Trials

I met Sarah on the lane this evening as Hugo and I were returning from a walk, and we exchanged pleasantries. Or raptures really. It was a still, warm evening, clear sky, sun slowly going down but nowhere near the horizon. New to the village like me, but not to Suffolk, she feels the same as I do about this place. We both had those sort of slow, sated smiles that signal deep contentment, and we gazed around us and sighed like lovesick heifers. We might even have been a bit smug. I tried to do some more gardening when we got back, but Hugo was having none of it. I offered to let him goin, to sleep on the sofa as he likes to in the early evening, but he was having none of it. He stood patiently and politely beside me until I gave in and came indoors. Then he followed, climbed on the sofa and went out for the count. Funny dog.

Yesterday I caught him drinking from a container of not just stagnant but fetid water, too late to stop him. And today he has the runs. Poor little chap. I had to leave him home alone while I went to work, Roger still recovering from a stay in hospital, and Penny off for a mammogram. It was 4 and a half hours by the time I got back, and he was overjoyed to see me. He's not allowed to jump up, but he did everything but. I marvel at his stoicism because, straight out on a walk, he produced more evidence immediately of the state of his guts.

All of the above notwithstanding, I weeded and cleared the raised bed behind the pond in readiness for planting summer bulbs and seeds. But I gulped a hot cup of tea while David was here, and sitting hunched on the ground while I worked, I must have trapped some wind or twisted something inside. Soon I was rolling in agony on the garden room floor while Hugo thought it was a game and kept butting me. Eventually he lay down beside me, but the pains persisted. I'm still feeling sore. I already had huge sympathy for him, but now it's increased many-fold. Pain. It's a bummer.

I posted this photo yesterday but forgot to label it. So here it is again.

Sable whippet couchant