Well, at nine-twenty Grandma went and looked at the calendar, which said Lee isn't coming until tomorrow. By that time I had about forty minutes to walk the dog in, so we bolted. I wasn't sure we could make the whole circuit before ten, so we just did the first leg, and I jogged and ran a lot. There was a little traffic tangle a little way along on the way back from the watering hole; Lark was lagging behind a bit, and I stopped to wait for her to catch up. A lady on a bike came on, and she had almost passed me when I heard a woman's voice calling a dog. Oops. So I let her pass, and then I started running for Lark. When I came into sight, she was at a bend in the trail, engaging in wary incivilities with a familiar-looking Border collie. Where were the woman and the golden? Around the bend in the trail, with another girl, rather younger. So I said hi to everyone, in varying tones and enthusiasm levels (with Lark lowest), and the woman said, "I think we've seen you before." "Yeah," I said, "couple days ago." Having petted the golden, I decided I'd better extricate us. So I started out running, calling Lark very firmly and wishing the idiot collie would quit chasing us. It did, very shortly, but I ran for a good while. I'd decided, a few days ago, that my body wasn't being challenged much by walking anymore, and I need to run more. But the incentive to run, when it's really hot and you want to have some energy left to get home with, is pretty low. So today, with the deadline for getting home and the canine imbroglio, was a good day.
So Grandma told me Sid called while I was gone. Did I mention that last night, just as she was coming in from Last Call, Lark got kinda woofy and Intruder! Intruder!-ish? Yeah. And again at twelve-thirty, while I was trying to go to sleep. She woke Grandma, too, just in time to hear the Rockies lose in the thirteenth inning. So that was our angle. Sid called to say that they had a bear visit last night and tear the trash apart. Meep. Actually, she also said that they're going camping this weekend and want me to take care of Maddy, but I still need to talk to her about it. (And say, Yes! I'd love to! Where's the cat food!)
So Grandma told me about the camping while we were in the car, with Jinn, going to the bridge luncheon. It was really nice. They had it at Joan's, because Norma's kitchen is a disaster zone with remodeling, but Norma still kinda presided. Harriet was there, with pictures of the Ethiopian twins her daughter is trying to adopt after, what, six miscarriages? So their one little boy will have little sisters. Also Grandma told her about Mom having all of us after her various miscarriages, which is to say there's still hope, so who knows, there could be more. So with Jinn and Grandma there were five, and they had a little game of bridge while Joan cleaned up. I, fortunately, had Barrayar in my purse, having contemplated the possibility of this eventuality. It was really fun talking to them over lunch, though, which was a variety of chicken salad (with palm and artichoke hearts) followed by lemon cream pie. It was all delicious. Joan sent the salad home with us. Wait, was it Norma's salad? I think so. Anyway, that's dinner. So Jinn brought us home, all speculating on the species of the bright yellow flowers covering the hill behind Joan's house. It's a lovely and eye-catching effect.
Read Barrayar while Grandma napped, and then it was time for Anti-Dog-Hair Measures, i.e. brushing and sweeping things.
Two sets of five pushups while waiting for pasta to boil for dinner. Kind of hard by the second set, but not too bad.
Took Lark for a run after dinner, from about eight to eight-thirty. It was really nice out: cool, with a pleasant nip to the arms and legs without being cool enough to bite. We met a family of four toiling up the Heller road: boy on bike, a couple years younger than me, toiling along at the laboriously slow pace of one who has to wait for everyone else; sister, maybe older; mom; and dad, with dog on leash. It was a very small dog, of uncertain breed, but it looked rather like the dog in the "When teddy bears and ewoks breed" lol. Lark got along with him quite well. We went perhaps two-thirds of the way to the end of the first leg, then turned back. I jogged in prolonged spurts. The family had still gotten a surprisingly little way past the creek crossing when I met them again. This time the boy stopped to respond to Lark's advances, which infallibly gets a rather warmer smile and hello from me than ignoring her, or merely saying hi and passing on, does.
I've been jogging more, since walking doesn't challenge my body enough unless I go farther than I have time for. What I've been wondering is whether it might not be a better idea to walk with weights instead--carry my backpack, put some books (although I'd hate to put books to such a use--maybe I can find something else) or something in it. Jog when I've gotten somewhere with that, maybe. It's something to think about, at least, and if I want to adventure I'd better be able to shape up to carrying things. Even if I don't adventure, it's always nice to know one's in shape if one does, by chance, have something interesting happen.
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