The snow has melted; the wind has done a zipper-lip so the ferries can sail again and let people on and off this Island. Sun is shining; temperature rising; feels like Spring.
So I rummaged in the closet and got out this coat. Hadn’t seen it for a number of months; it made me smile – because I recalled its origin and then I laughed – because I would be wearing it into ‘the dog’ territory.
A few years ago I was looking for a blanket to make into a coat and at a garage sale in the Village noticed a blanket on a shelf in the garage; the garage sale was being held in the basement.
As I was leaving the ‘basement sale’, not having found anything, I asked the seller about the blanket. I had noticed that it was plaid on one side and solid corduroy-like on the other.
He came with me to the garage and when further examination convinced me it would do very well indeed for the blanket coat I had in mind he gave me a price and I bought it.
Now here is the part that makes me smile: as I was walking away down the driveway his wife came out of the house and I heard her ask – more puzzled than upset – “She bought the dog’s blanket?”
This is the part that makes me laugh: since then, when I wear the coat in the neighbourhood of that sale, I tend to pay attention to any dogs I see. And wonder if one of them is going to take a sudden interest in my blanket coat.