Thursday, August 20, 2026, 67.8* F, 89% RH, 0738
I picked up the blue cup to make sure it was not upside down, (something I began doing to keep flies off the rim) put it back before pushing buttons that signal coffee to begin dripping. A misstep through the gate in a not ready to be awake state, feet clad in loose slippers I grasped chain links to restore balance. If I had fallen, would the dogs have escaped? He would’ve found me on his way to the red truck. I fell once on a February afternoon in Pennsylvania, walking down the driveway avoiding patches of ice, holding two leashes. Ruger and Zara (another Great Dane). When I opened my eyes looking at sky, I was still holding two leashes. Ruger and Zara were standing over me, watching, waiting, not barking, not trying to get away, as if this was the most normal thing for me to suddenly be lying on cold ground. Bruce was in the house.
To go back to the beginning, the foggy landscape urged me past the fence for a picture. Later from the deck looking past the stream, at greater distance than the camera portrays, something that looks like a white bird with a crest on its head and a round open mouth. The day is warming, sun shines on this window. Coffee is cold.
Perhaps the aspect is the openness to seeing.
Photo: LJ Austin
