My boy, Salvador is over 18 years old, and you know that is about 130 in dog years. And he has what seems to be dog alzheimers, which leaves him disoriented much of the time, and lost some of the time. He has been getting lost even when he is just outside around our house. He lost his way two days ago. We looked everywhere. There are lots of trails leading from our home, and I just couldn’t find him anywhere. I thought he had possibly just gone off into the woods to die. But today we got a call from the best neighbors on earth, and they found him wandering down by their creek. Yay! He is cold, shaky and tired, but safe, now.
Salvador was my roommate’s dog originally, back in Maine. Part rottweiler, his first family gave him up. They had called him Rocky. He loved to chase rocks, and could always find the exact one you threw. I had only my dog Ace back then, and Maybe the cat. But as soon as I met Sal he was the perfect companion, and when she was going to Mexico for a year, I said I would take him. He always reminded me of Gene Kelly. So agile, strong yet graceful. Such a long time ago. Ace and Maybe are both gone now. Salvador’s had a few close calls over the years, and I’ve really thought we was a goner a few times. He is my constant buddy. So happy he is home.
“Yes’m old friends is always best, ‘less you can catch a new one that’s fit to make an old one out of. -Sarah Orne Jewett
In the beautiful word department, did you know a flock of starlings is called a murmuration? I love this video so much, I could watch it a thousand times. Found it over on mysticvixen.
For more, get lost on islands and rivers.
Terri Windling has started a series of posts about some of the women who’ve inspired her, and she began with my favorite poet Emily Dickinson, and introduced me to a stunning painter, Jeanie Tomanek.
Tomanek says, “Literature, folktales and myths often inspire my exploration of the feminine archetype. My figures often bear the scars and imperfections, that, to me, characterize the struggle to become.”
Also found at Terri Windling‘s Drawing Board, a wonderful discussion of gypsies, by Rima Staines in Atching Tan (meaning stopping place, orig., the place where the fire is lit).
Beauty Mountain 
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