two dogs standing in a leafy wooded area with bare trees and scattered green vegetation | Two large dogs walking together on a paved path next to a mossy stone wall and green grass on a cloudy day

1 January ~2013

On the first two days of 2013, I took my dogs down to the Greenbelt, underneath the old Cottonwood in the grove of Eleven, walked across the ice on the frog pond, and around back up the North Hill.

I have taken most of my blog entries offline, but went back and found this that I wrote in 1996:

". . . my dogs and I walking . . . through the quiet of the November morning. It seems as if the more we walk the more the strength and peace of Nature "becomes part of us."

and this in 2007:

" I was across the meadow when a mature bald eagle landed in the old Cottonwood. I watched the eagle for more than an hour, and it was still in the tree when I climbed the ridge and looked back. The eagle may have felt as comfortable there as I do, and is it a stretch to think that it sensed the same good spirits and peace among those trees?"

Black and white dog with blue eyes standing in a field of dry grass, tongue out and looking towards the camera

Large bare tree trunk and branches extending against a clear blue sky with dry grass and a black and white dog resting in the shade near the base of the tree

Large leafless tree trunk and branches standing in a dry grassy field under a clear blue sky with other bare trees in the background

Two dogs standing on dry grass near a large leafless tree with a clear blue sky in the background

Black and white dog standing on a dry grassy path looking toward leafless cottonwood trees under a clear blue sky

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. 
. . . Martin Luther 

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
. . . Melody Beattie

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My old dogs, Boogie and Cody, that used to enjoy walking the Greenbelt with me:

Two dogs resting and standing on a patch of frozen ground surrounded by dry grass and leafless trees under a cloudy sky

white and black dog lying on icy ground surrounded by dry grass with leafless trees in the background on a cloudy winter day

Black and white dog lying in the snow next to dry grass with leafless trees in the background under a cloudy sky