Dogs, grass and sunset birds

3 Beautiful Things

• As Sarah and I were waiting for her drama class to start, we sat in the car and watched a gorgeous young staffy playing in the field. He had two kids with him and they were using one of those long range ball throwers, but even then he could run so fast on those little stocky legs that he'd catch it in time. He looked so happy and his little tail wagged faster than I thought possible. A dalmation came along and he/she too had a person to play with, who had a ball thrower. Then they spotted each other. The staffy started running towards the dalmation, the dalmation (now excuse my anthropic interpretation of dogs' behaviour) crouches down low so as not to appear too big and to show the staffy that she is sweet and vulnerable. Before long they are rolling all over the place and chasing each other. I wish people were more like dogs (without the butt sniffing of course).
• After I took Sarah into her class I sat in the car for awhile (eating yoghurt) and as I looked across and just past the area where the dogs had been playing I noticed the long grass moving in wave like motions, caused by the breeze and the affect of the late afternoon sun. In a moment I was taken back to my childhood home and the stunning Sussex Downs. I remember the grass seemed to have that constant motion, as we would walk through the hills. It amazed me that such a seemingly insignificant motion could evoke in me such nostalgia and longing for a place I haven't seen in over twenty years!
• As twilight fell and the sun melted glowing amber into the horizon I could not help but smile at the evening twittering of birds in the trees settling in for the night.

Max the Beagle Update:

Max is looking fabulous. Here he is doing some yoga. The eyes and ear have healed beautifully, and the little nip and tuck really make him look much younger. On the weekend I ran into someone we met at the Pet Panache fashion parade. We didn't recognise each other until we started talking about our dogs. She and her husband are big Max fans.

His itchy ears are also getting better with regular attention from me and he is loving this spring weather as we get to walk more often.

And here is the extreme close-up.

Couldn't you just kiss him?????


Back to the house.
Well it appears Aaron has the ability to make things happen. When he rang me this afternoon to tell me he had spoken to the fencing contractors he told me that although they had apologised for not completing the job and apologised for telling our neighbours that they had had no response from us when in fact they banked our cheque two weeks ago!!!!!!!....... they were very busy and could not possibly start the job within the next 24 hours as dearest boy demanded. Yet when Sarah and I stopped in for our evening inspection, fencepost stood tall between our nextdoor neighbours and our neighbour over the back and it appears the job could well be completed within the next day or two.
Inside, painters had been doing the next coats on door and window frames, the doors themselves and other gloss areas.
that's all for today.



































One more sleep till Hallowe'en and I have a pumpkin to carve!!! Sarah is very excited, I think I have brainwashed her and turned her into a samhain celebrating pagan like me. She's probably going to wear her clown costume for trick or treating and of course we have a lovely stash of snakes and sour worms and jelly bats for our visitors. I have, being the nerd I am, chosen natural lollies for Sarah and any other Trick or Treaters. Hallowe'en/samhain is fantastic up here in the hills as the locals love a good festival. It is so different to life in the flatlands where everyone just wants to whinge that it's an American tradition. Well read your history books guys it goes way back to before Christianity reached Britain..or anywhere else for that matter. Well, best get back to my pumpkin and feed the beagle.

PS The Nightmare Before Christmas is showing at the cinemas! In 3 D!!!!! I'd love to see it tomorrow after work but Sarah loves to Trick or Treat and I would hate for her to miss out. She was fantastic at getting up and ready this morning despite it being the first weekday of daylight savings. She really is being very cute. You should have seen the look of amazement when she came out of drama and it was still light! The dreaded "Why can't I call you mummy?" conversation came up again tonight but I think we'll just stick with Wendy.
mwah