Every morning I walk over to Parkview Memory Care facility to have a walk and coffee with my friend Jim Fudge, and some mornings we are greeted by a beautiful blond Lab Retriever.  The great dog seems to know Jim needs his attention, so he lies down near Jim's chair and waits for the hand that always comes to stroke his shoulder.  Thor is twelve years old which is about as old in Lab years as Jim's ninety-two.

When we need cheering up, Thor is glad to oblige.  He seems to know something about life that we humans refuse to acknowledge.  I haven't taken him outside the Parkview building specifically to see the bright flowers growing there, but he surely must see them on his way in with his companion, Melanie.  I would like to show him the energetic little flying insect I saw today in the bright red and yellow daisy blossom.  I feel certain that Thor would prefer to focus his attention on that flower and the bee resting there instead of staring at a stalk of spent seed husks that are left over from producing seeds that that will make next year's flowers.  I'm quite sure he would make Jim and me notice the new green shoot pushing insistently through the cluster of seed husks.