Fog

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
~Carl Sandburg

This morning the fog enveloped the low parts of Council Point Park making the soccer field look like vapor was rising out of it and it was an eerie-looking phenomenon. Well, there was fog … but no felines to be found at the Park because canines ruled instead.

I saw a couple of funny things while walking the Park perimeter that I must share with you. First, the title for this blog post is “See Spot run!” because I saw a young man rollerblading with his Dalmatian dog. It struck my funny bone since the dog was running very fast on a long red leash and his owner was trying his best to keep up on his rollerblades. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Dalmatian up close and this one must have had easily a thousand black spots on its white body and I wished I had a black Sharpie to play connect the dots. The tall man was wearing a rugby shirt in red and white stripes and white bike shorts and was hunched over a little and looked like a candy cane. The bold contrast of stripes versus dots made a colorful and comical picture. I’ll just bet that Dick and Jane never thought to strap on their roller skates and chase after Spot in the old “Fun With Dick and Jane” readers.

Next, I also saw a man biking with his Bull Mastiff dog. This big dog looked as if he was doing all the hard work, while wearing the perpetual scowl that Bull Mastiffs generally do. The biker was flushed and pedaling fast and furiously in an effort to keep up with his galloping dog.

The last scenario was just before I left the perimeter path to head home. I often see a couple of walkers, a man and woman, who usually walk side-by-side, but sometimes the man is there alone on his rollerblades, skating along the perimeter path and pushing a white, mesh-encased baby stroller. I always thought ‘how nice he takes his baby out for a walk and gets his own exercise at the same time’ and I just assumed he was a stay-at-home dad with child-care responsibilities. We always pass the time of day and I never once looked into the stroller as we passed one another. This morning I saw the couple along the path and each one was pushing a stroller … now that piqued my interest. They waved “hi” and I caught up with them in the parking lot when I finished the trail. They were unpacking the strollers and lifting out their “babies” who were two small dogs! Can you say spoiled rotten pets?

Whatever makes you happy but it sure looked like the Park was going to the dogs this morning.