Excursion

This past Saturday (aka July 3rd) we took R of R&J (J in Maine visiting family) out to the Pier I Cafe, which is located (drumroll, please) on a pier! Pier I is just south of the Boat Basin, which is the "famous" place people go. We were attempting to go to the Boat Basin last summer, but a friend told Mr. D about Pier I, so we went there instead, and I haven't let Mr. D try to take us (and by us I mean Sasha and me) to any other spot. Why mess with a good thing, once you've found it - and Pier I has great burgers and great garlicky-parsley fries.

As I mentioned, we take Sasha with us, since it is outdoors, and this week was no exception, but this time, we took her on the subway (in a gym bag, with the top open, from Mr. D's office. When we got to the cafe, we were pleasantly surprised with how deserted it was, usually it is packed with people, and you have to hunt for a table, but because of the holiday, most tables were empty. We pulled up to a shady spot, and Sasha and I waited while the boys grabbed us burgers and a pitcher of beer - yum!

A family with a little boy sat down behind us, and the little boy (Teddy?) came over and asked to pet Sasha. Unlike some NYC kids who have no idea what dog manners* are, he gave her the back of his hand to sniff. Most of the time, Sasha does not like kids, since they tend to run, scream, and (shocking) try to pet her, but she seemed to tolerate this one, so I handed him a french fry to give her (ok, not the healthiest thing for her, but she was going to get one from me anyway). Ta-Daaaa!! Sasha loves Teddy. Teddy loves that Sasha loves Teddy. Teddy asks Mr. D for another fry. Sasha and Teddy rejoice. We keep talking, with an eye on Sasha to make sure she's still ok with the whole situation, when Teddy reaches over to Mr. D's basket and takes another fry. We all exchange a quick laugh, but it wasn't really a big deal, so we went on talking. Midway through the next sentence, Teddy reaches for another french fry (at this point Sasha is in love). He didn't even hesitate, and even examined them (with his eyes) to see which one he would choose next. When he grabbed this one, his parents spotted him, so Teddy had to go find another dog to say hello to, but we (well, at least I) still thought it was hilarious.

*Seriously, people. When I was growing up, we learned that not all dogs like to meet new people, or sometimes aren't feeling well, whatever, so you are supposed to hold the back of your hand out for them to sniff. Things you should not do are: try to pet them straight out; scream around them; run at them; run around a dog park with a ball in your hand holding it straight up (really - we saw a kid do this while his parents were there!).

ps - why doesn't blogger think ok is a word? I mean it's not, but what would someone be trying to say that looks like "ok"