Old age creeping up

Just now I had a phone call from the vet on the extra lab examinations that had to be done on our dog. More to be done next week, as there is still the puzzle of what is wrong with him. Last week we had to take him to the clinic to have him diagnosed under anaesthesia. Most of the night I spent staring at the ceiling, wondering of what might be happening to him or would be the matter with him. I just love my cats and dogs.
I was asked to stay with him as long as possible. We walked up and down the consultancy room until his nose touched the ground, disappearing in dreamland. The assistant took him up, he seemed so fragile, like a mop almost. A couple of hours later we could pick him up, staggering around a bit, but only too happy to be put in the car to be taken home.

At the beginning of March we were at Bergen aan Zee, wind force 8 almost blowing his and our ears off our heads. He used to love running along the beach. A free, independent and intelligent dog. Today his walks are limited though, old age creeping up. He loves being near us all the time, cuddling up against us.

And now, what do you think of this deck chair?! It looks so inviting, also to our dog, but there is a sign on it: do not touch. Unfortunately I cannot upload the picture any bigger than this. The beach restaurant is called 'Bruintje aan Zee', and that is a nice word play: my brown dog being near 'Brownie at Sea'.

On Sunday I was pulling weeds out of the terrace, sitting on a very low seat. He pressed his nose against me, I took him up and said: 'OK, we can weed together'. He rubbed his nose in my face, closed his eyes and turned his face to the sun, moaning: 'life is just wonderful'. I have my silly talks with him, silly words that are invented there and then.
He loves hearing 'Come on, let's go and do something in the garden'. Most of the time I put him on a day bed eventually, so that he keeps warm and sheltered. He follows everything we do through half closed eyes. The privileges of old age!

Celebration time

The other day I sat at the back of a car with an artist. She makes beautiful paintings, but today the world around her absorbs her completely. ‘A painter’s block’ being the result of all the energy draining elsewhere. ‘A painter’s block?!’ , ‘Yes, like a writer’s block’. Maybe I was not precisely tuned in and asked innocently ‘Do you keep a painter’s blog?!’. No, this was not the case. I told her I had presented myself for art classes which were about to start on Saturday morning and would last until summer. Unfortunately the classes were cancelled as the number of people necessary had not been reached. With disgust the artist said: ‘Why paint?! Everybody paints these days …’ Well, because it is so much fun to do and besides I had made nice things in the past. With so much depreciation of somebody else’s artistically talents I decided it was pointless to tell her that one my of sisters makes wonderful still lives and that the youngest one runs her own gallery with her magnificent huge and colorful paintings.

We changed the subject and discussed the world passing by in the car, the full moon lighting up the lakes.

With painting in my mind I googled for daffodils the next day and placed a lovely daffodil painting as background on my laptop. After having seen this popping up a couple of times I realized that somewhere there should be a daffodil attempt by myself in watercolor. Looking at it now it seems unfinished, but it is fun to look at and certainly encourages me to take this up again once I am out of the rat race. They are just exercises, but I like them when I look at them because of their color.

In autumn I planted a variety of bulbs. At the moment I am watching anxiously what will become of them. The daffodils already present in the garden have been showing their faces abundantly: white, yellow, tête à têtes which I have collected from everyone who throws them out once they have finished blooming in a pot. They re-live in my garden.

Unfortunately I am experiencing huge problems with my laptop. All my photographs, texts, etc. have disappeared; the system keeps throwing me off the internet. I am heart broken and it is so frustrating, but there are worse things going on in the world right now than my pictures. Of course I hope we will be able to retrieve one or two things.

Talking about painter’s and writer’s blocks: I had a bit of blogger block. The huge amount of pornographic spam that kept streaming in at the post that I loved best myself - ‘A geisha teacup’ - forced me to delete this from the blog. I just do not understand the fun of spamming.

Spring is full of busy moments: the garden has to be done, the boat has to be brushed up before she plunges in the water on 4 April, my ancient dog needs a lot of attention, tremendous and fabulous things workwise happening, and last but not least: a nasty cold that would not disappear after the long and cold winter running me down and making it impossible to do as much as I want to.

The sun shines! My boat is waiting for the final touch today, many subjects in my head to write about!

It is celebration time today: it is now exactly one year ago since I started blogging. It was great fun to do and I have so enjoyed everyone’s creativity. New and unexpected followers recently and I thank you all for your wonderful comments!

The water colors I show you here were made 23 years ago and have been sitting on a shelf all this time. This is the nice thing of blogging: you can show things to the world that are normally hidden in drawers, on shelves, or just for the odd one to see at home.

Soon you will be reading my comments on your blogs, as I have not been around your blogs for a while. Happy weekend!