Read It Forward

Enumerating the benefits of owning dogs has been done to death. Companionship, protection, even exercise are obvious. But incidental advantages can accrue as well, like the social circles, and subsequent friendships, that develop at the local dog park.

Another I've discovered in years of walking dogs is that you get to know your neighborhood really well, from who's fixing up their house to which elderly neighbor has passed away, or which new family is putting in raised beds and a chicken coop (a development that my dogs find particularly intriguing).

One development that's been particularly intriguing lately is a mailbox that's popped up in a parking strip next to a house that had recently sold (top photo). Labeled "BOOKS" in gold letters, opening it reveals a couple of stacks of well-thumbed pulp novels, mostly women's fiction of the type that book clubs dote on.

Questions arise of whether the books are there for the borrowing or the taking, if more than one person contributes to the trove or if there is a particular genre that the mailbox attracts, but you can bet I'll be checking it at regular intervals to see what appears there.