Tag: dogs

Day 28

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Writing again

I woke up to a different – and rather wonderful – view this morning, after staying overnight with friends.

Their dog – Faith – slept most of the night on my bed. Lydia hasn’t yet ever slept on my bed and if that’s her choice that’s fine, but I would like to think that she knows she can if she wants to.

Back home, I made some vegan and some meat sausage rolls for the Qigong fuddle we’re having tomorrow evening.

I found the vegan recipes online:

Vegan Sausage Rolls

https://ucalorie.com/vegan-sausage-rolls/

https://plantbasedfolk.com/vegan-sausage-rolls/#recipe

They’ve turned out well, and are tasty.

I’m beginning to feel reasonably well organised for Christmas, partly because I’m not cooking a Christmas dinner this year so there’s less for me to organise, and partly because I’ve now bought all the presents I wanted to buy, have posted all the cards I need to post and written most of the others. It’s good to feel that I can just enjoy what I’m doing every day which tomorrow will start with picking Lydia up from the boarding kennels. It’s just not the same here without her.

As I have now completed my latest cycle of writing for 28 days, I’ll be republishing earlier posts for the next couple of weeks, and then I’ll be back on the other side of Christmas.

Best wishes to All for the festive season.

A Woman, a Dog & a Blog: Writing into Life https://amzn.eu/d/fZQtr0K

Rules, Rhymes, Recovery, Recipe, Random: Glad About Life https://amzn.eu/d/6XnH3He

 

Day 27

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Writing again

It was a bit frosty and misty this morning when I took Lydia out.

We were earliesh because I was taking her into kennels and then going straight to a poetry group meeting.

After the meeting a few of us went for a festive drink, and I have another sociable event lined up for this evening, going to visit friends.

Lydia will enjoy her weekend break with friends and I’ll enjoy mine.

I’ve also been to a Christmas Tree Festival in our local church, and bought what I think will now be the last of my Christmas presents for this year while I was there.

The house isn’t the same without Lydia but I’ll be picking her up on Monday morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – and that’s just me!

Day 19

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Writing again

Photo by Thapelo Boateng on Pexels.com

Before and after going to the dog field with Lydia this morning, I did some work in the kitchen, finishing the decorating and cleaning, then putting things back but reducing clutter at the same time.  It does look and feel so much better.

Leaving Lydia to look after the house – Trev was still away but came back this afternoon – I headed over to the Buddhist Centre to do some volunteering for a few hours.

The work was outside. To begin with it felt a bit cold, but I had gloves, a hat, coat and boots. It wasn’t long before I took off the hat, coat and gloves, as the physicality of the work – sweeping – warmed me up. A few people – residents at the Centre – passed me as I was working and all made appreciative comments.  The young lady who was supervising me made sure that I was happy doing the work and insisted that I had a cup of tea before I left, which I did.

The satnav on the way home directed me on a different route to the one I normally take and it proved to be a calm and quiet drive, through villages lit up by Christmas lights – lovely.

Arriving home, I was glad I’d made the enchiladas the day before as all I had to do was turn the oven on before giving Lydia her tea and then having a bit of a rest.  Trev had returned home and it was good to watch a bit of telly.  It’s been a fairly full day, and a good one.

Day 16

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Writing again

Lydi did very well with her new collar for the first time. It’s a Halti collar, designed to stop pulling. It will take a while for her to get fully used to it, but it did seem to make a difference.

I’m early with writing and posting Christmas cards this year, which is just as well as it leaves me clear to make a start on deep cleaning the kitchen and doing a few things to it that will hopefully help things along when we come to sell the house.

Day 15

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Writing again

Mental health Mondays do seem to come round very quickly.

Up at around 8.30 this morning, I read a few pages from ‘How to Transform Your Life’ by Venerable Geshe Keksang Gyatso, Rinpoche, before starting a meditation.

During the meditation Lydia started barking at the back door and, while I decided to continue meditating for a while, I realised that she might need to go to the toilet, and not just for a ‘peepie’, so I got us ready to go out for our ‘walkies’. Sure enough, she did her first ‘poopie’ early on in the walk and another one later. She was pulling again, picking up a scent, and I’ll be glad when her new collar arrives later today, so that I can try her with it and see if it makes a difference.

Dropped a few of my pots off at my friend’s house as her daughter – who designs interiors – may buy some. Then I headed for the jet wash as I haven’t cleaned my car for ages.

With a bit of time to spare before yoga, I filled the car with petrol then popped into Tesco’s to buy some Christmas chocolates – three for presents for people and a box of Bendicks  mints for the house. I always like to buy a box of Bendicks mints for Christmas. I don’t have many Christmas traditions but this is one of them.

Day 14

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Writing again

Just back from a late lunch – a friend of a friend’s birthday.

