Dog Walks Keep Me Sane

I went on the bigger Sunday dog walk yesterday. I wanted company to help rid my head of the sound of the crunch of the bird’s skull under my foot. What a profoundly disturbing accident the death of that bird was to hear and see. And how did two birds crash exactly at the same time, into my living room window? I had no idea of how lethal windows can be for birds until moving here.

The dog walk helped. It felt good to talk to people and to be out in the fresh air with our dogs smelling the forest fragrances and getting some welcome and invigorating exercise. But if I thought of the poor bird, I’d go to a very, very dark place. When I got home, I spent the day softly as I shed the long tail of the morning horror. 

In the afternoon I had a Zoom call with my theatre friends—our first since Karen, who was part of our group, passed away. Her partner, Bob, was online and it felt wonderful to see him and to speak to him. What an emotional day, all in all.

In the evening, there was the ecstasy of The Great British Baking Show and then the ending of The Trouble with Maggie Cole, both of which I loved.

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Today is … surprise, surprise … dark and damp. But it’s not raining as I post this and then get dressed for the morning forest sojourn with the small dog walking group. When I come home, I’ll work on the curtains in the studio.

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One thing about being a rural gentleman who aims to be as self-reliant as possible, is the amount of damage I do to myself. I whack digits and cut and gouge every appendage. Recently, I did something that I can’t even recall to the first finger of my left hand and the next day I sliced off part of its proximate thumb.

The finger got infected and the thumb was cut in a place that made using it hurt like bejesus. For the past two weeks, I’ve been using a rubber glove on that hand to do the dishes, toting wood with one hand and constantly cleaning and re-bandaging the finger, but finally, that hand is usable again.

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From the Life is What You Make of It Department: I wrote to François, Eoin and Jay, my three wonderful friends on the island, inviting them (carefully and cautiously) to dinner and they enthusiastically accepted. I’m thrilled. It’s not for two weeks though.