the joys of the season

Dog park, Saturday morning. Cold but not frigid. Four or five of us are walking very slowly around the park's perimeter for two reasons: 1) to avoid freezing to death, and 2) to make those dogs run alongside us. So we're just chit-chatting about this and that when Sharon says, "Do you ever talk to your dog through a wrapping-paper roll?"

Sarah: I love sentences that begin that way.

What I love about that question was its out-of-nowhere-ness. The question sounded as everyday as "Do you give your dog rawhide?" And yet.

Oh, and this is good, too. When I told Hillary this little funny, she laughed out loud. Took a breath. Said, "I think I'll try that with Monster Cat."

It's not even officially winter and we're talking about talking to our animals through wrapping paper rolls for entertainment. Oh, it's gonna be a long one.