Goodbye to a true friend

Misty died today. I had never realized how aggressive some cancers are and how fast they work. Our expected twelve weeks more with her in reality became just four. There are too many empty places in the house and garden and Rosie and I are struggling and keeping close to each other.

Stitching again!

Whatever I start doing, I always seem to return to a desire to stitch, or hand embroider. So, with the help of a great book by Effie Mitrofanis, I've decided to start a little fabric book of stitch samples. These three pieces of silk are to be the basis of the first page. Boring, I know, but hopefully the start of something OK. And I'm aware that I haven't posted on my blog for too long, so I'll try to record this project as it goes along. Interspersed maybe with other stuff now and then.

My beautiful old Irish Wolfhound lady, Misty, who is just over nine years old, has been diagnosed with bone cancer. She has a huge tumour on her upper jaw which at the moment gives her no pain thankfully although the time will come. She's still able (and very enthusiastic) to eat which is good but I'm beginning to think of soft things rather than hard now. The forecast from the vet is 10 weeks, possibly extendable to 12 months if we resort to hugely aggressive surgery followed by ongoing chemotherapy. How lucky we are that we can make a considered choice on her behalf, and give her 10 weeks of happiness rather than 12 months of misery. We'll know when she's ready to go and can offer her the mercy that we are unable to offer our fellow humans!

WOLFHOUND PUPPY

This is my new Irish Wolfhound puppy, Rosie. She's 13 weeks old and we just brought her home today. This shows her fast asleep in the crate we've erected in the kitchen for her (she's the grey one, not the pink one!). The pink pig is a toy I bought for her which is apparently indestructible! I give it about two weeks!! I hope the eyes go first - they're a bit scary :-)

No doubt there will be more photos of Rosie as she grows up with Misty.

HEATHER IN BUD

It's a beautiful day today - the wind has dropped and the sky is blue, and I went for a walk up on top of the forest with Misty.  We met an old dog-walking friend who, like us, has owned many Wolfhounds and she told me of the death of her beloved Flora at the weekend. Flora was only just over 6 and died of bone cancer. Wendy has lost three Wolfhounds to bone cancer and, of the six that we've owned, we've never had one case. Isn't that strange? I felt so sorry for her - she just wanted to cuddle Misty and smell Wolfhound. I know exactly how she feels and I dedicate these heather buds to Flora.

BOY, WHAT A NOSE!

This is a Wolfhound's  nose. Big, innit? There are eyes in there somewhere, under all that hair.

MISTY'S HEART MONITOR

Misty had to have another ECG and ultrasound scan today because she had a second dizzy fit a couple of days ago. It showed that her heart is a little enlarged compared to when she had the last tests in September following her first dizzy spell. As the specialist doesn't know whether the erratic heart beats are causing the heart to enlarge, or whether the heart enlargement is causing the erratic heart beats, Misty has to wear a heart monitor for three days minimum and preferably a week. This is so they can monitor her heart during her normal activities. So it's strapped to the top of her back with three sensors attached to her skin. The whole lot is covered with her nice new T-shirt to keep everything in place and make sure she doesn't catch the leads on anything and pull them off. I also have to keep a diary of what she's doing, for instance resting, barking at strangers (doesn't happen often!) eating, running, out for her walk etc. etc.

She's very conscious of it at the moment and keeps trying to shake it off but it didn't effect her appetite as the photo shows! But she won't settle down at the moment and keeps wandering around. I think we'll both be glad when it's off but I'm a bit worried about what the results will be.

IRISH WOLFHOUNDS

This is a photo from a few years ago. My older Wolfhound, Misty, is being attacked by the puppy, Alfie. He's only about three months old in this picture but however annoying he got Misty just put up with him and let him know that she was always the boss.

We don't have Alfie now - he developed a really bad habit of chasing anything on four legs and brought down a full-grown llama which lived not far away from us. He didn't hurt it but we felt it would only be a matter of time before he got into real trouble and we were worried that Misty, who wouldn't say boo to a goose, would start to run with him. The Irish Wolfhound Society re-homed him for us and he went to live in the Forest of Dean. No doubt he's having great fun chasing the wild boar that are abundant there! I was broken hearted at giving him up but out of the six Wolfhounds we've had he was the only one that displayed this type of temperament. He used to have his own blog called 'The Alfie Memorandum' which was great fun at the time.

Gosh, it's bringing tears to my eyes thinking of him. He was truly beautiful but unfortunately wayward.

I'm Back!

I'm back from two weeks' holiday in north Norfolk, on the east coast of England. The beaches there are huge and beautiful and I love it dearly.

I was determined not to take the 'usual' photo of the colourful beach huts that line the back of the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea so instead I took my shot from behind one of the huts showing the view from its deck. I love the ice cream colours of this one - they reflect the sky and sand so beautifully.

This is my beautiful Irish Wolfhound, Misty. I had just set up my exposure for a bush of bright red berries at the top of this slope and taken the photo when I saw Misty approaching so I was all ready to take a quick photo of her while she was silhouetted against the blue sky. Ideally I would have chosen a smaller aperture to get full depth of field, but I was pleased that I got a photo of her as she's notoriously camera shy!

I took lots of photographs while I was away and will post more of them here over the coming week but I was disappointed that only a few of them really pleased me. But I guess that's the way it goes with photography and I feel I'm beginning to highlight the areas where I'm weak so that I can work on them.

But I had one or two successes. I took this photograph from below the shrub, looking through the leaves to the washed blue sky. I adjusted the levels slightly in Elements to accentuate the wonderful autumn colours and am really pleased with it.

