Two years today.

Life after Tess seemed pointless, I cried more during the first year than ever before in my life. As time passed I learned to think mostly of the good times, and we had an abundance of happiness. We travelled a lot in 2012, but wherever we went we seemed to notice dogs more than anything else. My holiday photos show dogs in Berlin and in Rome, in art, statues, murals, paintings, street dogs. We returned home last October knowing that we were ready to open our hearts and home to another dog. It is ironical that our 5-month old healthy and robust puppy, Ruby, should be ill to I today for the first time in her life. Not seriously, though, and she will continue lightening our lives with her antics and loving personality.

A year on . . .

Today is  a cold day, and I dug up a pair of old woolen mittens. When I put them on I noticed a hole in them. A little bite mark. It reminded me of how Tess  loved to pinch my mittens to play with.
The memory of my beautiful Tess is as vivid as ever,  in my mind's eye I see her everywhere, and I miss her so much.  Life has continued, but it has been difficult. We have taken it one day at the time, hoping that time would eventually numb the pain.  Our consolation is that Tess had a good and happy life, she enjoyed it to the full, and  she gave us so much joy.  The days with Tess were happy days.

Goodbye Dear Tess

Tess, 12.2.1998 - 15.1.2011

Yesterday we took Tess to the vet's, who told us that there is nothing more that can be done. Keep her on the steroids, antibiotics and painkillers, and bring her back next Wednesday, although she did not expect her to last until then.
Tess is comfortable, constantly hungry (steroids do that), but needs to go outside to relieve herself every two to three hours. We now take turns, and stay with her all day and all night. 

Christmas Eve

 Are any of these for me? I think I can smell a dog treat. 

He is serving up the creamy dessert. I'll have some of that too, please.

Christmas Countdown

I am told that in Iceland there are thirteen naughty Christmas trolls, called Jólasveinar. They used to be bad, but have turned nice, started dressing like Santa, and nowadays they put gifts in shoes which Icelandic kids put in their window every evening for the last 13 days before Christmas. In our half-Icelandic household the dog gets a treat wrapped in fancy paper every night after dinner.  I enjoy that tradition, and know where to look. 

It's been snowing

I have always been a cold weather dog, so I like this. The human members of my family don't agree, they keep wishing it would go away.

Pills

We saw the vet again yesterday.  I trembled like a leaf while we were in the waiting room, and to make it even worse this big collie came. I have never liked collies. The vet checked me over and gave me new pills. Pills mean bigger dinners (to hide them in) or even pieces of cheese to disguise them. Not too bad.

New pictures

This is me this afternoon, telling them to take me out for a walk and I always get what I ask for. 

Happy and relaxed, until it is time for my next dinner.

 I am beautiful.

Tearing up empty cereal boxes is one of my favourite occupations. I always get a box of some sort after my dinner, with a treat inside. Mom thinks that working on a cardboard box is good for cleaning my teeth and gums. 

Autumn. This would have been a good photo for a Halloween card. Scary.