Today I have NOTHING scheduled!  I probably shouldn’t say that, as it’ll just upset you if you’re reading this before heading out the door to start your work week.  It’s not that I won’t be doing stuff .. and not that some of it won’t be workish … but none of it is scheduled.  Somehow that makes it all feel a little more like play.  But why?  Is it merely the element of choice?  It’s something I’ve often wondered about – what makes something work and what makes it play – and why do we categorize activities in that way, anyway?

Meanwhile, quoting Fleetwood Mac always has a way of reminding me of the moment during the Democratic Convention all those many years ago when “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” blasted from the dais and it felt like we were (maybe, maybe, maybe) actually starting a new era (although the Fleetwood Mac reunion thing probably should’ve been a clue).  Now it’s 2008 … a little more than a week before Super Tuesday.  Hillary’s challenge now is to reel Bill in … or there’s absolutely no way that anything she says or does can look remotely new … or her own, even.  He’s got to tamp it down.  I wonder if it’s too late.  Back in ’92 it felt new, but it wasn’t as new as it was packaged up to be.  Now?

This past weekend we had a visit from an old college friend (she’s not old … we’re not old … must be that the college is old!), her 12 year old son, and a friend of his.  The house was full of prepubescent boy energy and our black lab Willie was right there with it.  Willie is generally a shy dog and is particularly skittish around men.  But give him a couple of 12-year-old boys and he’s in heaven! 

Willie’s skittishness has curtailed his social skills, so when he does want to be social, he can tend to come off on the clumsy, nerdy end of the spectrum sometimes.  The boys were very tolerant, for the most part … except when Willie tried to hump them … which happened more often than I want to admit. 

Anyway – it was a great visit for Willie (and hopefully for the boys).  Since they left, I’ve noticed our poor Will looking longingly down the hill where they sledded.  He didn’t come up to my room, where he usually sleeps, last night.  My suspicion is that he wanted to be downstairs in case they came back … but that may be assigning more memory capacity to his lab brain than it actually possesses!

One of our activities during the visit was a bonfire on the hill behind our house.  It was an amazing conflagration … and one of the best parts has been the excuse to use that word over and over!  When I was setting it up on Saturday afternoon, I was amazed at the amount of deer poop scattered around the area.  (There are apple trees on the hill- and the deer often come there to feed.)  Here’s a photo of two recent visitors … taken last Wednesday, I believe.  (Thanks, Dewd!)