Step forth into the darkness

Step forth into the darkness – of fall and of winter.  The Darkness has returned.  It does every year, but every year I have to go through a period of adjustments as I learn to start the day without light.  Perhaps it is a figment of my imagination, but I resist waking in the darkness, and crave the comforts of my little night time nest for longer during the winter.  Whatever it is, my habit of going to bed has little changed, but I find it harder and harder to wake in the darkness.  The artificial incandescent lights seem harsh and I squint as I flick the switch and begin the day.   Sometimes I just go about my early morning routine in the darkness,  only to later find out that I have toothpaste dibbled on the front of my shirt….

The other thing that comes with winter is rain, and mud and all out wetness.  My exuberant black lab might be three now and in theory an adult dog,  she is however often cooped up in the laundry room when we are at work, and has excess energy to burn.  Once I would let her run down by the waterfront, next to the train tracks, frolicking in the ocean, and playing in the mud and ice covered potholes along the  frontage road.   The rail company has since shut down access to the area and no longer can we wander next to the sea. The alternative for letting her run free is a home made dog park of sorts,  an old but small baseball field full of sedge grass, where the locals have patched the holes in the fence and made it their own. 

Over Sized Rodent....  ©RiverWalker Arts

Chicken Little was asleep by 7pm and I took the 75 pounds of oversized black rodent to the “dog park”  and let her loose….   I waded it after her…. Yes waded.  Into a mucky swamp.  2, 3, 4 inches of water covered thick oozing mud.  My boots squelched as I gingerly made my way into the yard, hoping I didn’t step in a hole and break my ankle.   We played fetch in the dog park come pond, in the dark.  It is however hard to find a half submerged mud soaked tennis ball in the dark, even with my head lamp on.   And although I had to give my dog a full bath when we arrived home I did manage to ensure she’d had a chance to run, and burn off some of that excess energy.