Brighter Shade of Red

Today it is 65 degrees. I walked to Cass Park and all Lily did was hunt for goose droppings. So I headed out to the Aylsworth ballfield around the corner from Cass Park. I went down a residential street and Lily met a lovely sleek black Lab only two years old. Her owner was washing a cobalt blue car while talking on the phone. His wife corralled the dog. I invited them to join me in the park at the end of their street but a garbage truck was beeping and backing up as we talked, coming right at us, so they took the dog inside but not before the dog teased and flirted with Lily. Sometimes I think I should have a dog-walking service like you see in NYC, the woman with eight leashes in each hand, going through Central Park. As long as I could occasionally stop and take notes while I walked and could afford the rain gear, I think I would enjoy it. I noticed the city had repainted all of the fire hydrants an even brighter shade of red. Now they remind me of those large ceramic cookie jars for dogs biscuits. The sidewalks were so sandy it was like the Sahara Desert. Lily loves the new ball field. It's the home of the East Woonsocket Little League. The metal signs on the chain link backstop with names of sponsors whip in the wind with a huge noise that always makes me jump. Lily doesn't notice. If I lived across the street I'd be out there in my pajamas tacking them on tight so I could sleep. I threw a baseball I had found - it already had teeth marks in it. I threw it right out of the ball field into the brook. We went and got it and Lily lay down for a cooling break. She drank from the lounging position. On my way home from the ball field I saw a tiny stone house for sale. Someone could really love this house I thought, it looks like a little Irish house. Then we walked past the soon-to-be-replaced firehouse, and I fantasized about living there, too. What a view that would be of Mount Saint Charles and the water tower, but I'd miss our residential neighborhood. I do enjoy my neighborhood characters.