Caniculares Dies or How to spend a few moments during the Dog Days of Winter?

According to Brady's Clavis Calendarium, Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies."

I would have thought I had better things to do. We are busy. My days are often filled trudging through emails filled with "courtesy art" and handout photos, calling various stringers to shoot "talking heads" at podiums and assuaging the frustration of staff photographers as to why their sports action ran black and white, at one column, relegated to an inside page.

I miss the heady days of chasing down real news, e.g., things blowing up...on fire...upside down and other general mayhem. I miss the natural double truck layouts devoted to stories about real people. I miss time spent in the darkroom with other photographers discussing the merits and disasters of each others photos.

I would have thought I had better things to do. Not better than putting up a few goods photos, propping up my feet and sipping a hot cup of tea. Comfort "food" during the Dog Days of Sum...er Winter in the Northern Hemisphere or maybe just the opportunity to become languid.

I still miss those heady days!