Monday 2 June 2008

nothing about dyeing but a bit about reality

Anybody reading my blog about the fliming of the dye garden may very well feel that it sounds a little flat. I did enjoy the day and found it interesting but in the middle of the day I received a phone call to say that on the eve of exchange of contracts ( that is a house sale just about to become legal ) that the sale of my father's house has fallen through, and for the second time. My father lived next door to me, after the death of my mother, for three years in a big bright sunny bungalow with views of the Clywdian hills and loved it. He died 18months ago and I still miss him. I was looking forward to seeing someone else living there and being able to move on but we have been hit by the savage downturn in the UK housing market. I found it quite hard to put it on one side and be cheerful , while the film crew was here. The real underlying sadness however is that my dearly beloved dog a big friendly Golden retriever in his last days of liver cancer. The vet exclaimed with horror as he felt how much the tumour had grown and promptly gave him huge doses of steroids. He is back to lying down in shallow streams which he loves with a huge doggy grin, playing with his lead as we go out which drives me mad, begging for food -he always, like a lot of golden retrievers, has been greedy and even joins in with the springer spaniel's ball throwing games but he is getting slower very day and we watch with apprehension as while he enjoy life and at the moment he seems a cheerful dog who greets every human with his waving tail , the vet has warned us that it could all change very quickly.
Usaully I would disappear into my studio and start creating colour and I have indeed put some madder & cochineal combination and madder in soak reasy for a dyeing day. However I have had to face up to my accounts which have been reproaching me for a very long time. So with great determination I am spending three days sorting them all out. Thiswas something I have neglected for all sorts of reason and then found as the backlog built up it was difficult to start on it, so now I am paying the price, and so is the longsuffering DH. Bye for now as the dogs want their bedtime biscuits.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, Helen, I am so sorry for your house woes, but even more so about your dog. I don't think 'non-pet' people really 'get' it at times, but our hounds are such a part of our families that it is almost unbearable to lose them. I am so glad he is enjoying his last days now, and hope you can enjoy them with him - give him that extra biscuit, the extra hug, and enjoy his play with as little thought for the future as he himself has. It will come soon enough. Alison

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  2. Thanks for your kind note about my cat. Now I know how well you understand. It consoles me a little to remember the saying "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all".

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