Back home I’ve given Lydia her tea and she is now crunching on a raw lamb rib – a chunky one.

We had an earliesh walk this morning. It was our woodland walk only we didn’t go into the wood in the end as she was pulling too much – we walked up and down the outside instead, and despite changing directions numerous times as the training has taught me to do, and reinforcing the “heel” command, it made no difference. She had picked up a scent and wanted to follow it.

Even so, we were out for about 45 minutes in the end and when I came home I ordered an anti-pull collar for her. We’ll see how that goes.

I may give the woodland walk a miss tomorrow and try it again once the new collar has arrived.

 

Day 12

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Writing again

 

Lydia was disappointed at the dog field this morning. No cars passed by that she could chase. Even so, she had nearly an hour off lead and did a lot of sniffing on what was a mild morning that later turned into a bit of a wild day weather-wise.

Hailstones fell as my friend Maxine and I headed to Harewood House to see the Christmas installation that her daughter had designed. It was spectacular, beautiful and inspired.

Quite how it had all been imagined, planned and implemented I don’t know but it really was a work of art in so many ways. A feast for the eyes with vibrance, colour and light.

It isn’t yet December but it is beginning to feel a little bit like Christmas already.

Day 8

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Writing again

There was no Qigong today so I’ve just been to yoga this afternoon.

Lydia reacted when she saw two other dogs this morning, despite the distance between us. After that she struggled to settle down for the rest of the walk, and I struggled a bit with yoga.

I know I’m tired at the moment and, though starting to sleep better, have still not had a deep sleep that will, I think, make a difference.

I’m keeping up with caffeine-free afternoons and concentrating on doing constructive things when I can, so I’m hoping that I will eventually fall into that elusive deep sleep.

Lydia has already settled down for the evening. She’s had her tea and is curled up in her armchair. She’s presented her tummy to me for tickling twice since I got back so I think its fair to say that she’s relaxed at home even if she isn’t always when we’re outside.

I’ve finally found something to binge-watch on the telly and I did a bit of reading this morning. So I’m starting to relax a bit too.

 

Day 5

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Writing again

Lydia jumped onto the grooming table as we arrived at our appointment this morning, without any prompting from either me or Vicky, the groomer.  Each time we go she is more relaxed about the process, although I still put a muzzle on her and feed her lots of treats through it, reinforcing the positive and managing the risk at the same time.

After grooming we went for a walk and then home. For once she didn’t push her breakfast ball around until it was empty – she was still so full of treats.

This afternoon I drove to the Buddhist Centre, to do a few hours of voluntary work that I’ve offered to do.

It felt good to work in a different environment and also to not feel rushed or pressurised in any way. After being introduced to the work that needed doing, I was left to get on with it and given a few encouraging comments along the way. The work was a simple physical activity although I did need to concentrate and apply sustained effort, which I did for almost three hours before heading for home.

It’s another early start tomorrow as I’m setting up a table at the Bootham & Southowram Methodist Church Christmas Fayre. So, I’ll take Lydia out for a walk just before dawn, pack a few remaining things that I need to take into the car and head off.

Today’s been a good day and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Day 2

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Writing again

Photo by Klaus Nielsen on Pexels.com

It wasn’t an uneventful walk for me and Lydia this morning as we saw several dogs and a horse from a distance, all with owners – or, in the case of the horse, with its rider.

I thought at one point the horse and rider were going to be heading our way, which would have meant me seeking a quick diversion from their path, down into a ditch, then up and out the other side.  Thankfully, they turned in a different direction, perhaps after having heard Lydia’s initial reaction of barking on sight of them.

Lydia still struggles on sight of dogs as well as horses and I still struggle to find a way of reassuring her.  She gets the principle of not reacting but just finds it hard to put it into practice. I think this is something that many or most of us struggle with, one way or another.

Putting Buddhism into practice was a key theme of the weekend course I’ve just been on.  So, I’ll just keep doing what I can, reflecting and hopefully learning.

As it’s Tuesday I went to visit my friend who used to live in the village but now lives in a care home. As usual, she greeted me with a warm smile, leading me to feel very welcome.

Coming home, I do a few things that I need to do in the kitchen, give Lydia her tea, then start preparing ours.

I’ve made up a sauce based on a pasta dish that I enjoyed when I visited Rome quite a few years ago.  I remember it had mushrooms, ground pistachios and, I think, bacon.  I’ve also included garlic and onion.

I used a food processor to chop the mushrooms up very very finely so that they are almost ground like the pistachios.  I’ve seasoned with lots of freshly ground black pepper, a good splash of Worcestershire sauce, some soy sauce and half a stock cube.

It’s tasty and I’m hungry so time, I think, to start boiling some water for the pasta.

I don’t think we have enough spaghetti so I’ll use fusilli which should also help to absorb the sauce and flavour.