Circle the Waggin's

Oo-la-la, what a day. When spring arrives in New England, it is not a particular day on the calendar, it is a day when the weather feels like the first kiss of true love-- and that day was today. When you can enjoy a walk near the ocean without pulling your coat closer, life is good, it's that simple, and when you can do that in March in Maine, it is magic.

The morning walk was accompanied by both the chirping of birds that every year I intend to learn to identify... maybe this year I'll add a few to my list of one-- cardinal; and the fog horn of Portland Headlight. It wasn't that foggy, and it wasn't cold and damp this morning, but a mist hung over the water, and I'm sure the morning fishermen and lobster boats appreciated the headlight, as mariners have for over two hundred years.

When I left work at the end of the day, there was only one thought in my mind-- extra walk night. The weather was too perfect to pass up the opportunity. In this part of the country, you do not expect the same weather on any two consecutive days. It is important to enjoy it when it happens. Fort Williams was strangely quiet at 6pm, but Athena was sooooo happy, she ran along with her tail wagging in complete circles. To try and imagine how that would work, try to imagaine hoola-hooping and running at the same time. I don't know how she does it. As she prances ahead of me, occasionally she breaks into something that I can only describe as skipping-- I never thought dogs could skip, but Athena can.
As she runs along, well ahead of me, passing other walkers to catch up to their dogs, I see the people gesturing to each other, mimicking with their hands the way Athena's long silky ears flap up and down when she runs. She runs with sheer joy, and she makes people happy just to see her joy. The most common comment people make is "That's a happy dog" and that is the truth. Athena is all happiness, and tonight, after a bonus evening run, she is a good tired dog. It makes me forget the couple of rough days when it rained something like 5-inches in 48 hours. Athena still seems traumatized by heavy rain, and on Sunday it was 4pm before I could get her off the porch. That kind of day leads to major mischief, and Athena can be an evil genius.

(Don't let the look of that sweet dog curled up in the chair fool you-- turn your back and you will be missing a box of Girl Scout cookies)

Spring is here, perhaps ahead of the calendar's schedule, but we will definitely welcome an early check-in. You can almost stand still for a few minutes and see the grass starting to green up. If there was no spring, winter would be impossible, but spring is such a wonderful thing to look forward to, we make it through to the end of winter, and we welcome Spring every year like a long lost friend. It is good to catch up with a long lost friend.