Blue and Free

It seems as though we've been living inside an enormous pie the last few days, buried under the inside of a hazy gray crust, trudging ankle deep through the juices which collect on the bottom. And then this morning it was as though someone had pulled the top layer away, leaving a ring of crust along the edges, spilling blue and sunlight into our world, if only briefly. A wall of clouds ringed the horizon, obscuring even the foothills and the mountains, dark near their bases but whipped, like meringue at their peaks. Duncan was more than ready to adventure out and not even the lake that had overrun the grass could stop him. I dropped his leash once we'd crossed the street and stood by, content watching him run and jump and even roll, snapping his jaws in the early morning sunshine as if trying to capture it and bring it home to enjoy later. There is no joy like the joy of a dog set free in a dry and blue-skied world.