Giraffe Killer

I came across this little dog on our local high street the other day. She looked so possessive and proud of her stuffed toy, I asked the owner if I could take a picture. "She loves her toy," the owner confirmed.

I didn't think to ask the dog's name. Bad reporter!

Yesterday morning I set out for French class, like a dutiful student, and when I got to the Alliance Francaise I entered a largely empty and quiet building. You guessed it -- classes start next week! So I had the day to myself after all.

I went back home and tried to do all the little things that have been nagging at me. For example, last week, a clumsy pigeon thunked into our living room window, leaving a smudge of pigeon dandruff on the glass. (The pigeon was fine.) So I cleaned that up.

I vacuumed. I did laundry. I took the found clothing to Oxfam. I took all our bedclothes to the cleaners, as Olga has been climbing on the bed after her daytime walks and things were beginning to feel a bit gritty. I trimmed the old blossoms off the amaryllis, making room for the two coming stalks of flowers. I read my Jack London biography, which is quite good.

In the afternoon I took Olga to Fortune Green and the cemetery, where we haven't been in a while. It looks like they're on a massive cleanup effort at the cemetery, removing most of the brush that has grown up around some older headstones. I've looked online to see if there's any mention of this work and the rationale behind it, but I don't see any. Personally, I love the overgrowth, which gives the cemetery a secluded, mysterious air and no doubt is wonderful for wildlife. I don't know why they're stripping it all out. This area, which I photographed a year and a half ago, is almost entirely cleared now, and these are old graves -- I may be wrong, but I doubt anyone is clamoring to visit them. Why not leave them to the birds and critters?