It's the end of July and we're in that season of the year where you're already sweating within a hour of your last shower. Why, I wondered, are these hot, sweltering days known in various countries as the "dog days of summer"? It's certainly not because it's weather conducive to dog walking. The photo above shows Buba and me, collapsed in the park, when the 30 degree heat of our early evening walk proved a bit much for someone in a fur coat. It started out as a walk and it ended up as a siesta!
In fact, I discovered, these hot summer days don't take their name from overheated canines, but were given that name because, historically, the hottest time of year came just after the rising of Sirius, the dog star, the brightest star we can see from earth.
Even so, Buba and I have been finding ways of getting our exercise. Discovering that our usual walk across the fields offers no shade at all from the heat of the day, we've been finding shadier alternatives for these summer days. Our only option in the afternoon or early evening is to stroll through the park close to my house, which is full of large shady jacaranda trees and offers free entertainment in the form of the green Amazon parrots that flock there. In the morning, however, we can walk up the quarry road from my house, towards the hills, and still find plenty of shady spots until the sun begins to rise higher at around 9 am.
If we're early enough, and are feeling energetic enough, we might even do our "over the hill" walk, which meanders through old olive groves before descending steeply again on the other side. (I call it our "over the hill" walk because it literally does take us up and over the hill, and not because it makes my old lungs tell me that I'm getting over the hill!) It's only 3 km in total (the green S, starting point, on the map is my house) but it takes plenty of energy because it's uphill for much of the way. Today was the first time we took that route since my being on crutches earlier in the year. (Thankfully my foot has healed well, or I'd never have managed the many kilometres we walked while praying around cities like Geneva, Wittenberg and Rome on the Reformation Tour. More about that in the posts below.)
We made a new friend while returning home this morning: an enthusiastic young border collie who almost jumped the fence in his eagerness to join us on our walk. That reminded me of my border collies in Cape Town, and made me very thankful that, even in these dogless days here in Spain, I can borrow a neighbour's dog and still enjoy walking in our beautiful countryside. (I'm not someone who's very motivated to walk alone.) I'm also extremely thankful that I'm able to walk like this. Back in 2014, arthritis in my feet was making it difficult for me to walk more than a few minutes at a time. I'm grateful that I'm now able to walk a reasonable distance, as long as I have some kind of soft, spongy footwear. It means I can enjoy these dog days of summer.