We try to take our dog on a field trip once a week, just to give her some new sights and smells and not to mention a thrilling opportunity to ride in the car!

Today my daughter and I went over to the field near the middle school and local cemetery. I loved the way the trees in the cemetery undulated in the breeze, so I hung back and shot this video with my phone. It kind of reminded me of Fangorn Forest in <em>Return of the King</em> or the jungle at the beginning of <em>Apocalypse Now</em>. That’s Coco at the bottom, about one-third of the way in from the left, checking things out along the fence.

This is the last Friday of summer, which always makes me sad. I’ve been a teacher for many years now (starting as a TA in grad school). I often wonder if I’d notice the change of season or feel the loss of summer quite so acutely if I weren’t tied to the academic calendar. Maybe I’ll find out someday when I retire.

However, it occurs to me that if it turns out I’m no longer sad about the end of summer once I’m retired, I’ll probably start feeling nostalgic instead for the way I used to feel sad about it when I was working! 😂