I wonder what it would take to use my body
to keep you warm like those two mallards
left in a cardboard box on my doorstep. . .

~ Excerpt from “Elegy for a Mallard,” John Allen Taylor in Foundry

Saved the walk, this morning, as I only had time for a swim before running my Charles River Writers webinar. I drove the Special One where he needed to go, traffic, traffic, and by the time I got to the pool for my swim, I looked for my swim bag and realized that I had focused so much on keeping track of diaper bag and lunch I had left my own bag behind. However, I was wearing my bathing suit. So, I was not wiling to leave the pool without swimming. I can do without a towel, and I can do without my swim cap, and I cannot do without goggles, but I trust I will find a lost and found pair in the pool. And, I did. So what, they were kid sized and pinched my eyes, but they worked. And I had my swim and paper towelled myself dry. Wow, what a powerful writing session we had. Then, off to Arlington to meet my youngest for a walk with the dogs. Blue sky, sunshine, cool, but not frigid. The dogs dislike pavement and they moved slowly and rather resentfully on their leashes. Still, Spy Pond glittered in sunlight and I got to see the happy mallards. And tonight, found this poem excerpted above that I fell in love with about mallards. Oh, my. Tired tonight. And filled up with the writing so spontaneously generated and shared in the workshop this morning. And missing Frank who will soon be home.