Day 1808 - Thanksgiving

It was such a nice day. We slept in late and then took the dogs on a leisurely walk along the lake. Entire families were walking their dogs this morning. Maybe this has become a Thanksgiving ritual for some. It was certainly a nice day for walking your dog. The sky was blue and the air was crisp and cool. Dot and Dash loved it. While the dogs took their afternoon nap, we went down to the Warwick Hotel for our Thanksgiving dinner. The service was great and the food was delicious. There was a table filled with fresh shrimp, crab legs, and sushi. Another table was filled with over a dozen delicious salads. We could have made a meal out of the appetizers, but we needed to save room for prime rib, candied yams, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and all the other stables of a Thanksgiving feast. As Thanksgiving buffets go, this was one of the better ones. Everyone has lots of meat on Thanksgiving, but the Warwick made a point of making sure that the vegetables and side dishes that went with your meal were exceptionally fresh and creative. They didn't rush you either. Our leisurely meal lasted until almost 3 PM.

When we got home, we took the dogs to their favorite dog park. Dot and Dash hadn't been to the dog park since they had cancer. That was almost a year ago. I think the last time we went to the dog park was last January, just before Dash's thyroid surgery. I had forgotten how much Dash loves to be off-leash and play with other dogs. You could tell he really missed the park and was delighted to be back. He raced around to show us how fast he was and quickly found another dog to play with. Dot was more sedate, but she had fun as well, quietly smelling things and following us around. There were many reasons we waited so long. While Dash was having radiation and chemo treatments, he was quite weak and we were afraid some of the other dogs would sense the weakness and attack him. Dot is just too frail to roughhouse with other dogs anymore, but we knew the park wouldn't be crowded since it was Thanksgiving and there was also a Cowboys game in the afternoon. All in all, it was a perfect day to return to the dog park. Dot and Dash were certainly happy, especially when they discovered we had saved them some turkey from our Thanksgiving meal.

Janet doesn't have to work tomorrow, so I suspect that we'll have another leisurely day with the dogs. From the number of e-mails I received this morning, I suspect that some of my workaholic clients were actually working today. At least they weren't pressuring me with deadlines. I do have work to do, but I'd like to savor the holiday a bit longer. There's plenty of time for work, but it isn't everyday that you get to enjoy seeing your once shy dog rediscover how much fun it is to play with other dogs.

Janet and I talked a bit about retirement during dinner. She'll be retiring soon and is looking forward to it. I can't decide whether I retired twenty years ago, or will keep working forever. My life is pretty amorphous. I quit actively looking for new business quite a while ago, but continue to work with clients who have become friends over the years. It's not a bad life. When Janet retires, I imagine that we'll spend more days like today; eating out a lot and playing with dogs. More days like today is OK.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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