Days of walking and talking

It's nearly 11.30am...I should go out and take Boo out for a walk, but it's raining. Again. The skies are low , heavy and grey. Again. It's windy too.

 Boo's not keen on going out and neither am I to be honest.

Dreary dog end December days with rain seems to have been with us for weeks.

Everywhere has been flooded, one day last week we couldn't get out of the village without major disruption, and even here,which usually is as dry as a bone, has a new stream

 

It rained too on Boxing day, but we were determined to walk off the Christmas Day stodginess . A circular five mile walk, which we all really enjoyed.....

Boo and my elder son were the liveliest, clocking up an extra two miles at least running across the fields ....but whatever the pace as we walked, we talked, in different groups,  at different stages of the journey.
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And I  remembered when the children were little - their primary school was in the village down the hill ,just over a mile away. If I was picking them up from school in the car, I'd ask them how school was as we drove along. The usual reply would be "OK."  I'd ask what happened at school that day... "Not much" they'd say.

But when I walked them to and from the school, the floodgates would open, and  I would get to hear so much more about their days and their feelings as the older two would take it in turns to push their little brother in his pram or pushchair. I loved those walks...full of nonsense and chatter, letting off steam before getting home.  Puddlejumping in the rain, and singing in the sunshine.....I learnt that  I should always make time for a walk and a talk.

Of course there's no pram to push these days, just a furry faced cheeky little dog to walk. She stops and  talks to anyone though....even a quick walk around the village turns into a social occasion. In fact, I 'm now so much more upto date with village news since my daily walk with Boo, even though it's done nothing but rain for what seems like ages and our walks are like more like route marches.

But looking  back through some of the photos I've taken during our walks over the last month, I'm reminded that it hasn't rained every day. We had two days of sunshine....two precious days when Boo and I were able to go out without being absolutely soaked.

 

Sometimes when it's been dull and grey for so long, it's hard to remember the bright days. ...

And I 'm hoping that there's going to be plenty of those in 2013 for all of us. In the meantime, on this last ,soggy day of 2012 ...I'm off for a walk in the rain with Boo.

Happy New Year everyone!

Today's track is by the Beatles..."When the rain comes"