MICK & ROSE: FINDING SPRINGTIME...

Oh what an afternoon for Mick and me!  A sunny 70 degrees, and temp still rising. Quite breezy, but still a perfect day for our long, delightful walk!
 
Afterward I brushed you, Mick. You stood obedient and still. Then we walked together once again; along the woodland paths; down the side paths to the barn and creek; we didn't want to leave the warm outdoors.

If colder weather does revisit us from time to time, today convinced us both that winter's finally beginning to relinquish her cruel and ceaseless grip.


*AND NOW THE DAY IS ENDING. 
On my porch above the creek and woods, the air still warm, I sit with Mick and listen sleepily to singing of the tree-frogs, who have just emerged from hibernation. 

Ah, perfect day and evening! And there will be more tomorrow; even warmer! As to when and where we'll sleep tonight, who knows? The warmth will linger through the night. We may sleep on the porch.

K9 PSYCHOLOGY...

I was just thinking...

When I talk with my dog, it's not about politics, war or religion; it's not argumentative or sarcastic...

It's a small piece of pure relaxation in a world that seems to have very little of that.

Why doesn't EVERYONE have a dog?

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MICK IN THE MORNING: DAY AFTER EASTER...

7 A.M....WATCHING THE MOON SET IN THE WEST...LISTENING TO WILD TURKEYS IN THE WOODS... 

BRIGHT MOON ONE DAY FROM FULL,  SETTING IN THE WEST BEHIND THE TREES..

ROSE AND MICK ON MORNING WALK...

Monday, 4 a.m.... It's quiet as an empty church, with the barest hint of moving air to chill our skins...  

My big dog Mick and I are out together walking, as we do every morning in this wooded valley property where we make our home... 

Today there is no bird song;there are no coyotes howling in the distance;there is no sign of early traffic passing on the way to work...

Stars above our heads are strung like decorative garden lights between white clouds. A white-bright moon, one day from full, is shining down upon on us, tossing tree-shadows to the ground like exclamation marks.

"Not a bad looking morning for a Monday, Mick," I say aloud to my big dog, who wakes me early every morning for our pre-dawn walk... The weather doesn't matter; this is what we do; our grand tradition...

A prolonged winter of extremes has made these early walks unduly painful lately, but on this morning I don't really mind that Mick is moving leisurely beside me, beneath this gentler sky... Taking his good time; ambling, rambling, going nowhere special...

It may be damp, it may be frosty, it may be inky-dark... But something in the air is telling us that spring is in the wings... just waiting... 

Big Dog senses it, and so do I. Soon the winter will be booted off the stage! 

A MAGICAL SNOW ON AN EASTER MORN...

I cherish the long-ago memory of a surprise April snow that came in the night after a warm Easter Eve. 

On that Easter morning, I awoke before dawn, and I drove through snow in the darkness, on my way to attend Sunrise Service in a small country church.

A big, bright round moon appeared in front of my car, tossing its brightness onto the snow and lighting my way to the church. 

It was magical; and somehow it seemed it was planned just for me. 

Whenever I think of it, I still whisper, 'Thank you, God.' 

WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT, EASTER EVE...

Saturday morning, 4 a.m., 25 degrees...

I woke from sleep to see the valley mists had risen up to drink the light of a big, round moon, almost full, and the darkness glowed.

Big Dog and I walked under that big moon, and I did not really need the heavy metal flashlight I was carrying... unless, of course, I ran into a bear and could use it as a weapon?

Tomorrow is Easter, and I look forward to that holy, joyful day... though I would not be surprised if the weather pulled some sort of April Fool's joke on us. 

Over time on Easter, after all, we have been visited with every sort of weather a human could imagine... and a cold front IS predicted in my northeast Ohio, and in other places, speeding in to hit us late this afternoon; or overnight.

Of course, we could be hit by a runaway Chinese space station instead, so I won't complain about a little snow and cold!

Rose says happy Easter to you!

STARS FALLING OVER ME AND MY DOG...

Good morning to you! ... 5 a.m. in the dark outdoors, walking with Mick. 

Stars so big and bright and spectacular, they seem to be falling around us. (Or are WE being transported upward among them?)

This is our last star-struck morning this week, I believe. Clouds and rain will prevail over most days of Holy Week.

But today, the temps will be rising and the sun will be shining around us all day, as the new week begins.