Summer Games

The dogs are working on their tan. I think Leo overdid it...

I'm a summer person. I'm not crazy about hot weather, it's the longer hours of light that I love. When it gets dark before 4pm it's beyond depressing. When you work nine to five it makes all the difference. In the winter it feels as if you stayed late for overtime when you are greeted by pitch dark as you step out of the office, but in the summer when you have another four or five hours of light after you finish work it feels as if you only worked half a day. In fact you keep exactly the same hours, but it feels so completely different.

That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the dark. I take the dogs late at night because I know there's no chance of meeting other dogs and they can run around and blow off some steam. There's something very relaxing about walking for twenty minutes in a dark park before going to bed. I don't even need a flashlight anymore as I know all the paths and routes by heart now (except for that one time I almost fell into the stream and called Miron to come rescue me because my leg hurt so bad that I thought I must have broken it though I didn't). I enjoy darkness, as long as it doesn't fall too soon.

I actually look forward to December 21, the shortest day of the year, because I then know that at least now the days may be still very short, but they're getting a little longer every day. It offers me some comfort. Yes, I'm a bit crazy like that.

Leo watches the boys play from my study's window.

And now the summer is more than halfway through. August has been quite chilly so far. Blake's long sleeves PJs have come out of retirement earlier than expected.

The garden is getting a lot of use by Blake and the woofers. As part of the new routines for the dogs they are now not allowed to poop anywhere they want. With the garden no longer being a minefield of poo it's much more fun to spend time in it. Blake enjoys just walking around and watch the dogs play, while the dogs chase each other and play fight. Blake likes the garden so much that he even insisted on going out after it rained a lot and the grass was soaking wet. He then rolled on the wet grass in sheer delight. Obviously we went from there straight to the shower with a brief pit stop in the laundry room... It's those moments that remind me that even though life isn't perfect, I am very very lucky.

And now it's bubbles time!

Bubbles are AMAZING.

--Mickey