It's good to be back home and I'm looking forward to learning more and more. And I ordered myself a 50mm f/1.4 USM after much research and that should arrive in a few days. Wow!

Good dog!

Well, no. He's not my dog. He's a good dog waiting patiently outside a very nice deli while his owner was inside.

That's my husband you can just see inside the shop buying himself a meat pie! Did he make it out of the shop and past the dog with the pie intact? Well of course he did because the little black dog is a very good little black dog. Unlike my large grey dog, Misty, who this morning took off after a muntjac deer on the common near the cottage we're staying at in Suffolk. Half an hour of calling later she came back panting like a steam train but luckily not with a deer hanging out of her mouth.

And that was just today! Yesterday she went after a huge herd of red deer the other side of the common. They were standing at the edge of some reed beds at the bottom of a slope. Misty doesn't know what reed beds are - they just looked like a field of reeds to her. Until she rushed in after the deer, that is. Now she knows what's underneath the reeds - very wet, very black mud!

Misty's a bad dog!

Misty, my Irish Wolfhound

This is Misty, my beloved Irish Wolfhound. She's just over 7 years old and still acts like a kid at times although you wouldn't think so from this picture. She is a true gentle giant with the most beautiful, kind nature and she puts up with me regardless of what sort of mood I'm in.

Very little fazes her although she regards squirrels as having been put on this earth solely in order to goad her, which means she spends a lot of time at the bottom of trees looking up into the branches.

This is Misty's haiku:

Low sun stroking fur
Shades of grey and gold mingle
Deep and peaceful breaths

The Best of Days and the Worst of Days

It's been the best of days and the worst of days!

At work this morning things were really getting on top of me. It's all so complicated now - there are so many things to think about and to remember and I'm really worried that my memory isn't up to it anymore. But if the adverts are to be believed, using it is the antidote to losing it, so you'd think my memory would be brilliant!

But this afternoon... now that's another matter entirely. It was absolutely lovely - the sky blue but with a cooling wind. I walked Misty at Gullidge and we both got pretty hot - although at the top of the field, alongside the paved track, the wind was quite fresh, at the bottom it disappeared completely so Misty was panting a bit.
After I brought her home I walked down to the lake with my camera and a bag of stale bread. I went out onto one of the fishermen's platforms and threw some to the ducks and that started the stampede! I had crowds of ducks all around; every time I threw some bread in they all rushed towards it - how the manage not to collide and hurt themselves I have no idea. The swans started across at a more leisurely pace, line astern, following Mum. Dad brought up the rear looking rather above it all. I fed the cygnets by hand - their beaks didn't hurt me although they snatched at the bread. I offered some to Mum but she didn't take it and nor did she eat it when I threw it in the lake in front of her. I think she was happy to let her kids have it but just wanted to make sure I was nice to them. Dad stood off a way and watched - he didn't deign to eat anything when I threw it for him either. I took loads of photos of the ducks and the swans and cygnets:

Then I walked into the bottom of the field opposite the lake where the wild flowers are and took some photos of those too. It was very windy though so I played around with camera settings to see what worked best. I guessed a high ISO and about .1500 sec exposure. I'll download them and have a look.

May Day Bank Holiday

On the Sunday of May Day bank holiday in the morning we went for a walk with Misty at Nutley (this is our name for one of the many walks we have on the Ashdown Forest). The day was overcast and a bit windy but not cold. Underfoot it was dry despite a little rain the night before - dried out no doubt by the wind.

The first pond on the walk was very short of water; no more than a few large puddles and Misty wasn’t interested in paddling - too much horse poo about to track down and nibble. She met a Greyhound with a small dog of indeterminate name, and a couple of labradors, one a six month old puppy who may have had a little more than just labrador in her.

The gorse is out in full, luxuriant flower at the moment and the faint vanilla scent is wonderful. All the trees have flowers of some sort on them and spikes of ferns are unfolding themselves out of last year’s growth. I love the way they unwind themselves and manage to find all those leaves from such small rolls.

The second pond is shrinking fast and what’s left is very muddy looking. Misty had a drink there - she likes that pond better - and so managed to get her feet muddy despite my efforts to keep her clean! The dead trees that stand a little way off from the pond are stark against the sky, their spiky branches pointing accusingly at the new growth surrounding them.

In the afternoon we visited the Country Show at Blindley Heath. By the time we got there it had started to spot with rain and it drizzled on and off the whole time we were there. There was a funfair and a ring which had, whilst we were there, a parade of old cars followed by the hounds from the Surrey & Burstow Hunt and a food tent which had the usual displays of pickles, pies, cakes, sweets, meats and jams.

But what made it worthwhile for me was a display of various types of gundog. There were some unusual ones - an Italiano something-or-other, Clumber Spaniels - plus the ubiquitous Retrievers, but what made the day for me was a group of Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas. They were beautiful; about the size of a Pointer, in various shades of tan, with lovely wiry coats and beautiful beards (I do love dogs with beards|!). There were three in a pen and a couple outside on leads - one was a beautiful boy, dark tan in colour with the most amazing yellow eyes, the other a six-month old puppy, slightly lighter in colour and oh so beautiful. I had a chat with the breeder who told us that they are very affectionate dogs and like to keep their owner in sight when out. Could this be our next puppy?

We have to make a decision at some time about whether we have another dog or not. It would be unfair to Misty to introduce a puppy when she’s an old lady and it would be nice for her to have a companion. Although I think she likes all the attention an only dog gets! I feel some research coming on...