How it's going

I'm feeling enough better now to be annoyed at missing my vacation and bored with being home alone with nothing to do. I would have gone for a drive on Sunday but it was raining and ugly. I've made another soup and tomorrow will make a cabbage/sausage stir fry. Food is not a problem and my appetite is gradually returning. 

I've been doing something weird, out of character, and borderline embarrassing if not shameful. I've been watching Christmas movies. I've probably seen at least eight of them now. That brings my lifetime total to eight. It's not a movie genre I've ever ventured into. I can't say that I've enjoyed them really, but I have continued to watch them. I attributed it to my fever initially, but that's been back to normal for the past 24 hours, so that doesn't explain the last two or three I've watched. We'll consider it part of this dark December episode and never speak of it again. 

Today I felt the need to get back to doing some productive things. I started by unpacking my luggage. Unpacking from a trip is always kind of a bummer because it means that vacation is over and you're back to the grind, but unpacking from a trip that you never took really sucks. All the thought, planning, and shopping that went into it (I bought a new coat, and even new socks!), all with the expectation of walking through the beautiful and historic town squares and Christmas markets of Brussels, Bruges, Gent, and Antwerp all decorated and lit up for Christmas. This may explain the Christmas movies. Anyway, it left me with a sense of loss. But to put things in perspective, it was insignificant compared to what so many other people have lost due to Covid. 

Today the sun was shining, that always brightens my mood, and I was very tempted to take a dog out for a hike. I wasn't sure what my stamina level would be, however, so instead of taking one dog to hike at Pleasant Grove, I took all the dogs out to the pasture, our own dog park. I walked the trails, enough to prove to myself that I could, and they either followed along or went off to do their own thing. Some of both in most cases. It stretched my legs and gave me some pictures to share from today anyway. 

Maya looks like a fox in the tall grass.

Apparently the rain turned to snow or ice at some point overnight. 

It looked like a very heavy frost on the ground this morning.

I fed the dogs and didn't go back out to look at it again until it was gone.

Everyone except Candace made it into this picture.

Left to right: Maya, Dodger, Paisley, Della, Elvis, and Bailey

Della has been bored, she was more active out there today than usual.

Bailey, kicking up her heels

Paisley, Bailey (ears up!), and Della

Della and her protege 

Candace did a lot of running out there today.

Dodger plays with Bailey indoors and in the yard, 

but out in the pasture she goes hunting and he's on his own.

Candace, off the trails in the tall grass

Dodger, with Bailey and Maya in the background

Paisley

I'm so happy that Candace is happy here now.

Della and Paisley