I promised the newlyweds I would walk the block to their hotel by 6:00 a.m. to take the dogs out so they would not have to do it two days in a row. I woke at 5:45. Did not sleep well, as I was anticipating needing to get up and go out too early in the cold dark city. I rose, and then he said, “You’re going?” And I said yes. “Okay. I’ll come with you.” And, so he did. That’t the picture, above. My favorite travel picture. I took it in the pre-dawn lamp lit park of the morning walk he didn’t want me to have to take by myself. I have just released to my Aim for Astonishing list the new photo-inspired writing prompt from a favorite travel photo. If you aren’t on that list, and you want to download the pdf of this prompt, I hope you will do so here. After we returned, two hours later, my husband went back to sleep and I wrote from this photo for a long time before anyone woke up. I hope this writing will become a poem, but even if it doesn’t, I have so many feelings from this photo. We found an open cafe, and we were allowed to bring the dogs in while we had coffee and croissants. Then, I let Frank return to our Airbnb and I kept walking them until we were quite cold. Later, another wonderful thing happened. The newlyweds said they wanted to do their own thing: instead of the axe throwing event, they wanted to take the dogs for a hike. Well, I got to choose which I preferred, and I made the right choice. Let’s climb Mount Royal, I said, and they eagerly agreed. So, with the three dogs, we hiked this little mountain of Montreal in the center of the city on the snowy steps, up and up, and there were crowds overlooking the city from the height. And we found a hiking trail and the dogs ran free and giddy and in the trees, by the little frozen ponds, we were all so perfectly happy. And a hawk flew over their heads as I took a picture of them. And I got to be with them for this special adventure. And then we all met for dinner, and the newlyweds, gratefully, treated us all. Tomorrow, we dash out early to beat the storm on the way home.

“Circa 3000 B.C.

Shaped by retreating glaciers thousands of years ago, the mountain is, in fact, a cluster of three hills.

Its imposing presence in the centre of the island, views of the river and majestic forests made it a choice location for indigenous peoples travelling through the region thousands of years ago. The mountain was also a rich source of hornfels, sharp-edged rocks used instead of flint to make tools and weapons for hunting.

Over time, indigenous populations would have used the mountain’s wood to build villages and its fertile land to grow their main agricultural crops—corn, squash and beans—known as the Three Sisters.

Like many other mountains, Mount Royal was undoubtedly a place of great importance in the cultural and sacred landscape of the people.”

https://www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw4jvBRCJARIsAHYewPM-o-WXDZ4MFJzkacTVd3a4htEMaQmIZl6FfgkEYdxzxywPxe3F8HIaAhIGEALw_wcB