Friday, March 4, 2011

Tonight

I love taking Goldy for her walk. Every time it’s a different experience. Tonight it was just getting dark and the sky was a gorgeous translucent blue. Up ahead, the trees on top of the ridge were reduced to dark silhouettes with the sky showing through. I was surprised how many stars I could see considering the sky wasn’t the dark navy blue of night yet.

It was dinner time and as I walked down the street, I could tell by smell that someone was having chicken soup and the people on the corner were having broiled steak. It amazes me that after being a vegetarian for over twenty-five years, cooking meat still smells good to me. And I can tell by smell what kind it is. The people on the corner have lamb chops a lot.

No one else seemed to be out walking. A police car went by and instantly I began to wonder why someone one had called them. There were no sirens or flashing lights, so I don’t think it was an emergency.

I admit it, I do look in curtainless windows as I pass by. I saw a family sitting down to dinner. And when I passed an open garage, I saw a kid practicing his drums. I bet his parents and the whole street wished he would shut the door and maybe add some soundproofing.

Other than the drum solo there wasn’t much action. I’ve had fire department ambulances squeak to stop in front of a house as passed. One night I watched a pair of uniforms jump out of their car and stop a pair of teenagers who were working the area with a scam where they claim to be selling magazines to raise money for their school. Apparently, they had gotten a little too aggressive and somebody had called the cops. Nosy me walked by real slowly, listening to what was going on. The teens were pros and knew just what to say. The cops couldn’t really do anything and let them go.

Another time the cops drove by looking for something or someone and shined their spotlight on me. Yeah, I looked like a real threat. Hook and ladders have rumbled past me. Coyotes have run by. And of course, we’ve met other people with dogs.

I say hello to everybody - well, not the cops who stopped those teens - but everybody else.
Last week I even talked to the guy driving the van for the crew from the commercial shoot. They were using a church parking lot for crew parking and he was ferrying them back and forth. By then the shoot was packing up. He noticed Goldy’s light (she has a collar with a LED light to make her more visible to traffic) and asked about it. Lots of people do. Sometimes cars even stop and people comment on how neat it is or ask where to buy one. Petsmart.

Tonight the only person I greeted was a housekeeper on her way to the bus.

As much as Goldy loves going out, she’s happy to come home and have her dinner. Then she goes back to her chair and I get back to my work.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from our walks, it’s life is what you make it.

Do you make something routine into something special?

6 comments:

Linda O. Johnston said...

Your walks sound wonderful, Betty. My walks with my pups always turn into adventures because they like going at different speeds and in different directions!

Terri Thayer said...

I heard lots of noisy frogs at the golf course I walked past last night on my walk. Sweet sound.

Planner said...

Betty, you are really good at making the ordinary into something extraordinary. Your heightened observational skills, curiosity, and imagination are serving you well!

Terri, there's a creek and a golf course behind my house that's inhabited by croaking frogs. I love the sound, too, and it's especially sweet on a warm summer night.

Betty Hechtman said...

Sorry for being so late in responding to the comments, but my computer died this morning. Like dead forever and I'm still trying to figure out what wasn't backed up.

Linda, walking two dogs who are each going their own way would definitely be a challenge.

Terri, I like nature sounds. Frog and cricket sounds remind me of being in the country.

Planner, lucky you to have all that open green space behind you.

Terri Thayer said...

Oh no, Betty. That's the worst sound of all - no sound coming from the computer. I hope you didn't lose anything. I feel your pain.

If you need backup suggestions I've been using dropbox (free) and mozy ( $5 a month). I've only had to retrieve a file from dropbox once. I'd saved an old file over a new one and they had the historical one.

Betty Hechtman said...

Terri, thanks for the sympathy and suggestions. Once I get my new computer set up, I'm going to set up drop box and get some kind of auto backup drive.

I did lose some stuff, but I don't think it was anything I can't get again if needed.