While I was away sitting the cat I walked the beach every day. Lucky me. On my last full day I wandered south to a point where I enjoyed small waves washing over large rocks. Sometimes I’d look back the way I’d come because the sun on the water was pretty nice.

And then I noticed them. A man walking his dog on the beach. The dog was having fun trying to pull a stick out of the dune. They were quite far from me, even using my zoom lens, so most of the rest of these photos are cropped.

The dog wanted that big stick real bad. He pulled and pulled but just couldn’t get it loose. So his Dad gave him a hand.

Turns out it’s a huge stick! Way bigger than he was! But what a stick! So much fun to run with it!

Along the way the dog enticed his Dad to play. And it usually worked.

But most fun of all was running triumphantly down the beach with his stick.

They were moving toward me, I was walking toward them, shooting picture after picture.

Finally we met, on the beach in front of the house where I was staying. I got to talk to the man and admire his dog. The dog kept playing with the stick. He was a very very happy dog.

And then the two of them wandered past me down the beach, stopping to play at the edge of the water.

It was so much fun to watch them.

And it made me realize it was time to go home to my own Katie-girl.