July 25 2013 - Diminishing Perspective

“I know things,” she said and turned away from me.  She wandered over onto her dog bed, curled into a ball and tucked her nose under her tail.

“Prana, it pains me to see you see you so morose,” I said with a smile. I sat down in front of her and crossed my legs trying to find a comfortable position on the wooden floor. 

Prana raised her head and sniffed the air, perhaps sensing some sarcasm and stared at me. “You’re doing that thing with one eyebrow. How do you do that?” she said as her ears unfurled from the side of her head into the lab forward pose. 

“I just do. You just did that thing with your ears, how did you do that?” I countered.

“Ok. Fair enough I guess. But, I still know things” and Prana looked over towards the door.

“What do you know?” I asked and leaned back against the wall and stretched out my legs. 

“It’s better to show you than tell you,” and she stood up and gingerly placed one paw and then the other on my lap and stretched out like a big cat before starting out on the hunt. I scratched the back of her neck, the short copper fur soft under my fingers and then gently rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Let me guess, it’s time for a walk?”  I asked as I rose up off the floor leaning on the wall for some support.  Prana spun in circles, clattered across the floor and headed down the stairs. I grabbed my sunglasses and followed her out.

It was mid March and there was still a nip in the air as we walked down our quiet residential street towards Wellington Park.  It’s a square park about four acres with oaks and ash trees surrounding the perimeter. There is a cedar chipped play area with swings and climbing structures and on the north side a rectangle field stretches from side to side for soccer games or Frisbee toss. 

Prana trotted past the park only glancing at it to check for off leash dogs. “Let’s go to the place on 72^nd avenue, come on it’s only a few blocks more,” she said as she led the way down the street.

The 72^nd Roseway Parkway slices north and south across five long residential blocks.   It is fifty feet wide and stretches from Sandy Boulevard all the way north to Prescott Avenue. Two long columns of Purple Leaf Plum trees march down its entire length.

Prana led us to the far end and we turned around to gaze down the length of the parkway. Dew shimmered across the tops of the grass and the sun was bursting through cumulus clouds that would soon be thunderheads.   Twenty foot tall trees with skeletal branches careened outward and pink confetti flowers sprinkled across their arched tops.  My eyes followed the lines of sentinel trees down the parkway as they narrowed  into a distant single point.  I walked this path many times, but never noticed the calm that came over me as I focused on the far side. 

“Diminishing Perspective. Cool, huh?” stated Prana as she looked up at me. Her ears were folded over, but they jutted outwards like short airplane wings. She sighed and looked toward the far side too. “Sometimes things just seem better when we come here.  I don’t seem to mind the other dogs, or those sneaky cats, or loud trucks.” 

“You’re right,” I said. “You do know things”.