Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Oscar and I both competed in Woodstock's "Goalathon."  It is a fundraiser for one of the villages Woodstock supports, as well as entertainment for the students and staff.  Oscar was on a team with some soccer friends, and I was on the women's staff/parents team.  

We all had fun- Oscar's team competed against a local club team, the men's staff team, a couple high school teams, and another 8th grade team.  My team competed against the 6 other girls teams (6 games), and in the semi-finals.  We lost in overtime to the team that won in the finals.  I was not sad to loose.  After 7 games, my body had said enough!

I'm not sure if it because of the change of season, the trimming of plants, or some other reason, but the snails have been a lot more visible the last few days.  We have often seen them smushed on the path, or small ones in the garden, but now the larger ones are out, especially at night.  The snail in this photo has not been altered- the shell is actually carried that way by the snails, not upright as we seem to draw them.

Dogs are everywhere in India.  There are some with collars, but most are without.  The ones with collars mean there is someone looking after them, but they are still left to wander.  Some are guard dogs which are kept behind fences and put away at night so the leopards do not prey on them.  We often see dogs in "packs" as in this photo.  You can also see a group of kulies resting in between jobs.  I will urge Gregg to write about the kulies in a future blog.  Most dogs are quite tame, but we need Bob Barker over here to help control the population.