People Party *People Notes*

On Sunday, Christine and I went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival - touted as one of the biggest and best in the nation. Well, it was big and there definitely was a lot of art! My favorite artist was a photographer who did some very interesting, playful and insightful photos with miniature figurines - http://www.audreyheller.com/ - worth taking a look at.

Paul had a milestone birthday...wait...aren't they ALL milestones after 40 or something?! Anyhow, we had brownies and cupcakes and ice cream (that was after a huge dinner at Maggiano's) and candles and all the good stuff. Big fun! The great nephews were all very excited to have their very own cupcake/candle. No big presents to open, as the sailing lessons he has been taking were his birthday present this year.

On Saturday, Paul, Odie and myself went to the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market - everything you can imagine from A - Z...as a matter of fact, we sampled foods from A - Z in less than 1 hour and waddled our way to the exit! No joke.

A pricot scones

B uffalo jerky

C herries

D ipping oils (see 'O')

E lderberry jam

F ree samples...lots of free samples!!!

G ourmet dog cookies (Odie loved these!)

H atch chiles - fresh roasted

I ced chai latte

J amba juice - free bags!

K ettle Korn

L emonade, fresh squeezed

M ango corn salsa

N uts

O live oils ... as in for dipping bread!

P ork tamales

Q uartet - string variety - just listened to them, didn't sample

R hubab and strawberry pie

S moked sockeye salmon

T arts, berry

U mbrellas, complete with tables and chairs

V idalia onions

W atermelon

X tra hot jalapenos

Y ellow squash

Z ucchini squash...and zinnias

I don't know if the term 'farmers' market really applies to this particular venue...I don't know of many farmers who grow gourmet food, tamales and French pastries, but if they want to call this a 'farmers' market, I'm ok with that!

Odie and I attended our Delta Society/Denver Pet Partners training evaluation on Sunday. It was a very intense, nearly 1 hour long evaluation session with a panel of evaluators. The evaluation included basic obedience and aptitude (temperament), as well as simulated hospital and patient encounters. Odie did great...until the walker with cut tennis balls (a very common practice for walkers) on the legs arrived! He instinctively went into retrieve mode and did everything he could to try to scratch, dig, rip, chew those tennis balls off that walker. He didn't care if the person pushing the walker was 109 years old, recovering stroke patient, blind and with bad hips...he wanted to play catch!! (maybe we should stick with pediatric units!) We did pass, and as soon as all the paperwork is processed we will be an official pet therapy team! Very exciting.

And there is another exciting week.