Happy Birthday, Kara--Or Three Kinds of Therapy (Wednesday, Dec. 15)

After two days our snow still hasn't melted because it hasn't gotten above freezing, but today we have freezing rain predicted for the evening.  Meanwhile, Brandy still has to be ridden for an hour for her rehab, regardless of the weather.  So Herb and I rode Angel and her briskly.  We rode them up the steep hill into the woods in this photo, and while we were  up there snowflakes started to fall.  It was so magically beautiful that when I offered to lunge Brandy for the last quarter hour so Herb could quit, he said he didn't mind riding.  Fifteen minutes later, we both realized that it was that last quarter of an hour that left us feeling like popsicles! 

I wasn't happy with the appearance of the drainage from Brandy's right leg, so I emailed photos to Dr. White.

The incision in her right stifle was dripping steadily onto her lower leg when she laid down and freezing into a horrible sort of stalactite that hung from the incision.  With this new input, Dr. White said she needs to be stepped up to stronger antibiotics given IM, and we needed to pick the medication up at his clinic that evening.  And then the freezing rain moved in a couple of hours early. 

Today was also Kara's 23rd birthday, and we had planned to take her out for dinner, but the freezing rain canceled those plans.  So we settled for an outing to Chickamauga, treating her to coffee and dessert at our favorite new local haunt, Chocolate Therapy.  It's in a beautiful Victorian house on the main street of town and offers delightfully friendly service along with decadent chocolate (and non-chocolate) treats of all kinds.

 While Herb enjoyed his book and finished his coffee in a leather chair by the fireplace, Kara and I headed out for a third kind of therapy--retail therapy!  Downtown Chickamauga is a charming town at any time of the year, but glowing with Christmas lights it is at its best.

There are several stores we enjoy, all of them beautifully decorated.

We headed over to Kara's favorite store, Peaches Fine Milinery with a vintage hat Kara wants to get repaired.

Of course we couldn't resist the fun of trying on many of the other hats, and I ended up finishing Kara's birthday shopping by buying her a hat and several vintage brooches to dress it up with.

After that we collected Herb and then Brandy's medicine, then we were headed home for pizza and a movie in lieu of a more glamorous birthday celebration.