Turns out all I really needed a break from was the news. The boys’ll be home next week and obviously things will slow over the holiday, but January feels like too long a time away. Been reading ‘my pages’ (though not much) and making draft blockers.

Shopping and wrapping gifts, of course, and making a few. Like last year, against all reason I find myself making dolls for the boys. 

…on occasion walking Finn from the CVS parking lot instead of from home, which I like in part because it takes me to this funky cottage.
Continue to train the dog. He’s gotten more reactive lately, though, and we can’t figure out why. I hide his food pellets around the house almost daily and command him: “Find It”!! It keeps him busy. Dogs like him need challenge.  Yesterday during a game of fetch which started out feeling like (yet another) dog-interruption and quickly became an exercise in joy, I heard my father’s voice (this doesn’t happen often, mind): “whatever you do, Dee, don’t get rid of this dog.”

‘Cause I still go there.