there are two large empty fields near my apartment. every once in a while, i notice that the grasses are tall and wild and gorgeous. i make a mental note to go back someday with my camera. alas, i usually forget, and then they mow the fields.

this past week, when i saw that one field was still wild while the other field was mowed down, i walked atlas right back home, got my camera, and we walked out the door and to the field immediately.

it was full of enchantment.

remember my ice cream photo walk?

well, it was a success! yay!

it turned out to be a very hot day in portland so it was extra-perfect for ice cream.

i want to host another one – probably starting at salt & straw this time – but i can’t schedule it just yet. i am holding space in my calendar for a teeny tiny dream of adventure.

next time, i might also offer a way to identify me (perhaps a balloon or a straw hat). i do look like all my profile pictures, but i did wonder if someone might show up and not be sure who i was and then we’d miss out on their company.

i remember how when i saw the sun melting the sidewalk i stopped and blew dandelion kisses into the sticky summer air.

and the light was like a benediction, a blessing, a prayer – whispered all around me.

and what i mean by that is grace, offered freely and openly. i felt the magic and mystery in my heart and i opened myself to it.

{with thanks to the lovely sabrina ward harrison for the prompts.}

let me help you pause.

look at the grass, waving in the breeze.

soften your focus. widen your eyes.

breathe in.
pause.
breathe out.
pause.

repeat as needed.

“It
Happened
Again last
Night:

Love
Popped the cork on itself-
Splattered my brains
Across the
Sky.

I imagine now for ages
Something of Hafiz
Will appear

To fall like
Stars.”

– Hafiz in The Gift, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

i know dandelions are considered weeds, but i love them. they are so bright and cheerful. i think of them as tiny cousins of the sun, peeking out between grass blades, turning their cheerful faces toward me. as far as i am concerned, they are here to make our days even brighter.

on atlas’s birthday, i found a spot on the trail where he could run free for a moment. i had been trying to take a birthday picture but he was very uncooperative; either he wouldn’t look at me, or he made faces at me with his ears. he really doesn’t like having to stand still. i guess i can’t blame him. anyway, i finally gave up and captured him in motion instead.

it makes me extra-happy to see him racing up and down the trails. not that i didn’t enjoy it before, but now it’s doubly enjoyable because it means his foot is hale and hearty.

one of the things i love about the pacific northwest is that i can always find signs of spring. that way, even on cold and rainy and dreary days, i know spring really is coming.

well, the forest is green year-round, but it is so beautiful that i had to include it.

i took atlas back to the sandy river delta (that’s where life with splint began) last week for his first off-leash hike since october. he was so happy. happy happy happy. he raced up and down the trail ahead of me.

half of me was happy with and for him. half of me was inwardly wringing my hands and thinking, “slow down, little puppy, slow down. why can’t you be more cautious? what if we just walked. slowly.”

i did manage to keep my thoughts and my hand-wringing to myself. not that atlas would have listened anyway.

in other news, i am pretty sure the hair on atlas’s chin has turned silver. unless it was always silver – it’s so hard to remember. i don’t want my puppy to have silver hair! i know he’s almost ten, but i want him to stay young forever.

isn’t he handsome. i think he is the best and smartest and sweetest and most handsome dog in the whole wide world. (with the exception of your dog, of course. your dog is too.)

’tis the season for warm beverages. like hot cocoa at petite provence. and cafe au lait at st. honore.