Bailey - Kewmarnic High Society

At the top at 3 years old,  in the centre with her sire Hamish and at the bottom at 4 months old. 

My shadow for so many years, my right arm, with me night and day, my Bailey Bubbles, wise, loyal, irreplaceable.  I didn’t know how I would survive the day we inevitably had to part but somehow I did. It would be true to say she took an enormous piece of my heart with her….

The last two verses of Winifred Mary Lett's wonderful poem about her Irish Terrier "Tim" always reminds me of Bailey.

Tim,  An Irish Terrier

It's wonderful dogs they're breeding now:
Small as a flea or large as a cow;
But my old lad Tim he'll never be bet
By any dog that he  ever met,
Come on 'says he'for I'm not kilt yet!

No matter the size of the dog he'll meet,
Tim trails his coat the length o'the street.
D'ye mind his scar an'his ragged ear,
The like of a Dublin Fusilier?
He's a massacree dog that knows no fear.

But he'd stick to me till his lastest breath;
An'he'd go with me to the gates of death.
He'd wait a thousand years maybe,
Scratching the door an'whining for me
If myself were inside in Purgatory.

So I laugh when I hear them make it plain
That dogs and men never meet again
For all their talk who'd listen to them
With the light in the shining eyes of him?
Would God be wasting a dog like Tim?

Feeding The Chooks

Looking back through some old photo files I found this picture from 2011 of "Tiny", our Border Collie bitch (now sadly passed on) helping Dad feed the chooks.

Emma - Kewmarnic Gift From Above

 One day heaven needed her back.

Born around the time of my mother's death I declared the night of her funeral that I had a feeling this little puppy was a "gift from above" - and that she was.

Like her grandmother Bailey - wise, gentle, loyal and beautifully natured - she saw us through many tough days.  God has her in His keeping, we have her in our hearts.

True Love Never Dies

There's a great family movie called "Secondhand Lions".  It's fun and I like it a lot.  There's one scene where one of the heroes, Hub gives a "coming of age" talk to his young great-nephew Walter which goes like this:

 "Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in".

All of the dogs below have passed on now. Some of them actually have been gone for many years but there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of them.  Every single one of them was a treasure whom I loved dearly.  They say "grief is the price we pay for love".

In our culture we're so often taught to feel embarrassed about or ashamed of our emotions, even of love. 

That very wise American man Jim Rohn used to say, "Let life touch you".  In other words - let yourself feel.

Kahlil Gibran, who is my one of my favourite writers, wrote about Joy and Sorrow.
 

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Below : Left to right, Cheyenne, Quinten, Brandon, Carla

Below :  Victoria Rose

Below : Hamish

Below : Victoria Rose

Below : Conan as a puppy

Below: Jason

"And some day the loved and the loving 

shall meet on the mountains again"

Border Collies

 Below : Gina. Kewmarnic Cover Girl

Below : Splodge, son of Bailey, at 16 years old

 

Below : Bailey relaxing with her dam Polly.