Une Envie de Sel

As you will see, these first two photos have very little to do with the rest of the post, aside from the fact of being proximate in time. However...he has green eyes with khol rims, which look keenly and directly into yours when you speak to him. He has a face like a raccoon in reverse, and the closest thing I've ever seen to a button nose. His ears droop at the tips, he weighs 8 oz soaking wet, and when he wakes from a nap he yawns with that squeaky sound that I somehow still associate with Snoopy. And he has stolen my heart. 

Oh, and here's the other person who has made off with my heart. Thoughtlessly and without remorse. If you see her, please do me the favor of returning my heart to me. She answers to "Q" and is friendly when the mood strikes her.

She wears a bathing suit when the occasion requires it (as in those events specifying "black tie only"), but really prefers to go starkers 24/7.

And she is now engaged in a battle of the wills with the second-cutest member of the family. The jury is still out on who will win. My money would be on Q, if only Wolverine were not such a cunning and artful opponent.

Can you believe it's still hot enough to prance around like this in a mountain stream, not far from sunset, high in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, at the tail end of September? One would be tempted to call this "Indian summer", had not the regular summer been so long, hot and attenuated. Fall has not yet tiptoed into our neighborhood, with the exception of a few gilded leaves, and a telltale cool in the air near dawn that makes you wake from slumber, stir, and reach for the extra blanket that resides somewhere near the foot of the bed.

Still, at the tail end of a golden afternoon, one can strip down to a bathing suit and wade in a mountain stream.

Life is good.

When you can dance with mommy and "new puppy" among the fragrant scrub willows and the dancing sun moats.