It's events like this one that are the very reason I started doing '365 New Things In 2013'. I know not everything I've written about these past near 300 days qualifies as a legitimate New Thing - the idea was trying new things, not necessarily having new things occur to me.

But then along comes this Saturday event that I've thought about taking the kids to each of the past seven years we've lived in Framingham with children, and I've just never done it.

This year....I did.

'Pies on the Common' is a fundraiser for a local church. The extent of my knowledge about it before this year was the banner that hangs above Edgell Road advertising it, and then the pictures in the local paper the week after it happens.

And I almost missed it this year.

My parents were in town for the weekend, and my mom accompanied me to my daughter's dance class on Saturday morning. After that, we were going to be looking for something to do.

That morning, before we headed to dance class I saw a reminder on Twitter - "Don't forget about 'Pies on the Common!'" It started at 10:30 - just when dance class ended. It was perfect.

There were hot dogs for lunch. There were booths with crafts and books and even one for the Framingham Historical Society. (I kind of regret not buying anything there - there were some old books about Framingham that looked like I might enjoy them.) There were people with dogs - lots of dogs. (This is a problem for my girls, who are nervous around dogs. I'm working with them on it. This event helped us make a little bit of progress.)

For the kids there was a bounce house, an inflatable slide, and some extra large bubbles. There was even a United States Senator - Ed Markey, a longtime Congressman who won John Kerry's Senate seat when Kerry became Secretary of State, came by and bought a pie and shook some hands. (Second regret, slightly behind not buying something at the Framingham Historical Society booth, is not going up to him. Meeting a United States Senator would be a great New Thing!)

We bought a cherry pie and an apple pie, and enjoyed a great fall day on the Framingham Common. I never knew what fun 'Pies on the Common' could be.

It's been going on for 23 years.

I'm kind of looking forward to the next one.