Have you looked outside, really looked?
And listened? And touched? And sniffed? Mother Earth is waking up!
In blase terms, me in a state of "I'm glad the season is changing and I am in a 'normal" state of being", I am enjoying this rhythm of life. As a 4, it is easy to spend a ton of energy in the past and in the future. As each new season since Fiona died comes to bear, part of me holds my breath for something critical or Life-upending to happen...something that will tear my Heart into shreds again..and it doesn't. Somehow it would be okay anyway, whatever happens, in time...but days with good plain coffee, music, Thing-Things, gardening to do, laundry to fold, meals to plan and prepare for the week, ironing, walks and working out, writing and studying for my Spalding class, lesson planning, book group and French, prayer and sacred sharing time with my Sacred Contracts Sister-Friends, doing more adoption paperwork....this is working. This is it.
A recap on the past two days with the Things;
Long walk in the morning in the predawn, even before the birds were up. I love that with them.
Then I had my Spalding class until 12:30.
Let the dogs out for someplaytime and then I took Cedar up to Fuzzy Buddies where they have a Puppy Playgroup on Saturdays for an hour and a half. It was interesting. At first, he got cornered by a large labradoodle puppy -9 months old, named Charlie and the same thing happened that has been happening with Bindi-he gives the back-off cue and the larger pup won't back-off. It began to escalate and so we went into the smaller pen until the larger pups were done after a few minutes. Over the course of the next hour, it was interesting...he made friends with all the people who had treats and he would go right ut and sit in front of them and get rewarded (until I asked them not to reward that.)He sniffed a bit, played ball, got some running, more running, got other puppies running and did some jumping over the dog hurdles. We will come again. I don't like it when other people tell me what to do with my dog--obviously. (Come to think of it...I don't like it when other people tell me what to do with My life or anything...unless I ask...damn Taurus habit) And it was plain that he still doesn't regard me completely as his "only" but it is getting better. This puppy is learning how to play nice and I am learning how to be a more "normal" dog-mom. Also, it's annoying that most people think Cedar is the name of a girl dog. I don't care. It's his name.
Came back and Bindi Sue Loo-Who and I went for the mother of all walks-just the two of us. She was ready to get out and walk, sniff, look, listen, and walk some more. We came back and she was still raring to go so we did some training and playing in the backyard. Then it was naptime for all of us. (Another aside: I love it when she is in the kitchen on her side of the pen and she and I are playing "catch" or whatever and I get down on the floor and she curls up in my lap, wiggling with love and joy the whole time and we play and talk and I stroke her there and tell her what a good girl she is in a low, sweet voice. She melts. And three seconds later, she is bored and we toss the Santa again or what's even more fun is when I "juggle" two toys at once-I think of it as "toss and go". I toss one up and the instant she catches it in the air, I toss up the other one and so she has to bring me the one and get the other one in a split second--and she does most of the time!) It's exciting.)
I enjoyed dinner with Dad and the Birthday Girls last night.
Came home for another walk--this time under the mist shrouded almost full moon. Loverly and there are still a lot of homes with twinkle lights and luminarias up in our neighborhood. Tried to watch "Flushed Away" after the walk, but I was toast.

This morning, we slept in until 6:15am. Delicious. When everyone was finished with their business, we took off on an hourly this morning. Flickers, crows, and seagulls punctuated the air. The air was sweet and it wasn't raining (not that that would stop us). We walked almost up to 80th and around. Still early enough that most folks weren't up yet yet light enough that I could enjoy gardens and home improvement projects. Bindi has a way of looking like she is sniffing and then she can, in a FLASH, pick up a piece of garbage or a cigarette butt or something when she can sense that my attention is elsewhere. Guess who learned that lovely little behavior from his smart cousin? I love (and struggle with) the fact that Bindi (and Cedar to a much less degree because he doesn't have the brains she does) requires me to be fully present and mindful ALL THE TIME IN EVERY MOMENT. Wow! Another epiphany--I will add that to my list--a Buddhist meditation sort of plus to having two puppies at once. Even one.
They are both in their crates with Breakfast #2 (1/2 of their whole brekkie) in a frozen Kong and I have coffee, am doing laundry, cleaning, and getting ready to do schoolwowrk. I am going to plant herbs today and dig holes for compost. The Thing-Things will not watch me do that one:)