TASK and Princeton

New Jersey – Monday, March 25

It was indeed a mess outside, with a very wet snow falling. The snow was sticking on the grass, but not on the pavement since the temps were just above freezing. I decided I would just stay put for the morning and take care of some of the little things that have been piling up. I had had the foresight to book my room in another centrally located spot near Trenton for a couple nights so I was in no hurry to get out. I enjoyed a rare quiet morning.

But I was ready to head out a little after noon, even if I wouldn’t get all my walking done. Today’s donation was going to go to TASK – Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, which was only about 15 minutes away. They’re more than a soup kitchen though. They have a couple satellite locations, and in addition to providing a lunch and dinner every day, they also pack brown bag meals to send out, provide hygiene products, school supplies in the fall, and tutoring services. Because it was a messy day for grocery shopping, and I wasn’t near any stores, I opted to just give them a financial donation which they could put toward anything they were in need of. The website had really good directions, and I found them as the lunch hour was winding down. I went to the back doors as instructed, and they let me in to wait while finding the director. It’s a big building with lots of shelving space, and I could see and hear volunteers working in what appeared to be a big, industrial sized kitchen – it smelled like they’d had a good lunch! When I met the director, she told me that with lunch and dinner and their satellite programs, they feed about 1000 people a day. Multiply that by a year, and that’s an impressive number of meals to prepare!

Then I was ready to get Tula out for a walk despite the rain/snow/slush. I was going to head to Princeton, which was just a straight shot up the road, and along the way I crossed the D & R Canal (Delaware and Raritan Canal) and its tow path, which I knew was around somewhere. So I pulled off into the small parking lot, and set out for a walk. It was kind of a muddy mess though with all the precipitation, and we only did about 3 miles. Tula was a mess – she doesn’t go around puddles; she trots right through them! It was a good thing I had towels back in the van, so I did the best I could, but we were both kind of sloppy. I drove into the town of Princeton and found a place to park, and that was one of those wonderful places to set out for a long walk – with its fun downtown area, and great neighborhoods, (one looked like an old English neighborhood with half-timber homes), and of course the college campus, there was lots to see and enjoy. We walked for a couple hours in a misty sort of snow and covered 5 miles all over the place. Sometimes when I’m walking on college campuses, people sort of focus on Tula with a wistful expression, and I imagine they’re missing their dogs back home, and then I sometimes overhear them starting to talk about the dogs in their family. So despite the weather, I did all my walking, and headed back to the motel in the heavy rush hour traffic, which took a while. Once there, it felt good to get dry and heat up some soup in the microwave! My camera’s been giving me problems for the last week or so – I’m pretty sure there’s some grains of sand that are affecting the zoom lens, and now it’s totally stuck. I messed around with that for quite a while then I dug out my nice underwater camera that my mom gave me years ago, and got that all ready to go – it takes really nice pictures on land too, so I have a back-up plan while I figure out what to do with the other one. I don’t think Tula budged for the rest of the evening, and Dancing with the Stars was on (yes, I’m a fan!), so it was a cozy way to end a chilly wet day! Tomorrow’s forecast is warmer with some sun.