Two Foxes

I spent yesterday catching up on stuff around the house. It was rainy and there wasn't much opportunity to go outside, so I dealt with things like submitting medical invoices for reimbursement from our insurance (fun!) and paying my UK tax preparer (fun!).

I also did some reading. I started a murder thriller called "Black Thorn" by Sarah Hilary that I picked up in a bookstore on a whim. It's pretty good so far -- I'm about 100 pages in. And I'm almost caught up on all my New Yorkers. I think I'm two issues behind.

One of the New Yorker articles I read was about Tucker Carlson and his "road show." Apparently Tucker's idea of the pinnacle of American greatness and decency was the year 1985, and he says this over and over again -- " I liked America in 1985." I find that perplexing. I don't remember 1985 being a particularly great time, with AIDS ravaging the gay community (granted, Tucker may not have minded) and the military tangled up in foreign conflicts in Lebanon and Nicaragua. It's an odd year to choose. But then, it was Reagan's Morning in America, which I suppose appeals to conservative sensibilities. It was a relatively stable time, I'll give it that, even if to me and many of my college-age friends it felt stifling.

Funny how we mythologize the past. I suspect Tucker thinks 1985 was better than it really was, even for him. Nostalgia is powerful and deceptive.

I checked the garden cam to see what went on in our garden during our absence in Bray. Turns out, not much -- but we did get an answer to a lingering question regarding the neighborhood foxes. Some of you wondered whether the fox I've been catching on video is one animal or more than one, and I've been curious about the same thing. Well, the short video above isn't very good, partly because I had the camera positioned badly, but it definitely shows two foxes -- so there are at least a pair of them. One runs by at the very beginning of the clip, near the shed, and another one follows a few moments later.

(Top photo: A fallen maple leaf on one of next year's teasels.)

Home Again

We made our way back from Bray yesterday morning on the train. By the time I'd walked the dog, had breakfast and packed everything up, it was somehow 11 a.m. -- checkout time. So there wasn't much opportunity to do anything else but get to the train station.

Once again we had a terrible time finding an Uber to carry us and the dog. We were rejected by five drivers, one of whom told Dave we had to order an "Uber Pet." If you can figure out what this is you're a step ahead of me. There's nothing on the app that specifies pets (we always put in notes that we have a dog) and there is no such separate app as "Uber Pet," at least not that I can find.

We called the people who booked us the cottage and they got us a ride with a local car service. All's well that ends well.

The train from Maidenhead was surprisingly crowded and Olga got lots of pats, even when she mysteriously began licking some poor man's pristine white trainers. I apologized but he didn't seem to mind. He must clean those shoes with something that appealed to her.

Since then she's been pretty much sound asleep in her familiar surroundings, as you can see above. (Notice that she has a bed on the floor -- but she always opts for the couch.)

And I've done laundry and we had take-away Chinese for dinner, so we're pretty much back in our groove. I know I'm behind on answering comments but I hope to get to that today!