This picture was taken yesterday, It's a squirrel on my front porch, feasting on pumpkins.

There ARE squirrels in Los Angeles, but I didn't realize what a small population they were. Here they are everywhere. Arden, my dog, goes after each one on our daily hour long walk and it's incredibly annoying. I am constantly using my free hand to help in the effort to pull him back on his leash and since I am listening to an audio book on my ipod, I am often in the clouds in my thoughts and jerked into the present moment by these ubiquitous squirrels. Plus, I become cartoonish as I sometimes get the cords of my earpieces mixed around the leash as I fumble to hold Arden back.

I've noticed too, that the squirrels are behaving differently. They used to run as soon as they saw my dog. Now they are fatter, and seemingly more bleary-eyed and bloated. They don't run. In fact, I think some of them look at Arden and give him this look, "Go ahead, take my life, I cannot stand to think of another winter." They don't sprint until the last possible moment and even then, it's wrong to say sprint, it's more of a leisurely waddle towards the nearest tree.

Well, I like the blog-post I got about going to the University of Chicago on Saturdays to read the classics. Wow, could I figure out how to do that? I would love to. Hmmm....

I am still listening to "The History of Philosophy" - and after a few days of Francis Bacon I am now knee-deep into Spinoza. I really wish I could just retire and spend the rest of my life in contemplation. I don't think I would think anything noteworthy, but I would enjoy the process - or rather, the life. I sometimes giggle at myself, I have turned into a completely different person than I thought I would be! I am becoming less and less social. I crave being alone more and more. I just want to think. God - am I that sort of person??? Yes, I guess I am. I used to give lots of dinner parties and interspersed them with lots of even bigger parties. Now my favorite day is puttering around the house, reading, and cooking something while listening to the radio.