It was a dark and stormy night…
Well, okay, actually it was a bright, sunny afternoon and all I really wanted to do was go out and play… take the dog and the camera, perhaps… look at the greenery and watch the red kites. I was home by mid-afternoon for once; I would just have to finish what I was doing and get the bit of housework out of the way, then I wouldn’t have to a) feel guilty about leaving it and b) face it when I came back. It would only take me an hour or so after all…
Except the phone rang. And half an hour later, just as I was dragging the hoover-monster out from its lair and Ani had beaten a hasty retreat to the bottom of the garden, there was a knock on the door. “Are you busy?” Well yes, I am actually… but I’m also not rude if I can help it. I put the kettle on.
Another hour wandered past shaking its head at my defection.
By this time the warmth had gone out of the day, the dog was curled up asleep, triumphantly blocking the hoover monster in the corner and the inbox needed sorting again. I didn’t really want to disturb her as she isn’t all that well. Spring moult… it always seems to upset her, moulting. Possibly not as much as it upsets her arch enemy the hoover, but even so. After several days of watching her fail to eat at all… and with Ani that is always a bad sign… I had bought her a chicken. This had, apparently, been what she had been waiting for, as she seems to be eating again now… but even so, sleep would help.
So, having dealt with the inbox I am now tied to the keyboard. If I move she will wake to make sure I am not escaping anywhere without her. Beside me the windows are open into the garden. Golden light bathes the fresh green of spring… all set against the clearest blue. Blackbirds, sparrows, a thrush and a wren are all singing together and the kites are calling. There is a distant rumble of a tractor in the fields and a slightly closer lawnmower. It sounds like summer, even though I can feel the chill of evening settling in.
And me? I may as well be tied to my chair… by the bonds of my love for the small, rebellious animal currently asleep on the rug. Which is, it seems, how we so often live our lives. She too is bound, her stillness linked to mine. The intricacy of the slender thread that is woven between us is a web in which we are gladly caught.
Yet she demands nothing of me (apart from the odd tennis ball), nor I of her. We care for each other, look after each other, each in our own way. Around us are the small noises and busy-ness of life, here just her quiet snores and the tapping of the keyboard. Two free creatures, two lives, completely independent of each other, even to the species… yet we have each made a choice to share a world and open our hearts to love.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
beautiful post 🙂
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Thanks, lass. I know you and Fionn share that bond too x
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Reblogged this on Anita & Jaye Dawes.
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Reblogged this on oshriradhekrishnabole.
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So tenderly written! Hope you and Ani get out to play today. I have a cat begging to be taken outside too! 😊
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Today we are going… regardless… for a long, long walk 🙂 The sun is shining and there is a cool wind. Too good to miss for anything!
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Loved this and I fully understand the bond you two have. I am the same with my pal, Seth and my little lady, Dotty. They are always by my side and I don’t know what I’d do without them. 😊
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I wouldn’t want to be without my little beast.
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Ooh this is lovely and I understand it’s sentiments only too well…
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Thank you 🙂
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Lovely post, there’s nothing quite like the bond between us and our dogs 🙂
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No, it is a very special thing to share a life with something that really knows how to love. 🙂
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Absolutely.
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🙂
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Aw, she’s so sweet sleeping there with her little toy. Just like babies, cutest when they are sleeping. 😉
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This one is permanently cute… and at her most dangerous whent those big brown eyes are wide open and looking piteously at your dinner…
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There’s no way one couldn’t tell how much you love each other. I’m sorry to hear that shedding i problematic for Ani. Can you brush her to get rid of the hair? Our dog holds out for chicken, too, so Ani is just being a dog! Lovely post – very soothing and peaceful!
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Of course I could brush her… if I could catch her 🙂 She doesn’t do grooming, if she can help it… yet her coat is amazing.
Chicken and cheese.. the culinary world could disappear for her as long as they remain 🙂
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She’s a sneaky one, that Ani – and she must be plenty fast, too. Maybe you could offer her some cheese while you’re brushing her?
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She wouldn’t fall for that 🙂 And she is fast.. runs like the wind 🙂
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This is beautiful! And Ani looks so comfy and secure in her stunning, shiny coat. How lovely you both have each other! xx Ellen
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Ah she’s gorgeous, Ellen. Smelly, but gorgeous 🙂
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