Mary O'Malley Park, Chelsea

I have been hating my photographs recently, but I rather like this set. They sufficiently suggest what it's like to walk in the park, these incredibly hot late afternoons, Krissy, Chris, Bogie and Tulip who is like a small lunatic who dances with rage, circles continuously and barks when she sees another dog. Otherwise, she's quite a decent creature for having gotten her off the web from Georgia. But she does go nuts. It's sort of like those days in San Francisco, when I took Krissy on the bus. She was a little over two and generally she didn't have tantrums, but she did that day. She cried so long and so hard and there was nothing I could do but get off with her, wait for her to calm down and get on another. It wasn't as if I could afford paying another fare, but there wasn't any choice.

I don't know what to do about Tulip. Or rather I do know what to do. She's supposed to have a snap collar and I'm supposed to snap it, but what with trying to do water buckets on the track very early, teach the summer session, the heat and all, I haven't bothered to get her one. And besides, I hate to use them. I keep hoping that she'll outgrow this terrible habit.