I never ride in a car without a seatbelt. I never let my children or other passengers do it either. But what about my dog?

Pat, the woman who boards our dog, chided me after our last vacation when I arrived to pick up our dog, Gingi. "You still don't have a car harness for her? If you stop short, you don't know what damage you might do. You've got to get one right away. Stop procrastinating!" And then she shook her head in disappointment.

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This morning, I am typing mainly with one hand because I sliced my thumb last night as I was chopping Swiss chard -- fresh from our farm delivery, which you might have read about in my blog a few weeks ago, "Eating in Season."

When I realized what I had done, I screamed.

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This is completely ridiculous, and yet it totally intrigued me. Rich Marini, a writer I know just launched the "Song for Every Day of the Year Project," with the aim of building a "really cool, really long list of song titles that either directly or indirectly refer to all 366 days of the Leap Year." (For your information, the next leap year is 2012.)

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Today, I am still numb. Last week, I was touched by one of those tragedies that you read about in the news and see on TV, and always happens far away. But this time it happened near me. A disgruntled employee caught stealing from his employer set off on a shooting rampage that killed eight other employees, including my neighbor. I didn't know him well, but I knew him well enough.

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For the first time, my family and I are participating in a CSA, which stands for "Community-Supported Agriculture." We bought our "share" in a farm in upstate New York. Every Wednesday, June through October, I drive to a nearby church and pickup our weekly bounty.

I didn't really know what to expect, but I have to say that we're having a good time with this.

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