Seasons change

I love the changing of seasons.

Summer gets dull, autumn is a feast for the senses. Winter can be grim but has its own stark, bleak charm. And challenge. Winter racing is some of the best; heavy weather is often, the trees, stripped naked of leaves don't cast so much of a wind-shadow on the waters of our lake.

And there is a particular camaraderie to be found amongst the sailors that turn out on the startline no matter how vicious the conditions.

But sailing aside, I hate that it's dark when I get home from work. It's not the dark as such that gets me.

It's that I can't play ball with Lilly or Jack. One of the pleasures of walking a dog is to see it run free. These two German Shepherds are ball mad, so no matter who else might wander into the park, if you have a ball, you have their utter, devoted attention.

No ball, and they are very likely to charge over to say hello if they spot somebody else. They're lovely,  friendly creatures. But big, and if you don't know dogs (perhaps even if you do, but don't know mine) you've got no idea why they're charging over towards you. It's not really fair on strangers.

So in winter, we spend week nights walking on lead.

But no more! Called into the pet shop this evening and they were selling rubber balls that are set with LEDs that light up on impact and stay lit for five minutes.

Glowballs!

So we've been playing fetch all night. Bliss.