The Loves of a Pup

Things Joe loves beyond measure:

A leaf traced with frost crystals
A big pile of dirt – yumm!
Small pillows of moss
Rediscovering a buried bone
Chunks of cedar
Scrubby tufts of English ivy to rub his face in and then slide over on his belly
A lace fern to shred
Any empty water bottle
A pile of woodchips or leaves
Bear grass
Obese squirrels
Children – especially the fireplug shape of a bundled-up toddler
My boyfriend, B.
Very, very big dogs
Snow
Anything new, especially if he can fit it in his mouth
Waking up late and getting up slowly (I adore this about him, he’s not a morning pup)


Things Joe hates:

His Halti (a head halter for dogs)
Being left alone at home
Being left outside the coffee shop


Joe’s deep attentiveness to stimuli has made me notice things that register only in terms of irritation. Joe sees the elegance of frost, the delicious crunch of a frost-gilded leaf under a paw, the intriguing way it melts when he takes it in his mouth, its slipperiness underfoot as he pads across the deck, the sharpness of cold air in his nose. While my first reaction was, ‘Damn, now I’ll have to scrape the windshield. I’ll need to leave 5 minutes earlier.’

After watching Joe so fully absorbed by the frost (which is relatively unusual in Seattle) I saw it differently. As we walked along I began to notice how the frost outlined stems and twigs, yet fanned across some leaves and only edged others. How it lay like a sheen of vellum over the moss, how the thinnest layer of ice lay over the dark pool of water.

It was a beautiful, clear day, once I stopped to notice.