The Mexicali Brass

Artist: The Mexicali Brass

LP: Winter Wonderland

Song: "Winter Wonderland"

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There's currently no snow in Seattle (we had some last Friday morning!), but it is winter now and it's definitely a wonderland outside. I took a break from wrapping presents earlier this morning to take a short Christmas walk to get some Christmas coffee. I'd only gone a few blocks when I unwittingly wandered into wonderland: An elderly man who was cater-corner across the street, dressed in warm winter attire and with a tiny doggie on a leash, was loudly and repeatedly yelling something in a foreign language. I think he may have been Eastern European. As I drew closer, I saw that, in addition to the small dog at the end of his leash, he had five other tiny little doggies with him that were not on leashes. When I saw them, they saw me too and came dashing eagerly and recklessly to my side of the street. All of them were wearing bright doggie-sweaters, each a different color, and they yapped happily while circling around me as I continued down the sidewalk. Passing cars came to a stop in the street so as to not run the dogs over, and the elderly man continued shouting in his foreign language, trying to lure the dogs back across the street and through the door of his large white pickup. It was thrilling to be walking, even for just a few seconds, smack dab in the middle of a winter wonderland: I wonder why one dog was on a leash but the other five were not; I wonder what language that man was speaking; I wonder if all the doggies made it safely into that man's white truck; I wonder where that man found all those cute and colorful winter doggie sweaters; I wonder if he or any of his doggies realize that they totally made my day.