Blink and you will miss it

People are usually talking about speeding through small towns when they say it, but I think it goes for life as well.  I’ve been working so much this last six weeks that I am continually surprised by the passage of time.  What, it’s May? Wait, it’s almost Memorial Day? When did that happen?

When did the azaleas in our yard bloom in a riot of color and joy?

And when did those blooms wither and fall off, the end coming only shortly after the beginning?

When did our garden start to look like this?

When did North Carolina burst out into a hundred shades of jungle?

 When did it become summer?

So many other things have happened in the last six weeks.

We’ve begun munching on the kale and collard greens from our garden–truly a revelation for first-time gardeners.

Bath time for our very first baby kale leaves.

We passed the one-year anniversay of the day we adopted Sasso. She has been my constant companion and has brought an inexpressible amount of happiness and love into our lives. I miss her intensely at times like this, when I am traveling for work; I miss her like I’m missing part of myself. Watching her blossom and gradually shed her fear has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. And the joy she takes from life is inspiring. (Click through the pictures–quickly. 🙂 )

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Sometimes her expressions of joy have to be followed up with a thorough sudsing with shampoo, but then we have a clean-scented and velvety soft (and sleepy) pup to cuddle with.

My friends Alison and Stephanie and Stephanie’s spirited cockapoo Buddy came to visit . . . a month ago now! We took a wild romp through Eno River State Park, with spring at its most perfect (looking a little different from Scott’s and my trip there last fall!).

The dogs swam and struck poses.

And thoroughly investigated our lunches.

I love having visitors! And Sasso loved these visitors too–with another dog around, Sasso started trying to lick Alison and Stephanie in the face in no time at all. (Okay, a very short time for Sasso, which was still a few hours. But that is big progress.)  Neither of us wanted our pack to shrink again when they had to leave.

The laws of physics dictate that if there is more than one dog in a picture, only one of them can face the camera at a particular time.

Scott and I also explored a new place to take Sasso hiking: the White Pines Nature Preserve just south of Pittsboro.

The White Pines Nature Preserve is small, but down a long gravel road from the highway, and we saw only two other people there, so it was a paradise for Sasso.

It was a perfect late spring day–sun shining and warm, but with a breeze and minimal humidity. Much of the preserve was coverd in pine forest, as the name suggests, and that rich piney scent filled the air.

Other parts of the preserve were more like the swampy coastal plains, complete with a large, slow-moving river.

So Sasso got her swim on.

But she wasn’t the only one who did, so we finally retreated to higher ground.

There are many things I’ve grown to love about North Carolina, but the snakes are not among them.  Neither are the ticks or the abundance of poison ivy, but since Sasso was bit by a copperhead on the road in front of our house last summer, I’ve felt especially vindictive about the snakes.

But on a day like that one, I would’ve had to work hard to hold onto to my resentment of the snakes for long.

I hope that my unusually busy stint at work will wrap up soon, and more of my time will be play time.

Sasso hopes so too.