The Magic Wood

Yesterday afternoon, after our high pressure-induced, temperature inverted fog layer dissipated, the sun actually came out. I took the camera on my walk with the dog.

We stepped into the magic woods yesterday and, lo, the dead leaves are purple !

Callie is very different from her predecessor, Collette, on our routine walks. Collette was a right-down-the-road-and-back kind of gal. I'm talking here about the dirt road, two dirt tire tracks actually, that runs through the vineyard out back. Callie does not like to walk on the road.

A fern in the magical fall woods.

When I first tried to get Callie used to her leash, we walked on the road. She always wanted to turn back toward home. I think she thought I was taking her away. No fun there. When we did turn around to go back home, she galloped right along.

The grape leaves are transforming into brilliant patterns.

So, rather than take her on the road, I started taking her around the vineyard on the paths between the vines and the woods that surround them. Pretty quickly she forgot all about home and was riveted by the sights and smells of the woods' edge. So that's how we do it now, all around the edges, and no leash. We use the road sometimes, and she no longer has a problem with it.

And now we're actually venturing into the woods, following deer and footpaths through the trees. The woods can be dark and full of funny noises, especially with acorns and chestnuts dropping all around you. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Or, in our case, sangliers et lièvres et chevreuils, ma foi (wild boar, wild hare, roe deer).

I found a few of these on the ground in the middle of the vineyard. They're beer bottle caps. Someone had a little party out there.

Of course, our next big challenge is getting her to be comfortable riding in the car. It scares the crap out of her now. Actually, to be more precise, it scares the drool out of her. She gets so stressed in the car that she drools uncontrollably. Yuck.

Once she realizes that every car trip doesn't land her at the vet's, I think she'll be ok.