Some of you may have noticed that I took some time off from writing… some of you may have not! I have no real excuses for my absence. I could blame it on my wilting flowers or the mental drain of my mother’s recent health crisis; truth be told… it just wasn’t a top priority. A friend/co-worker checked on me via email the other day after I bowed out of a monthly luncheon. Apparently my lack of attendance there, coupled with my lack of attention to the blog seemed to have caused a bit of concern. Thank you Martha for your kindness! Perhaps it was the gentle nudge I needed to find my way back to the things I enjoy. I am happy to report that my mother has conquered her health crisis and she is back, nearly 100%. My flowers have survived the summer’s unrelenting heat and what plants are still capable of blooming are proudly showing their gratitude for the attention I did muster through those dog days of late summer!
As I stood in the warm kitchen this morning looking out over the back yard analyzing how golden and warm the sun seemed as it cast those long drawn out shadows of fall, my eyes landed on the dog house nestled in a triangular area of the yard flanked by tall, green, cedar trees. There it sat, covered in shade and vacant. Don’t stop reading… this is not a sad tale of a once vibrant pup who is no more. Nope, not even close. We moved in to this home seven years ago and the dog house was part of the deal. Just like the playhouse on stilts and the tiny playhouse with the tiny front porch, tiny windows with tiny window boxes, and a tiny little door; all extras that made the property feel homey. There was also a duck house (if you can call it that) attached to the side of the doghouse, which actually looked more like a small carport. You know… every dog needs a place to park their car (assuming they catch it)!
There was just something about that doghouse that spoke to my husband. Perhaps he thought he might need a place to sleep now and then, I joked. I immediately suggested that we get rid of it, but he looked at it longingly and said that there was just something about it that he liked, so it stayed. Our neighbor once mentioned if we ever wanted to get rid of the doghouse that he’d like to buy it. Still, even at the possibility of making a quick buck, my husband didn’t part with it. I know what you’re thinking… probably a ploy to one day get a dog. Nope… seven years later, still no dog. We joke that we have a dog… she just lives two doors down. Oh, it looks like we have a dog. We have a doghouse and we keep doggie treats in the pantry for her visits… but that no more means we have a dog than the fact that we have a store-bought cat bed on our covered patio means that we have a cat. No sir, he lives next door… he just prefers to sleep at our place. Apparently, there’s no place like home… unless it’s close to home!
