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YESTERDAY MORNING I ATTENDED church.  After the service, I got a gift of lovely red dahlias and golden goldenrod.  (This was not, Reader Dear, another birthday surprise.  And were you  beginning to ever so slightly tire of hearing birthday stories, such that this disclosure  caused you to sigh with relief, I do not judge you harshly!)

The giver of this gift was a woman who had harvested all of her extensive garden-full of flowers to prevent Jack Frost from snatching for himself.  She had then carried armloads of them to church and offered them freely to whomever would take.  So I gathered a handful and thanked her kindly.

It wasn't until some time had passed, and the flower-giver had left the premises, that I realized in addition to the flora, she'd gifted me with a bit of fauna!

I decided to name this little creepy-crawly creature, and keep it as a pet.




 But Bertha crept away while I was lunching at a restaurant with friends.
(Her fate is to date unknown.)
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