Tashlikh

Yesterday I went with Laura and Clint down to peace park. Laura brought two slices of white bread, and Clint brought one of those eternally stale 'foccaccia' monstrosities. All of this bread, was of course, stolen from Dobbs.

Laura and I arrived first and we went the length of the little stream. Laura was quite critical of it, and there was some truth to her assessment of the stream as a sewer. We could, after all, make out a red bull can and some other garbage at the bottom, and in most places it was so still and shallow that you could almost walk across with shoes on and not get your feet wet.

Still, the weather was a perfect crisp autumn with blue sky and golden sunlight filtering through the trees which have just begun to change colour. We sat and talked about love, of all things. And then Clint came and we found a deeper spot near the bridge and threw in our bread, a few crumbs at a time, saying...

Pride, Arrogance, Greed, Pettiness...

And perhaps thinking other darker things that we did not say out loud.

For a few minutes it was very peaceful. And then there was the dog.

A huge yellow lab came bounding over and started eating all the bread we had on us, catching it in the air, and then, as his owners came bounding over calling his name, he waded into the water itself and ate the bread we had tossed there. The tranquility was a bit disturbed, but we all laughed until the wet dog came bounding towards us. Laura threw her last piece of bread in a tree after the dog had gone. Later it came back for that piece as well.

What does this mean for the forgiveness of our sins, is what I'd like to know. Clint and I decided that, to be sure, we would fast with Laura next week. :) That's not going to be easy for me. But I figure that I should fast once in my life, at least.