Showing posts with label dog walking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog walking. Show all posts

Monday, 31 December 2012

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"

 

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

Days of autumn skies

Boo is six months old and she's still learning something  new every day. So am I...by looking at my world through her eyes. Also, after nearly five years being without a dog, she's making me get out, come rain come shine.....and I realise how much I've been missing.

One of my favourite walks around the village starts by turning left down the lane, right at the back of our mediaeval church, and then up a track to a huge field....after harvest, there's stubble in the field. Nothing unusual, but Boo had never seen stubble before...


 She snuck into the stubble very carefully , looking up at me as if to say "What on earth is this?" But within seconds she was romping through it without a care in the world.

So was I...because I could see this.....the sun coming out from behind the early evening skies...




This is one of the biggest fields near us..and because we live in hunting country, there's wide spaces of green beside the hedges for horses....

Boo loved it  - so much so, I took her back there the following day. We had company...my eldest son who is getting over his latest knee operation




What an invigorating walk, the breeze in our hair...a fresh but quite chilly day





We took it slowly around the field, my son still has to be very careful, but slowing down meant more time to just stand and stare at the beautiful landscape and skies....


and watch how the rolling clouds transform the panorama in a matter of minutes.....



It was time to head back....Boo had walked at least twice as far as us...darting ahead, then coming back to us, hither and thither...so much energy...





Boo collapsed in a tired but happy heap as soon as we arrived home, I sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee  and realised how much I adore looking at wide skies around me. Their beauty, their drama , simply fill me with wonder and happiness..
Today's track is "Clouds" by Newton Faulkner....I know I've chosen another track by him before...on the blog...but he's such a clever songwriter.....and I love this song......