It makes me happy when I have to put on a bathrobe in the morning because it's cold. It's only 58 out right now and Ray has managed to get it down to 70 upstairs and 65 downstairs. I'll need a sweatshirt when I go down to make breakfast.

Yesterday morning, as we were walking after breakfast, Cameron flushed a baby fawn. I didn't even know what it was at first; it was about the size of a big rabbit. He wasn't chasing it or barking, just nosing it. It stood there, wobbling, and looked at us. OMG! It was the cutest thing, looking just like Bambi. Big eyes, funny ears, trying not to fall down. We called Cameron off and it took a few steps toward us, no fear. It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, "can we keep it?" I took Cameron on ahead and Ray stayed back to discourage it from following. It melted into some brush and he said the pattern of spots made it hard to see, even though he knew it was there. The interesting thing is, we hate the deer. They eat everything that grows in our yard, any bits of pumpkin or cucumber that poke through the fence, blueberries and blackberries and roses and other ornamentals. I somehow forgot to close the gate this week and they ate the sweet potatoes and a broccoli (but not the brussels sprouts) and sunflowers. But I still couldn't feel any animosity toward this baby, which will grow up, if it is lucky, to eat our plants. I can see how cuteness would be an advantage if you are trying to keep people from killing you, but I wonder if it works on bears and coyotes--I doubt it.

Then we got ready and hopped in the car to go to pilates. Except nothing happened when Ray pushed the power button. Fortunately, my Dad was there and we took his car. (Otherwise, we would have gone in the truck.) We were a few minutes late, but it was a good workout. We stopped by the Farmers' Market on our way home and talked to a bunch of people. We always see lots we know there. This time, we ran into Becky S. and Nita, as well as Doug A. We didn't actually buy anything--what could we need there? I did sample the tomato-watermelon gazpacho that Peter Dale (from the National) was serving up. It was good, but had a little more kick than I like, cayenne to counter the sweetness of the watermelon.

When we got home, Ray read the Prius manual and eventually jump-started the car, borrowing Basil's jumper cables...no idea where ours went to. If the garage were a little tidier, it might help. I wonder if the people we gave the Protege to have them, but I don't want to ask them, because I don't want to know if the car isn't working out for them.

After lunch (the last of the pasta-bean salad--so good!), I was feeling a little at loose ends and didn't want to do any of things I usually do (cooking, gardening, reading e-mai) or should do (cleaning). I thought my Dad had been a little down too, so I called him up and we arranged to go swimming at his house and take him out to dinner for Father's Day, one day early. He was delighted.

It wasn't so hot that swimming was absolutely necessary, but it felt great. We went to Heirloom, a restaurant neither Ray nor the Captain had been to before. They use local sustainable ingredients as much as possible. I had been there for lunch, but not dinner. It was very good. We ate outside and it was pleasant. We were wild and had four appetizers--cold soup, mackerel rillettes (my Dad ate most of that), bread and cheese (with blueberry jam) and beet and arugula salad with pecans. Ray had a burger and Captain and I split a bratwurst with peppers that was awfully good. In fact, we cleaned all the plates and ordered a couple desserts--pannacotta with blackberries for me. I had a glass of wine from northwest Spain and my father had beer (Terrapin), while Ray ordered a hard cider. It was a really lovely meal. Julene and Rhett stopped by and chatted with us during dessert. Rhett lives around the corner from there and they were out walking dogs.