Tag Archives: pups

The Way It Should Always Be

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PUPS!!! So many sweet pups on the boardwalk today! They brought me such joy, filled my heart all up with good things. There were two Lilahs; a Motley; Aspen with her human, Ash, ; Gypsy; my old friend, Daisy, with her buddy, Melody; Akira, who danced down the boardwalk; and my old friend, Baker – who came bounding down the boardwalk to greet me.

The bay was beautiful today, too – blue and shiny, with fog on one side, and the Canadian Coastals on the other.

The road above Taylor Dock to Fairhaven was closed because of construction, so I went up one block to by-pass the blocked street and then came down into Fairhaven from above. I felt Cafe Blue calling to me – I haven’t been there for a while and was missing the welcoming vibe. Cafe Blue has always been packed full of people when I’ve been there, so I mentally prepared myself for that. I figured if I couldn’t find a place to sit, I’d just get a coffee to go and take it with me on my walk back to my car.

Cafe Blue WAS packed again today, but, cosmically, as soon as I got done giving my order and started looking for a table, one opened up! It was a table for four and I felt kind of greedy sitting there – so I put myself in the corner of the table, ready to offer the rest of the table to whoever was looking for a place to sit.

My coffee arrived and I settled into the space, closed my eyes for a minute and just let myself absorb the joy around me. When I opened my eyes I saw a couple of young women who looked like they were looking for a place to sit. I offered them the open seats at my table and they sat there until the table next to mine opened up for them. One of the women, Elena, had cool rings on every finger, and I asked her about them. She said the one on her thumb had been made by her grandma, and the other rings were ones she’d mostly found in shops around Bellingham – rings with art and cool quartz and tiger’s eye rocks. I told her I love rocks, too, and reached for my amber necklace to show it off to her – and then I realized I’d forgotten to wear it today. Elena laughed and said that happens to her, too – just when she wants to show off something, she doesn’t have it with her.

I enjoy the feeling of community I always feel in the Cafe Blue – strangers smiling at each other, sharing tables, becoming friends. That’s the way it should always be.

Autumn Magic in Bellingham

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Magic!

I needed to get out and go for a walk in the sunshine, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go – Mount Baker? Squalicum Pier maybe? Deception Pass? I started driving, curious where I’d end up, and found myself at Lake Padden. And oh! There was major magic there today!

The mist was moving over the autumn reflections on the lake (I’ll post more pics and video in another post), and the paths were filled with a golden glow from the sunlight filtering through the leaves. There was a man and his pup – Shawn and Remington – down near the shore – and I could tell they were as caught up in the magic as me.

Shawn was wearing a hat that said “Ketchikan” on it, and we got to talking about what a great little town Ketchikan is – Shawn had lived most of his life there and I’d traveled through Ketchikan once on an Alaskan adventure. Then Shawn bent down near the shore and showed me how he took cool pictures with his cellphone by letting it rest vertically right on the edge of the water (he showed me some of the photos he’d taken this way and they were FANTASTIC!). I wanted to know more about Remington, and Shawn told me that Remington had been rescued after being abandoned in the woods with other dogs from a puppy mill.

As Shawn was leaving to continue on his walk with Remington , he turned back to me to point out a deer that was headed down the trail. Magic!

After taking some more pictures of the mist on the lake, I headed for the dock – I figured there’d be some great reflections there. And this is when I met Salem, and her human, Josh. Salem let me scratch her behind the ears, and Josh and I got to talking. I learned Josh had moved from Seattle to Bozeman, and had only recently returned from Montana. I asked him if he missed the wide, open spaces of Montana, and he admitted he did. He talked about how he’d been astonished by the starry skies when he’d first moved to Bozeman from Seattle. And then we got to talking about the mountains and skiing and snow-boarding and (ahem) I might have mentioned my dad is in Wikipedia for mountain climbing. 🙂

I continued on my walk around Padden, passing under golden arches (not the MacDonald’s kind), and swishing through autumn leaves. When I got to the part of the park where the geese hang out, I sat at a picnic bench to watch them. And this is when I saw the magnificent Wilbur! “That dog is magnificent!” I told Wilbur’s human, and he smiled and brought Wilbur to me so we could get acquainted. Wilbur let me pet him – his fur was so soft! Wilbur, his human told me, is an Irish Doodle – part Irish Setter and part standard poodle – and he’s huge! Wilbur’s human introduced himself as Ryan and I introduced myself as “Karen, of course” – Ryan passed the Karen Test by laughing – and we shook hands to make our introduction official. (We went all-out with the handshake and did the handshake, thumbs over, fist bump, and “poof” – because, as everybody who’s anybody knows, that is the best way to shake hands.)

I really needed to be at Lake Padden today – I needed to meet the pups and people, and see the mist moving over the water. I needed the magic of kind people and autumn.