Rollo and I were out for a walk last evening, once there was shade again to cool us in the 90°F+ degree day.

It was a puppy meander. He gets some pretty good speed when we are walking, but that usually lasts a partial block. Then we stop to sniff or stare at moving vehicles.

So: I get plenty of time to watch him and to look for what he’s seeing. I also get to to see parts -inches- of the neighborhood that I’ve never noticed before. Even less than a block from our house! Other dogs, people (or dogs) with names, petunias, fountains. Architectural features. Shrubbery. Flowers.

Over the weekend, I did a little cooking. We had selected a recipe from Ann Taylor Pittman’s fabulous grains cookbook: Brussels Sprouts Salad with Pickled Rye Berries. (That recipe is available here, if you’d like to try it. It’s delicious!) I’d already cooked and pickled the rye berries, but peeling the Brussels sprouts sounded arduous. It ended up kind of fun: I’d decided to watch The Empire Strikes Back on my iPad while making sure R got into no trouble. 2 hours is plenty of time to get a pound of tiny cabbages peeled (it only took about 10 minutes).

Time got weird during the pandemic, but it’s been eclipsed by having a puppy in our lives. Sleep deprivation is and will be a part of it for a little while, though Rollo gifted me a 6+ hour stint between overnight potty breaks last night! But the wonder he exudes is another time-slower-downer that is welcome, right now.