Exhaling Gratefully Into The Great Wide Open
One of the first things we noticed about Dallas was the availability of open land. Having moved here from the crowded Northeast, we were struck by how much space there was to spread out and exhale.
Like any great city, Dallas is paved and urban, but there are still a great number of parks providing room to breathe. I’m lucky to have this just outside my door. We all need a healthy dose of Vitamin N (Nature!) and dogs lead us straight into it.
We have a greenway behind our apartment that borders the great expanse of the D/FW Airport (which rivals Manhattan in size – D/FW, not my greenway…). The greenway itself is simply a tract of undeveloped, marginally maintained land with a large canal running through it. It’s one of the reasons that led us to choose this location as the girls need room to walk and feel the earth under their paws. Standing on our balcony, I can hear the distant rumble of the highway, but I can also see green grass, sunflowers and the rippling waves of our canal.
Each day away from work, I like to venture out with Nyxie and Arwen and walk “our territory” like any healthy pack should do. Since they have a combined weight of about 125 lbs, I actually take two walks – first with Arwen, and then with Nyxie. Walking the two together would be ideal for many reasons. However, I’m quite content not discovering what lies at the bottom of the canal, while trailing behind the girls chasing a snowy egret flying across the water.
Arwen is a flower-sniffer, and with the abundance of wildflowers blooming this time of year, our walks seem to extend themselves. Being a 10-year-old, she starts out strong, but then ever so slightly, begins to slow down. By our return home, she’s sniffed all the pee-mail from the past few days, marked all her usual spots to let others know this is clearly her land, and even chased a rabbit or two. She’s my free spirit dog, my wanderer. She has the sly intelligence of the coyotes she tracks, but can easily be distracted by a dragonfly’s dipping and hovering dance.
These days we’ve been starting our walks earlier to avoid the sun’s full onslaught later in the morning. This is good news for poor Nyxie, who's dressed all in black. Walks with her are more athletic, more-purpose driven. I imagine Nyxie as a great pool of teeming energy and with each step we take, a drop or two is emptied. Nyxie is in constant “perimeter-check mode” –- surveying the scene and cataloging any disturbances. She’s comfortable being led, and her great, sleek form slinks powerfully at my side. While she enjoys a nice sniff, there’s little interest in marking or exploring beyond where I am. If I stop, she rests easily beside me, but she’s always ready…for something.
I pass no one but red-tailed hawks and the occasional scurrying rabbit. I take pictures and sometimes jot an idea down, but we are content to be quiet together.
Together in the great wide open.
Posted on Jun 24, 2011 by Grace Foley
