I miss sleeping in on weekends. It was one indulgence I still clung to. Now I wake up at 7:10, Monday through Sunday and take the dog for a walk.

The quiet and the dog’s incremental improvement hit me once I’m on the pathway. When there are few pedestrians taking their exercise or walking their dogs, I can imagine that I’m a tourist in England somewhere and that the backyards I pass are what you would see riding a longboat in a canal. If you play this trick, even dilapidated fences have charm and variations on a theme are artistic.

(I used to watch videos like these while reading textbooks. It was relaxing!)