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Almost Elvis’s Birthday
We spent two days in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area to celebrate our wedding anniversary, St. Joan of Arc’s birthday, and my birthday, and we had a very relaxing time. Except for the extraordinary amount of walking and climbing we did. We spent too much and ate too much, but we enjoyed ourselves. By the time we arrived back home on Friday, we were all stove up and ready for a nap. Once we got the dogs settled in and the bags unpacked and put away, that’s just what we did. Sprawled out in recliner and on couch, with dogs piled up on us, and we got some good catchup sleep.…
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Days Of Laze
Saturday’s weird dust-haze from the Sahara was gone Sunday morning, and in its place was a steady, soft curtain of rain. My wife and I deliberately chose to do nothing except rest. We felt somewhat battered by the week, by information we’re trying to process, by decisions we’re trying to reach, and by the time the first day of the week came around, we were more than ready to call “Time out!” and shrug the packs from our shoulders. I spent a large portion of the day with Jinx. Just wandering around, walking the road, exploring the woods and fields, sitting quietly, playing fetch. Jinx, for all his fine qualities,…
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Supping On Beauty
Down the gravel road to home this evening, the dust hanging in the air from a hurrying tractor, and then into the tunnel of shade created new each day by the tall poplars lining the driveway. Walk in the house and see the old dog waiting for me on the steps, her tail thump-thump-thumping as she grins her “Oh, you came back!” grin. Kiss my wife and listen to her etude of a Southern voice run the scales and describe something someone did and said. Shed the work clothes and put on my soft home clothes, the t-shirt gleaming white as a saint’s robe, the scent of bleach and detergent…