Today's Daily Double is... first walk of the year!

New year's morning and Lady doesn't know a thing about it, which is exactly why she's my guru. Seven a.m., Al still asleep, champagne glasses in the sink, and the dog standing at the door wagging from the shoulders back because the door is the best thing that has ever happened and it happens every single day.

First walk of the year. Low tide, mudflat stink, a great blue heron working the flats with those slow careful steps, gulls stationed on every piling like they're being paid for it. Seven years old and she still does the little sideways hop when a crab moves.

A dog on January first makes no resolutions. She intends to smell this piling, then that piling, then look back at me to confirm the pack is intact. Same program as last year, five stars, no notes. I had a list going in my head (things to fix, things to become) and somewhere near the end of the dock I let the whole thing go slack like a line off a cleat. The year will come get me whether I plan for it or not. Mt Tam sat there in the cold clear light agreeing.

Back inside. Coffee. Al up now. Year's begun.