After two arctic-temperature days, it has warmed up and now it’s snowing. This, I like. A lot. The snow started coming down fast, and hit my face. It felt so good. Surfaces turned white really fast, and things were wintery in a good way, and beautiful.

Every time it snows and it’s still fresh on the ground, I have a strong urge to go for a long walk, just to enjoy the snow and the quietness.

Weather.com says it was 17F high, 4F low.

The heater in my place does a good job normally with matching the room temperature to what I set on the thermostat. This morning, when I got out of blanket, it was much colder than what was set on Thermostat. This usually means either the heater is broken (= there is no hot water) or it is bitterly cold outside. Fortunately, it was the latter.

I didn’t go outside all day for anything other than dog walks and a hot pot party at friend’s in the evening (to which we drove). The photo is from the evening dog walk, in a large park. Despite the extra layer under my jeans, by the end of the walk, my legs felt like they were being pricked by thousands of pins and needles.

My weekends used to be about relaxing, enjoying music, movies, drinks, food, and friends.

Now, they are about making K-dog happy, in the way we can’t on work days. That’s the first thing that I plan when I wake up on Saturdays and Sundays. That’s one thing that I want to make sure get done on each of the two weekend days. The more puppy smiles and tail wags I see, the better I feel about the weekend.

Today we went to his favorite dog park. It was pretty cold, but we stood there, happily, and watched K run around with other dogs, for a long time.

The unpleasant medical procedure early in the morning earned me a day off from work. By the mid-afternoon, I felt fine enough to feel like taking K-dog out for a walk around a reservoir.

It always takes too long for us to get going. By the time we leave, it’s been forever since we made the decision to go somewhere fun for K.

This often means we get to the park when it’s already too dark or when it’s about to get too dark. Today was no exception. We walked pretty fast for an hour and saw the transformation of the sky, from late afternoon to dusk. At one point, the sky turned really pink. My camera’s battery had died by then (of course), but I managed to catch the colors a little bit before that happened.

Super rainy day. Coupled with what’s going on in another area of my life these days, it made me feel a bit blue.

Even on the day like this, though, I would love it if my office had some windows.

I like my post office building. It’s old, it’s grand, and voices echo. It feels like the time moves slowly in it. It’s like I’m in very old films. Maybe it’s just me, but unlike at more modern post office buildings, people seem more patient and courteous, even when the lines are as long, and the facility as short-staffed.

It was a cleaning day.

When P moved in, we had frequent arguments about cleaning. I noticed the mess and dirt more, so I was always cleaning more. It was unfair. After a lot of unpleasant quarrels, we decided to set a monthly cleaning day. This is the day we both spend some hours vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing ( the bathtub), etc. Because the place is quite small, this works.

I still get irritated toward the end of the monthly cleaning cycle when I start seeing some accumulation of dust. Only because I know that the cleaning day is coming up, I’m able to let it go and wait.

After driving home from work, I park a few blocks away, and text P that I’ve positioned myself. Then I wait.

P wakes the sleeping K-dog and says "Hey, Let’s go get N!" Then they walk towards my car. In the mornings and afternoons, the fearful pup is completely unable to handle those sidewalks. But at night, with this context, he walks with very little concern. As soon as he sees me, he pulls forward with all his might. And when he gets to me, he throws me the best welcome-back party ever, every single day.

Then, we drive to the nearest large park. With the Sun setting around 4:30pm nowadays, the park is totally dark. We’ve bought a red light attachment for the harness so we can see K at the end of the 30-feet leash. The pup is ecstatically happy. I see straight and zigzag red lines in the darkness, around and around, back and forth.

By this point, I’m so very hungry, cold, and tired, but this sequence of routines has been such a therapeutic part of my fall and winter evenings. I can’t tell who needs it more. Me or K.

We were invited to P’s friends’ home for a dinner party. The husband cooked and the wife prepared the table and the room. It was nice and fun, with a simple dish like spaghetti meat sauce and garlic bread. I’m not too confident about hosting any sort of parties. (I didn’t even have a housewarming when I moved into the current place, and my friends still give me a hard time about it after 5 years.) Maybe I’ll give it a try this year. Maybe.

It was a really warm day (for this area, for this time of the year). The temperature went into the 50s. I took K-dog to the Fells. I guess everybody else had the same idea. I had never seen the parking lots so full. Every spot (even all the illegal ones) was taken… except for one (illegal spot). Score!!

The reservoirs that froze over during the cold spell were thawing and giving me all sorts of interesting ice formations.

Purchasing dog food at a pet store.

It’s amazing how “generous” I am when it comes to my dog. It’s like “well, of course, he deserves the good stuff!” I’m kinda glad I don’t have a human kid. I’d be so broke.

It’s got quite cold during the last few days. The warmth at the beginning of the year have made the ground all muddy. Then the temperature dropped to 9F the day before yesterday (at night). Now it’s very frozen.

I’m happy to see the surface of the Charles is half solid. Puddles are fun to walk on now, with the breakable translucent covering. I do love having winter every year.