The Kindness of Strangers

There was a bit of snow when I woke up on Saturday. Not much though enough to coat the deck and cars. Bella and I were out walking at 8 am, this time I had my camera but there was little to photograph. Or maybe I just didn't notice.

Snow on the convertible

Bella and I were out early again on Sunday. After loading the trunk of my car with grub for the week, we met up with the folks who originally told me of Bella's existence. They have their own corgi, Cowgirl. They admired (who doesn't?) Bella, and told me that they'd seen Bella's brother and that (of course) he's isn't as cute as Bella which sort of goes without saying. 


Later we went to the beach for a walk with my sister. Folks stop to chit-chat about dogs, the weather, the beach and random things. Dog owners simply must be more approachable than non-dog owners/walkers  -- even while carry plastic bags of poop. (Would you approach a human carrying a bag of human poo?) Though I believe my theory on the dogged kindness of strangers depends on what breed they happen to be walking. If you're a nun walking an American Staffordshire, I'm not going to ask any questions though seeing Ted Bundy or Charlie Manson walking another corgi or a tea cup poodle might get me asking "How's the weather?" or "What's your favorite See's candy?" When I was dog-less, I didn't approach people much but then again I didn't walk often either. Though if you were walking a puppy, I would approach you simply because of that puppy. Bella still has a bit of puppy in her at 9 months.

Bella pondering grass

As we walked along the beach, we stopped and spoke to a woman with a dog (not me). We were nearly to Rio del Mar at this point, at the mouth of the river. Two young girls were running through the river to a sandbar. I wished I'd brought my camera because the vision of the two girls was stunning out on that sandbar, the sun shining lighting them from behind. There were starfish on the sand and in what might have been considered a tide pool back in the days of yore though now this one pool where we found some of the starfish was more like a cesspool. The water had milky brown residue floating. (Those starfish must have been suicidal.) Out on the sandbar was a half-buried grocery cart sticking haphazardly out of the sand reminding me of the scene with the Statue of Liberty's hand sticking out of sand in Planet of the Apes. Here was this grocery cart in the middle of a sandbar, these two young girls running around the cart rescuing suicidal starfish from the harsh elements - And me with no camera - though I'd given the camera idea a lot of consideration and knew if I left my camera in my car, there would be some phenomenal shot that I would miss, and if I brought it with me, I'd not notice anything out of the ordinary. The beach trip was great despite trash and dying starfish - the day turned out wonderful. One of those that makes a person (or me) grateful to be alive. 

Sign of the times

Over the weekend the temps were very cold for this area though much warmer at the beach even if it snowed there on Saturday. Seems like winter arrived, left, and then returned with a vengeance which it often does near the beginning of March when we can hardly wait to greet spring with armloads of daffodils. 


The weather will turn to rain cats and dogs later in the week which means while out exercising our dogs we'll be forced to communicate with one another whether we want to or not, unless that nun is out walking her pit bull.