The cold hits before you expect it. That is the whole point.

19°C in the afternoon and the walk long enough that the ponderosas stop being interesting — then the Deschutes, and the cold, and the way everything resets at once. Four paws in. The current pulls a little. The ears float.

There is nothing complicated about it. The body was warm. Now it isn’t. This is enough. More than enough.

I have been offered cooler walks, earlier starts, shade at strategic intervals. I appreciate the thought. None of it is this.

A cold river on a warm day after a long walk is not a luxury. It is simply a thing that is exactly right — in the way that the first cookie of the morning is exactly right, or the way the sun patch in the family room lands at precisely the hour it is needed.

Summer, then. I’ll take it.

#pawscarwilde #deschutesriver