What they say about babies and puppies

Here she is with Lulu last Thursday after we spent some time in the green dog park.

It's a good thing that she's so cute. We had another trying night and morning with little Sasha. Mark was up at midnight, woken by the smell of another mess in her crate. He came back to bed hopping mad after cleaning that up. I feigned sleep. She was whining much of the night, finally insisting that I get up at 5:30am. With the intention of wearing her out, I went out for an early walk in the woods with her. We got back, and she was a complete terror the whole morning. I am finding this surprisingly stressful. Everyone says how much work a puppy is and maybe I thought that was an exaggeration. It is not!

We had our friends Karen, Sayword and Ashley over for brunch. Mark has perfected the art of scones. They have been gone all summer so it was great together again.

This is back-to-real-life week for most people. Kids start back to school. The Angels will live in the city during the week now so I'll be able to see them more regularly. They are thrilled with Sasha so that will be even more of a draw to spend time together.

Narayan will return to teaching in late September and will teach almost every week until mid December. I have been practicing daily. When I'm out West I like to practice walking meditation under the shade of some big trees. Mark has set up an archery space and it is lovely to walk there because it is grassy and level.