From the blessing of pets

Prior to the Blessing of Animals on the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, I was hoping for one of two animals to make an appearance: a goldfish or a horse.

I was hoping for a goldfish just for the novelty of it and I was hoping for a horse so that I might afterwards ride down to the highschool (it's only four blocks) for a grand entrance to the soccer game.

But, alas, neither a goldfish nor a horse came to the blessing. We did, though, have a hamster, complete with travelling ball: