Forge Pond

The storms cleared through late evening to leave the air purged of all dust and moisture. I awoke to a perfect morning, with an intensely clear blue sky, the overnight cool air rapidly being warmed by the sun. These are the kinds of day you dream about for cycling, but having to leave for home today I had to ration myself to just a couple of hours on the bike.

As I was making that first vital - and always best - cup of tea of the day, Holly kept nudging me with her nose - and with increasing force. She's a very laid-back animal, but when she needs to go out she lets you know very insistently. She wasn't too happy that I was determined to finish my tea first, but I rewarded her reluctant patience with some of my own and let her take the lead this morning.

She was soon into her stride and had me jogging to keep up with her. She led me across the main road to the college campus where she took me on a grand tour, down to the lake and then up through the woods on a switchback trail to the highest point at Prospect Hill. It really was as if she knew I was leaving today and wanted to make the most of me. But such is the intelligence of this dog that perhaps she also wanted to give this walk to me as a little goodbye present, knowing how much I would enjoy it.

It felt good to give myself over to the dog and just go with the flow, letting her have a good sniff around and not feel any pressure of time. I've never owned a dog myself but on this trip I've come to understand, perhaps for the first time really, the strength of the bond that can form between a dog and its owner. It is a rather special relationship.

I'm not going to talk about the goodbyes. It was sad, of course, to leave today, and the subdued feeling of yesterday lingered on, but on the drive to the airport my brother and I confirmed yet further how much we have in common and just how stimulating is the time we share together. We're going to have a lot more of that in the future. That's a vow.

I chose this shot today of Forge Pond, out near Belchertown, as stumbling across these lakes has been one of the highlights of the cycling for me. They present a deep sense of timelessness. You often only get a glimpse through the trees, and access is usually very limited, but it's easy to imagine that they have remained unchanged since the original settlers here similarly stumbled across them. And I guess they were well known by the Native American people long before that. I'll have to read up on some history before my next visit.

Before leaving I took a few pictures of the family. It was all a bit rushed and Jake had just fallen asleep so he doesn't appear in any of the shots (as I was forbidden from waking him up!) but there are a couple I was pleased with, one of my wonderful mother, Dorothy (not looking too shabby for a few months shy of 80 years of age), and another of Darren and Kindreth (looking a little tired but definitely showing the contentment of new parents). I'm so proud of my brother and his wife. They are going to be wonderful parents. They already are!