I visited coastal Long Beach, Washington for a puppy play date.
The breed is called a silken windhound, and it’s a relatively new breed. The dog belongs to my friend, and she reunites with her siblings regularly.
This visit was special. There were 3 littermates present, along with two borzois, which are a large, elegant breed of dog with a loping gait that provided the genetic raw material (along with whippets) of the silken windhound breed.
These dogs engaged in pure play and exploration for three hours straight. They were inexhaustible (or they were too excited to notice their exhaustion).
We checked out sights in Astoria. This town at the mouth of the Columbia River impressed me with the way the infrastructure wraps around the estuary. It’s much bigger than the coastal specks of a town that I had visited. We took in the bridges, the city tower, and the stately oceangoing ships.
On the beach I enjoyed watching the sandpipers, the gulls, and the fragments of crabs, jellyfish and molluscs. I sat at the tree that marked the westernmost point that Lewis and Clark reached in their expedition. I ran in the grassy dunes with the five dogs as they went BERSERK.
On the long drive back I learned more about the family tragedies that have punctuated my friend’s past. I also learned of the slower-burning problems – the difficult, tangled ones.
I look for people who will expand my horizons, who will broaden my view of the world. These individuals are the ones I will take with all my heart, who I will embrace into my future, as long as they will be with me in special natural places and at special times.
When we got back to town we enjoyed an eggnog/bourbon cocktail by my fire while we stroked the soft brindle fur of the spent dog.
pseudoisaac 