Back to Normal

The holidays are over for another year – thank god ! The decorations are down and safely packed away except for the wreath hanging on the garage that requires two people and the ladder to take down. I’m going to tackle it by myself anyway if I can’t enlist aid before the week-end. It’s driving me nuts!! I thought the holidays had left me with lots of blog fodder, but every time a start a post I end up deleting it as it sounds whiny or stupid or something. Oops!! See I’m starting to sound whiny – sorry :-)!!

It’s been wet and rainy here, between that and holiday obligations, the hounds and I've sort of gotten off schedule with our daily walks. Today the rain has finally given way to a semi sunny blustery day, so we set out for a good long tromp in the park. Rosie was, as usual, overly exuberant for about the first mile, then settled down once the excitement of being out walking and smelling the smells wore off. Blustery days are always fun. My guys are not only interested in the stray squirrels, but blowing leaves are also fodder for a second or third look.

It’s always interesting to watch people walking in the park. Most folks are just trying to get some exercise in a place where they don’t have to constantly worry about being hit by a speeding car. You pretty much see the same people every day. There are the friendly people who obliviously consider their daily walk a social event. We’ve made friends with several of them over the years. One older couple doesn’t have any pups of their own anymore. They travel a lot and have moved into a small condo, but always carry dogs treats and love seeing and loving on friendly pups. It’s amazing how much you learn about people after years of quick park conversations. I’ve come to expect seeing these folks, and miss them when they aren’t around.

There are also the people who walk on the wrong side of the trail. Instead of keeping right, they keep left. I never know quite which side to pass them on. Are they refugees from the UK and just haven’t noticed that the convention here is to keep right? Not that it really matters where they walk, it just sometimes make for confusing meetings – kind of an I go right, you go left, – oops sorry, do- si- do dance. I guess you could call them the rebels of the trail ;-)!

There’s lots of interesting wildlife also and our park by the river attracts birdwatchers. I don’t know a finch from a sparrow, but most of the hard core bird watchers are willing to tell you what they’ve seen and when. I met a guy last fall who made it all sound so interesting I resolved to get a book and do some bird spying. I haven’t actually done it, but he convinced me that someday I might like IDing some birds myself.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this little essay. I guess the point is reflected in the title of this post. Holidays are always fun. I get to go to several parties and catch up with folks I only see once a year. I feel popular because my mailbox fills up with greeting cards and the house feels all festive decked out in Christmas colors. But at the end of it all, it’s really nice when everything gets back to normal and I have time to walk in the park with my pups. See how happy they look all tuckered out after their outing!!

Edited because I posted the wrong picture of Nick