Day 38

19F (-7C) with wind-chill again!  Little old Lily-cat loves being stroked, but will not be picked up (because she is 20 years old and arthritic), nor will she put her whole self on your lap, just the front legs (she likes to keep at least half her body independent).  We cut her nails today and she still will not have anything to do with Tim (Tim did the cutting, I did the holding tightly).

We spent the whole day at Salem State College Swimming Centre, where the boys swam in the Cape Ann district championships, with 8 schools participating.  They both swam really well, no medals, but placed in the top 7 in backstroke (Matt), butterfly and IM (Nick).  Amazing how you become one of those weird loud-shouting parents, all excited in the spectator gallery, willing your child on, as if it helps in any way.

So, by the time we got home and ate a very belated lunch, it was almost nightfall.  I ran to the meadow in the twilight and by the time I had finished 5 ups and downs of Heartbreak Hill it was almost pitch dark.  Molly still asked me to throw the ball, even though she couldn't see it!  Walking home through the dim forest I would have been lost if not for knowing the place so well, the way the path winds through the trees, and where there are still patches of ice which must be avoided, the location of thorn bushes out to get you, and protruding branches to elude.

Running in the dark you seem to go much faster than in daylight. I was speeding through the night with ease, my legs like pistons, my mind as clear as the sky.