Dogs

We got off to a late start and couldn't decide right away where to go for our walk, but finally opted for what John has variously called 'the hard walk, the long, walk, the easy walk' and upon occasion, when he can remember it, Brush Creek Walk, which is its official name. It is flat and paved and anywhere from 2 to 4 miles long. 

I don't know what the factors were, but today is a holiday, we were late getting started, the weather continues to be lovely and not too hot and everybody was out to enjoy a pleasant walk. There were kids on bikes and kids on motorized scooters.  There were older people with walkers and there were people with kids in strollers, people with dogs and people with dogs in strollers. There were bikes of all shapes and sizes parked by the Flat Rocks and lots of kids playing on the rocks and in the water. One would think that with all this varied activity there were bound to be a few collisions and mishaps, but there were none. One little girl who didn't want to leave the Flat Rocks was arguing furiously with her mother about it, but went along with her reasonably peaceably in the end.

When we got back to the car we saw these women with 14 impeccably behaved dogs coming across the parking lot. We've seen them in several different places and they are always intent on their charges. We've also seen them arriving in two SUV's with the name of their dog walking service and "Do Not Approach" signs on them. With that many dogs in your care there can be no distractions.

For us, however, there were lots of distractions and although it wasn't a very brisk walk we realized that we are getting to know quite a few people and their dogs who must walk there every day. There was a man with no front teeth and a beautifully behaved Red Bone Hound named 'Blue'. There are two older women, one with a chihuahua mix and the other with a maltese with a pink bow on its head, a guy with a big white pit bull which seems very mellow although I don't ever quite trust them, and a young couple with a labradoodle named, 'Doodle'. There is even a guy who sleeps in the bushes near the parking lot. One time he was in a rage throwing things around and yelling curses because someone stole his dog's food and  police were called. Usually we don't even see him.

We decided to pass on the French bakery, Sarmentine, across the street from the parking lot because Dana was making a cake, instead we went to the Mexican ice cream store, Fruta which has a wonderful array of delicious ice cream in flavors both creative (cheese, bubble gum, rose petal) and traditional with a twist (cappuccino, dulce de leche, nutella). There are other delights like frozen fruit bars (paletas) and frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and nuts. 

With two quarts of ice cream in our possession we hurried home to put it in the freezer.