A Bland Post about A Pleasant Weekend

The weather in these parts has been absolutely amazing lately. I say that not to gloat, but to quietly celebrate October because the other 11 months of the year in the mid-Atlantic are just about insufferable.

So please just indulge me as I post about our weekend in the sunshine, 













when we hiked around the Triadelphia reservoir on the Pawtuxent river. 

We'd brought my dad there on a drive the day before, and it was so beautiful and peaceful we decided to come back with the dogs and more time to explore.










Sometimes you really need a hike where you see almost no one, 

and where the dogs can run and swim off-leash. 

I felt totally confident that they would stay close; my only worry was that a deer would show up and Fozzie's over-the-top prey drive combined with Dahlia's drive to do whatever Fozzie does would be bad news for that deer.

 But we didn't see any deer,

in fact we didn't see anyone except a few kayakers out in the water.

We've barely gotten to go out this summer in the kayaks. Which is too bad, because I think Dahlia, with her compact size, would be a natural.  

I think the dogs are probably just as glad not to be in the kayaks, 

and to choose their own means of interacting with the water or just staying on land. 

We were lucky that weekend to have two perfect, sunny, pleasant days, and on Sunday the dogs and I accompanied Florian to teach a master ballet class in Virginia. While I was waiting for him, I bought a couple of orchid pots. I know, almost too exciting to imagine but again, bear with me.

To help me recover, Florian took me to the Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac, which is one of our old favorites. A trail that I associate with my scrappy, snorty, compact little female dogs like my beloved old Tashi, who accompanied us there during the last few months of her long life, 

and Sandy, who went on an epic trek with us once along the rocky, no dogs allowed sections of the trail. 

Because sometimes, you just have to break the rules.

How do YOU like to shake things up?