Pickle and the Pollack

Pickle is a...

Hem grabber

Ball nabber

Tail chaser
Step racer

Water slurper
Belly burper

Eye roller

Garden holer

Stick chewer
Bone hewer
Plant stealer
Potato peeler

Hand nipper
Rug ripper
Fir-cone gnawer
Toy hauler

Teeth snapper
Little yapper
Shin bruiser
Sofa snoozer

Soft snorer
Persistent pawer

Morning smiler

Heart delighter.

Pickle!

Pickle training?

Pickle's present

NO, we are NOT besotted with our new dog.  Every post in the recent past might be about her, but that is just because she is the most exciting thing happening at the moment. Honestly.
Receiving a card from my dear friend Ruth which said 'CONGRATULATIONS on your NEW ARRIVAL' and 'Enjoy the precious moments with your new bundle of joy' was just a joke. Or so I thought, until she turned up with a beautifully wrapped present 'for Pickle-Lilla with love from Aunty Ruth and Uncle Graham xxx'.  Then I started to wonder if I had, perhaps, chatted about our puppy just a little too often.
On the other hand, Ruth is a wonderfully warm, kind-hearted and empathetic friend who just loves to do good wherever or whenever she can. This was one of those occasions...

The parcel contained a squeaky toy

...so delightful...

bliss.

We hid it at bedtime.

Pickle's progress - some statistics...

7 chewed fircones
6 plant pots emptied, then batted and bowled around the lawn
5 small succulents left lying soil-less and desolate
4 balls (one old tennis ball, one small football and three still-bouncy tennis balls) played with
3 small puppy-sized meals eaten
2 adults loved to pieces
1 sofa sat on.

Hard to tell what was the most fun...

A busy day...

Lilla Pickle - who thought an invitation to sit on my lap meant that SHE could type this post - is proving to be a fascinating addition to our hitherto quiet and calm household.
She RARELY sits still.
We had forgotten that a puppy is like a super-active toddler. You can't take your eyes off her for a minute.  The garden is well dog-proofed, so she is safe to wander around outside, but the list of attractive Objects For Chewing grows longer by the day.  So far, we have had to remove socks (from our feet), rugs from the floor (fringes just beg to be tasted) and washing from clothes airers (far too tempting). A small stool suffered from leg chewing, her soft toy has already been stitched up in the operating theatre and the waste paper basket is living on borrowed time.
She has a special bone we bought her to exercise her sharp little teeth on. She ignores it. We have had to take serious measures to step up the intensity of No Nipping training.
The most popular toy - even better than fir cones - is a small terracotta flower pot. She has growled at it, buried her nose in it, rolled it around and tossed it in the air.

HOURS of entertainment.

And she's still thinking about the pond - she has fallen in 4 times so far. And counting.

 It IS very beautiful and fascinating.

Add to all this, several frantic games round the garden at top speed...early night tonight!  (For me, that is: Pickle still seems to have LOTS of energy...)
PS I haven't even mentioned noise - an endless source of curiosity. Aeroplanes are interesting, low-flying wood pigeons scary. The noise a radiator makes when you paw it is intriguing; a vacuum cleaner is quite frightening... it won't be long before footsteps and car engines become recognisable...

Puppyness

Puppydom has arrived!  Her given name is Lily...images of white beauty and sweet smells don't seem to go with the black squirming reality which is making her presence felt in our house....

The Swedish word 'Lilla' means little, used as a term of endearment...and she definitely has Jack Russell in her genes - so 'Lilla Pickle' it is.
Pickle for short.
And so the adventures begin...

Hmmm...looks interesting...

...wonder what this is? POND? What's a 'pond'?

Whoops!  

Man, that was WET!

Towels are for chewing. NOT drying - what a silly idea!

All done and dusted.

Well and truly pickled now.

Leavings...

Having lived a slightly nomadic life (compared to many friends and acquaintances on this tiny island, some of whom have barely budged) over the last four decades, 'leaving' has been a large feature in my life.
Although it has often been me doing the leaving, more frequently it has been friends and family moving on.
I never manage 'leaving' very well, but I'm beginning to get the hang of it now. It's taken a while.
So, successful farewells are characterised by busyness. Packing, tying up loose ends, zooming around so there is no time for moping either before, or after.
This time, Jonny left to go back to Norwich, after a long weekend camping with us in France.

Big sky, tall surfer

Cat, Richard, Jonny

Enjoying the ambience in the evening...

Packing up the tent proved to be quite a distraction.

A luxury home from home...

I didn't much like the car journey to the airport, though...
Then, a few days later, Cat left us.
For New Zealand.
So we - she - organised a tea party to say goodbye.

Martyn didn't particularly enjoy tea from a tea CUP...he traded it in for a large mug

Dear Sarah

Dearest Renee

Tea party = chocolate cake. And smiles.

She flew off the next morning.













So we organised a barbecue lunch.  18 of us. Cooking and eating and laughing and talking - not to mention the clearing up afterwards - kept us busy and the tears at bay.

Then we tracked her flight on the internet, watching tiny planes fly across the screen en route to Dubai...and Australia...and further on...