Daisy and Ollie are at my feet locked in an exchange of low growls and high-pitched squeals?it?s their love play although sometimes the timbre of Ollie?s whine makes me think he isn?t enjoying the way Daisy gently gnaws his face. Hard to fathom, dogs.

Yesterday morning, I took Henry and Daisy for a hike up the mountain.

I should?ve brought an extra water bottle for them as the five streams that are normally plentiful with cool drink for the mutts were bone dry?not so much as a wet shine between two rocks. Of course I shared my water with them when we got to the top, but I must remember that end of summer means dry creek beds, which is odd because it is so lush, so green and we have had tons of rain in June and early July. Whatever.

Tomorrow is my last day of work and my final hand-off.

As you might have guessed, since my big effort on Friday I have done exactly nada?in my defense, it has been absolutely spectacular here?and it would have been criminal for me to be sitting at my desk typing up schedules, writing letters, and organizing contracts.

Instead, I went to the beach, hiked with the brombies, began reading a wonderful collection of short stories by Rebecca Rule that was a total surprise find (you probably won?t be interested in it as she has New Hampshire small towns as her focus but wow?does she nail it and I really love how she does it. The collection I have is from 1995 so once I?m free of all this guff on my desk I?m going to google her and see what else she has done in the past 12 years and with any luck, get one from the local library to bring with me to Truro which is where I will be come Thursday?woot.)

Wait. What was that parenthetical thing-y above?

So, to recap: another beautiful day in wonderland but must glue my butt to the chair and work all day then, after my last meeting tomorrow, I head to Boston to begin my first art class of the semester and can we say I am just a fucking wee bit excited? Then on Thursday I head down to the Cape to hang with Tara and soak in the seashore magic.

Then home again on Sunday to launch into this new year ahead.

Yum-dingerdoo.

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