Morning clasp

The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so empty of joy, that when I clasped their frosty finger-tips, it seemed as if I were shaking hands with a northeast storm.
~ Helen Keller

I know these little clasped paws. I've felt their delicate, icy tracery on my warm summer legs. Joyless, never, busy, always. Her capable peanut packers always at the ready. Fyra, my elder chipmunk of notched ear and nubby toe, stands up to face her day.

For the Record,
This day came in bright and sunny with lower humidity, thankfully. Max really loves the morning sun after two days of rain.

Last year's thumbnail seems like yesterday. He's hard at work on job applications these days. It's just fabulous to have him close by, just through the path in the woods.