What a difference a day of sunshine makes!

To just stand for a minute this morning and capture the azure sky washed my bad week completely away. To be outside, feeling the breeze on my cheeks, the sun on my skin, was restorative and calming. Peace - so elusive at work this week - filled my heart and I just stood and smiled.
This morning the dog and I headed to an abandoned shoe factory that lies along the river that runs through Pittsfield. There are acres of park land around the old mill and I can tell you, it was a sweet and relaxing excursion. No worries; no deadines; no pressure. Just a slow easy walk through the trees with the sound of the rushing river as accompaniment. A few birds yelled warmings that we were there and the sun played hide and seek with us.

Miss Emma was in heaven - there were a bazillion scents to follow, lots of space to run in and new places to explore. I have always thought her vision was compromised and this trip really confirmed it. I called her to me at one point and she lifted her head to find me but couldn't see me. I was about 600 feet away and it wasn't until I moved that she finally spotted me and came running. What a fine time she had and it did my heart good to see her off the leash.
What a surprise! Someone had hung little homemade bird houses all through the park...how absolutely lovely and unexpected.
Everywhere there was evidence of the final passing of winter - a little bridge over a stream was littered with pine cones and needles, blown from the trees in fierce winter storms.
No one was home when we visited but birds (?) or others have made this tree into an apartment building.

This little trip was a gift - and just three minutes from home. Sometime the sweetest treasure are right in front of us...unseen, unexpected and often unappreciated.
You know Miss Emma and I will return again and again.