A Ball Waiting by the Pond

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 Charlie’s First Hike

📍 Location: Saffin Pond
❄️ Season: Late winter — snow still fresh on the trail
👣Observed by: Suellen / Charlie

• fresh snow crunching beneath each step
• three fat-tire bikes passing at the trail entrance
• Turtle Pond resting quietly on the right
• the first small green shoot near the water’s edge
• one bright pink tennis ball waiting beside the pond

The snow was still fresh on the trail at Saffin Pond, and every step carried that familiar winter crunch beneath my boots.

Charlie stepped onto the trail like he had been preparing for this moment. Nose to the wind, curious but steady, he moved forward with the quiet confidence of a dog discovering something new.

Just as we began the trail, we stepped aside to let three riders pass on fat-tire bikes, their wide winter tires pressing deep tracks into the snow. For a moment the quiet path filled with the sound of crunching beneath both boots and tires.

Then they rolled on.

The sound faded down the trail, and the stillness returned.

Charlie and I continued along the pond path toward the far side where the trail curves gently toward the second beach.

Along the way we passed Turtle Pond on our right, its shoreline still edged in winter. Near the water’s edge I noticed something small — a bit of green pushing up through the brown and white landscape.

Not much.

Just enough to say quietly:

Spring is beginning.

A little farther along, Charlie suddenly stopped and turned his head toward the pond.

Not a bird.
Not a squirrel.

A tennis ball.

Bright pink against the snow near the water’s edge — impossible to miss.

Charlie studied it carefully from the trail, clearly recognizing something important.

His first tennis ball sighting in the wild.

We paused for a moment and considered the mission.

The bank was icy and the snow deep, so we made a quiet agreement with the trail:

We would return another day.

On a warmer walk.

The ball would still be there.

Charlie accepted the plan, and we continued on.

Dogs have a way of reminding us that the world is full of small treasures — not rare things, simply things noticed.

A pink tennis ball beside a winter pond can hold as much excitement as any grand destination.

On this walk the trail offered two small signals at once:

A bright pink ball waiting.
A small green shoot returning.

One waiting.
One emerging.

Return on a warmer day.

All photographs in this study were taken during the walk at Saffin Pond.

Until the next walk… notice something small.
— Suellen