I took pity on my poor old body and on the dogs and took them all for a walk to the park. The weather is not what most people call beautiful — windy with a light misty drizzle — but we all had a grand time. I love the light this time of year: indirect because of the atmospheric cover, never fierce because the sun is never high in the sky, but what remains is fully available and unfiltered by trees.
I bundled up in a jacket and scarf, wooly socks and a tuque pulled down over my ears. The dogs were naked. Poupoune deals with bracing weather by galloping exuberantly and raising her heartrate; Pepe doesn’t have that option, being snugly harnessed and leashed to me at all times. I fully expected him to ask to be carried about halfway through the walk, but he’s tougher than I thought: he made it through the whole circuit without complaint, grateful just to be outside.
[originally transmitted by e-mail October 17, 2004]