AUDumn Walk

A photo-chronicle a late afternoon walk with Audrey on a mildly cool day in early November. There is no theme here, and nothing of particular significance occurs. 

 

"Audrey," I observe out loud. "You look bored." She stares at me because I'm stating the obvious. Well, it isn't raining , but at just minutes after 4:00 PM,  the sky will soon fall pitch black, so it's now or never. Both of us need the exercise, and she has clearly determined that nothing on TV is worth watching.  Furthermore, I need a break from trying to absorb what I am struggling to learn. So, quietly we gear up for a stroll around the 'hood. This time, I decide to let her take me--instead of the other way around.

 

The fragrance of SQUIRREL must be permeating the neighborhood.  Audrey seldom, if ever, barks up the (proverbial) wrong tree, and the fact that some neighbor has a penchant for throwing fresh peanuts in the grass that lines the street and sidewalk doesn't make for silence and contemplation. It makes for emphatic barking and occasional noshing on "goober peas," shells and all. 

 

 The first time we met him, Audrey growled at  this significant-looking bear. The second time,  though, he wore two strands of beads around his neck, one each of gold and metallic green. University of Oregon colors. Audrey, being the Ducks fan she is, has never opened her mouth to him again.

This is where she leads us next. More of the same landscape. More squirrels perhaps? Pretty brown, orange, and yellow leaves cover the grass proving that deciduous trees really do exist in Western Oregon.

 

Same cutesy anti-poop sign in front of someone's house for at least two years. (Why would anyone want to poop in front of your stupid house anyway?)

Audrey discovers a gift bag-- and I am not making this up--  from Victoria's Secret, which is not so typical of the usual freebies people leave at the street corner "donation centers." For some reason, the pink bag and its contents disturb her; so after barking vehemently at it for about half a minute (while I manipulate my phone to catch a picture of it), I urge her on. Although Audrey has acquired some of her most treasured possessions in this manner, she covets nothing here.

We pass the sign placed among the rose bushes in front of da Vinci Arts Middle School. None left anyway.

This is so cool! I have a dog that almost completely matches the sidewalk. Or is she really a chameleon? Or as my friend Marie suggests, "Urban camouflage!"

 I ask a young man with thinning reddish hair heading in the direction this sign is pointing. It turns out that just about half an hour from now, the curtain will rise on a da Vinci Arts Middle School student production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. I would have loved to have seen that!  "It's playing the weekend and the next one, too," he adds. 

Lo and behold!

da Vinci Drama Presents A Midsummer Night's Dream  November 5th,6th,12th and 13th at 4:30 PM November 7th and 14th at 2:00 PM

 

  Enough of that. Time to get back down to business! Either Audrey's delusional or there are critters down there and everywhere there's a sewer grate. And that's practically every other block!

Damn! I can never get her tail to stay still. I let her hover here a little longer than usual. Obviously, she finds it exhilarating. She might have stayed here all night, but it was time to move on and turn down  NE 28th Avenue and onto NE Burnside Street to circle back home.

On Burnside, Audrey greets a small dog wearing a gray sweater with a fin-shaped protrusion unsuccessfully trying to rise from the middle of his back. Turns out, it is a shark sweater. The male Chihuahua/Dachshund  cross has the improbable name of "Garbo." The young woman on the end of the leash is named Tami. We chat for about 10 minutes about dogs, dog food, the local dog boutiques and other vendors of goods that tempt overindulgent dog "parents." 

After turning the corner of 22nd and Burnside, we see this odd-looking warning on the women's (vintage) clothing store that occupies the space that used to belong to Meat For Cats and Dogs, the neighborhood holistic pet store, which we skip today. Audrey really gets manic in that place. Wouldn't you, too, with the prospect of getting treated to a raw dried organic chicken or duck foot?

 

We pass The Standard (our Neighborhood Bar) as we head home for a dinner of raw organic turkey and vegetables. Already, it is getting dark. Goodnight.