricks and walked around window shopping for a while. It was an amazing day and it felt good to spend most of it outside. I love fall, and like to enjoy as much as I can before the typical Albany winter rolls in, which could happen at any moment. One minute, you're wearing shorts and dozing in a lounge chair, and then you're pulling on your boots and shoveling your walkway. It happens so fast, sometimes I worry I'll forget to change out of my shorts before I start shoveling.

After Starbucks, we headed back, got some sushi and ate watching The Lives of Others, about a member of the German secret police who's assigned the task of spying on a writer and his actress girlfriend, but soon becomes obsessed with them. Given his own, empty existence, it's not surprising that he finds more satisfaction living vicariously through them, but he eventually redeems himself by risking himself to save the artist. It was a good movie, and I especially like Sebastian Koch, who was also in Black Book, which I really liked a lot.

I took a few minutes to drop off Shadow (joint custody... long story) and came back to a nice, hot cup of Chai tea and a steamy bathtub full of chocolate bubbles waiting for me, which is where this started. I got these various chocolate bubble bath products a couple of years ago and decided to try the chocolate vanilla. Once, a long time ago when I still lived at home, my mom had changed to a new shampoo, which was scented Strawberries 'n Cream. And as I wandered into the bathroom while she showered, she called me over to check and tell her if the bubbles were pink. I had to laugh, as she'd always used Prell before and never once did we ever have green bubbles. I'm happy to say, though, that chocolate vanilla bubblebath does not produce brown bath bubbles.

I lay there sinking further and further into the sizzling sound of all those thousands of bubbles around my face, reveling in the fact that Jellybean wasn't screaming for me, as this wasn't my place. It's nice, sometimes, to just kick back and relax somewhere else, kind of like being in a hotel room, where you don't have to think about what needs to be cleaned or whether you left laundry in the washer. And I had that carefree feeling laying there in the tub in a home that isn't mine, just thinking about the day, and the highs and the lows (one of which will, no doubt, be getting out of this bath tub) and where I'm going and who might be going with me.