Flowering Trees

I just walked all over the North End of Woonsocket admiring all of the flowering trees. I love the pink crab-apple trees and the flowering white pear trees because they remind me of Van Gogh's painting The Blooming Plumtree. I stood on the hill at Cold Spring Park and admired all of the activity in the diminishing light. I spotted two people closing the gates to run their dogs in the big green baseball field below. Lily and I descended the hill and I asked the two women if it was okay if we came in to play with their dogs. She's good with other dogs I told them. They said sure. There was a beagle and a six-month old black German Shepherd with a white chest and pepper-speckled left paw. Lily ran herself silly chasing them both and being chased by them. She played with their dog toy, a miniature tire that she stuck her snout into and ran with. Then after a few minutes of high-speed running she was exhausted. I thanked the woman for letting me play and we started walking back up the hill through the park. Lily flopped down on the cool gravel near the monkey bars. I realized the gravel was nice and cold, she wanted to cool down. A bunch of kids came over and pet her. She rolled over on her back with her tongue hanging out. She was in heaven. Then we walked home, taking the same route back, and I looked for the short and squat bulldog Mr. President at the corner of North Main Street. He was in his yard and barked at us as we passed. We took a detour to the pollywog pond on East School Street and Lily had a big drink while standing up to her neck in the clear water. She really knows how to live and I feel lucky she is in my life.