Run, and become

Strange things have been happening in my tummy lately, which is very odd for me. In all my (nearly four) years, I have only had one fleeting occurrence of what is euphemistically referred to as the squits but, for the last few days, I’ve definitely been struggling to regain my digestive equilibrium. Kemo Sabe has even had to resort to medication, and for the last two mornings gave me a pill, camouflaged – and not that brilliantly either – by the lovely mince we have at breakfast time. Remarkably, feeling under the weather only seems to make me – if anything – more energetic than usual; my determination to retrieve is as keen as ever and my pleasure in repeatedly searching and swimming (if necessary to do the job) remain steadfast, so we went down on the beach again today – just the two of us.

The summer has returned! Late-booking visitors patrolled the shining sands, dogs in tow, many dashing in and out of the sea, their joy in being what they are so much more palpable than their owners’ who, quite frankly, often look to be in a rum mood when on holiday.  For some reason the freedom from normal everyday life seems to place another kind of stress on folk, making them very grumpy. Anyway, the rising temperature meant  we have cleaned out the stove once again, as it was far too hot for a fire today; all the windows and French doors are now open. The grass front and back has been cut for the umpteenth time much to Nicholas’s chagrin (he so loves to bark at machinery), and as we watched we counted the butterflies, huge bumble bees and (someone else’s) house-martins catching flies overhead.  Yet, despite all this, on the bush above the oak bench a robin sang conversationally, reminding us that his is the voice we will have to wait for all too soon when the more seasonable weather resumes, as resume it must, probably tomorrow. Our resident sparrows chattered busily, attending to their routines, chicks reared and populations increased. In no time at all I will be running again with only the curlews’ call as a backdrop as I resume my life’s work of invigorating every day with my lust for life, noisy though it is.