As I mentioned in Friday's post, I'm reading Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945 by Frederick Taylor. It's just been released, so there aren't many links available yet. I'll be reviewing it for The Patriot Ledger this coming weekend (February 14 edition), so I've got to hurry up and finish it so I can start writing. In the first hundred pages (where I am now), Taylor gives the history of "The Florence on the Elbe," as Dresden has been known, and the history of aerial bombing. I'm eager to get to the events leading up to the firebombing of Dresden, which is what the book is really about.

In Praise of Winter Hiking
I realize it's been a bitterly cold winter, but I must say I have enjoyed the outdoors so much in spite of it all. The lack of snowcover has been most welcome as Sophie and I have hiked twice a day nearly everyday, in the Blue Hills, at the estate, or on the little golf course around the corner. She has been delirious with happiness everytime we head out, racing, prancing, kicking up her heels, or running with her belly low to the ground.

I believe I've noted this before, but the more frigid it is, the more exuberant she is. Her high spirits are infectious, and I find myself laughing and running with her, so thrilled am I to have her for a companion. It will be a sad day when the ticks hatch out and we can no longer roam the fields and woods. I don't think she will understand. I will be able to bring her to a few wild places that have wide, mown trails, but she will have to be on a leash. Poor pooch! Oh, I do know one safe place where she can be leashless. Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, a beautifully mown hillside. And Elmbank in Natick. Well, at least there's two places.