Down by the banks of the Yadkin with the little lummox....

.... the other day when it was so hot I took the little lummox down to Becky's Park. I like to go there for several reasons, not least that we knew and liked Becky, even though we'd barely gotten to know her at all before cancer took her. The other reason is that the little park is in a corner of woods bounded by the Yadkin River. On the hottest day it is cool under the trees, which is important to the lummox since he is strictly a cold weather dog, like me. On days when it is hot he drags along, wants to stop and sniff the air, look at the trees, eat the grass. He might as well do that down by the river. This day we saw something beautiful - a blue grey heron came up from under the bank and glided along the river until it shot upwards into the tree. Lummox was indifferent - he was burrowing with his nose into the dirt looking for something to eat.

Under the dark of the trees, looking out to the sunlit waters, is always refreshing. Perhaps this is because I grew up between the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers. And perhaps that is why one of my favorite places is a dark bar where I can look out onto a sunny day.

Come to think of it, the little Lummox is a lot like me, he even seems to have developed the same allergies I have - except that he is cranky, obsessive and stubborn.