Comtemplative

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The L.L.Bean catalogs faithfully arrive, one or two a week, it seems. A yellow Lab on each cover—there’s the “aw, so cute!” puppy all tuckered out on a tartan-plaid doggie bed; a handsome older dog on another cover, wagging its tail faithfully beside a handsome, wholesome-looking model sporting a classic field coat and leaning on a split-rail fence frosted in snow. It’s December alright; some things never change.