September 13, 2017

White Dog delights in the signals that Autumn is rapidly upon us. The grass at the park gets cooler and a bit damp and the long afternoon light is a special dappled gold.

And the leaves are just beginning to don their colorful clothes of transition.

It has been our ritual since White Dog was a puppy to celebrate the first colored leaf she finds fallen in the yard. Today, she brought in the 2017 Winner.

Together we looked at it, sniffed and touched it. She and I talked about the season nearly here and it's bittersweet feeling. 

As we have every year since White Dog came into my life, we pulled out the book, The Rainbow Goblins, (by Ul de Rico), and sat on the bed together. It is a little different now because we usually attract an audience of White Dogs equally eager to participate in spreading the special leaves from each year around us and listening to storytime as we cradle the newest addition. 

We read this lush children's tale full of spectacular paintings and cuddle together. Then carefully reinsert the leaves between the pages of the book to preserve them. The book then goes back to its special spot in the bookcase of favorites until next Autumn.

All of the blinds fully raised, we sit together staring outward into the branches of the huge tree whose leaves shelters our yard  and create mesmerizing light patterns...and we immerse ourselves in the amber, frozen for a brief time in thoughts and daydreams.