Nine A.M. Smiles and Artistic Fixes

  From the dog park to Joe’s paintings to my own pen‑driven thoughts.

Morning Walks, Paintings, and Pens

Nine in the morning is a better hour for the dog park — no question. Today it was Davies, Jack, and Tanner Two‑Ball holding court. A couple smiles, a few grins, and dogs behaving exactly like dogs should. The whole place felt more awake than those 5 a.m. visits where even the birds look half‑asleep.

Later on I walked with Joe, and his artistic mind was running full tilt. He showed me two paintings: one with a wired scenery fence, one without. Both looked wonderful in their own way. He said if he didn’t like anything in a painting, he’d paint right over it. That’s the artistic problem‑solving I admire — realism, but with the courage to erase and rebuild. No drama, just craft.

Somewhere in the afternoon I caught myself mumbling about my own hobbies. Writing, pens, notes, messages — the analog side of my brain that likes data, logs, and the physical act of putting words down. I don’t humor villains or folklore or doctors in fiction; I don’t get caught in long series. I’m told to read more for fun, but I’ve spent the last decade deep in nonfiction, tracking what I read with Kim, keeping my logs like a quiet archive of my life.

It’s funny how writing turns you into a pen person. You start noticing the weight of ink, the feel of paper, the way a note becomes a memory. That’s just how life goes on certain days — a walk, a painting, a thought, a log. I wasn’t sure about my last post, but I’ll publish it again. I was switching my writing utilities, but the words still came.

the dog at the start of the day telling me its time to take her out.  and she had my attention to go.  i couldn't focus on the day with out her