I walked abroad in a snowy day

Monday's snow sparkled just like the house we were madly cleaning. Every inch of the place was scrubbed and buffed. All the dog stuff was washed and re-washed. We were ready.

Carm's cousin Vince was coming from Toronto and since we didn't know him very well, we didn't know his feelings about dogs and parrots. We kept the dogs away long enough for Vince to get his boots off, and then I 'released the hounds'. They swarmed around him, hardly giving him a chance to move. It was clear right away that Vince was a dog person. Even Kabira was hanging around to say hello. I always think that is a sign of a good person ;-)

The cousins have been yaking and yaking, getting to know each other after several years of not much contact. I've been sitting back, sometimes laughing to myself, as it is clear there is a blood relation… He might actually out Carm Carm in some ways!!! I've force fed him vegan meals and to his credit there hasn't been one complaint ;-)  We did have a cheater breakfast at the village greasy spoon though. Tonight will be more vegan fare.

Bella has been like glue - Vince might actually have velcro pants that are sticking Bella to him. Vince has good petting hands, and all the dogs have been taking advantage of him.

This afternoon Vince, Bella and I went for an hour snowshoe through unbroken drifts. The going was really hard for the person in front - I'm ashamed to say that I wasn't a very good hostess and let Vince do most of the hard work. We had to stop several times to catch our breath and analyse animal tracks. There were numerous tracks that we couldn’t identify – were they fox tracks? Cats? One thing for certain – they didn’t have snowshoes, but seemed to keep from floundering in the deep snow anyway.

It was wonderful to be spending some time outside and seeing some of our land - it is has been a long, cold winter of hibernation. My spirit could have spent the rest of the day outside, but my legs were like rubber.

I walked abroad in a snowy day;
I asked the soft snow with me to play; ...
~William Blake