Emerson

There was a school called Emerson near the house where we lived in Salt Lake. It had a field that served as the neighborhood dog park and we went there a lot. Like sometimes every night a lot. When we got settled in at Matadeiro, we started calling the nearest stretch of beach Emerson and went there most nights to throw frisbees. It was a proper Emerson with other dogs for Keppy to play with and lots of room to run. The Emerson at the Açores house was also a piece of beach near the house. It didn't have many dogs or a doggy vibe, but there was plenty of hard, flat sand and it was great for throwing balls. Our new place is at the top of a dirt road. We tried to make an Emerson out front but it isn't a good Emerson, you can't throw a frisbee very far for fear of losing it over the edge and you can't throw a ball at all cause we are at the top of a hill. The dogs around here don't play. They bark furiously from behind closed gates. The road ends at a trail that goes over a hill to a beach. We tried to make that beach our Emerson but it didn't take. Our current Emerson is the big grassy bank along the lake near our language school. It's a chill place, with hippies and some dogs. The dogs don't play much but they don't bark much either. It's okay for ball and frisbee throwing, pretty good for people watching and we like the vibe. Unfortunately, they started constructing a fence there today, so we may be looking for a new Emerson soon.