I took the dogs for a walk this morning in a route that took us to the spot where you can look out over the Gill Farms down in the Esopus Valley. The weather was pleasant and nearly all the snow was gone, though I could still see substantial amounts of it off to the west on either High Point or Mombaccus mountains (the nearest Catskill peaks).
This afternoon I pretty much finished the painting I've been working on:
(Click to enlarge)
Ray and Nancy's dog Suzi had died over the weekend. She'd stopped eating and then started breathing funny, and by the time they'd gotten her to the emergency vet for euthanasia, she was almost dead. So passes another milepost on the highway of life. After all, it was Suzi who'd been the catalyst for Ray and Gretchen's friendship. Getchen had first noticed Ray in Prospect Park 15 years ago because he'd had a tiny little puppy — Suzi — with him, and soon they were good friends. Indeed, Ray and Nancy probably wouldn't be living in Hurley right now if we hadn't moved up here (though they would probably have moved somewhere up here by now).
To commemorate Suzi's life, the four of us went out for Indian food at the Kingston Indian Restaurant. I don't know if Suzi's death was the reason, but some of the dinner conversation tonight was rather maudlin. We spent a long time talking about the relentlessness of aging and how hard it has been on our more attractive friends. At one point Nancy said this about the process of becoming middle-aged: "You look the same for so long and then suddenly you realize you look different, almost like another person."
