Paths of Memory
For the first time in nearly 33 years we have no dogs in our garden.
Our last dog, Pimen, died on Tuesday, but every time we look out of the windows we see memories of him, the the paths he left in the winter-brown grass, paths he will never tread again. And as winter turns to spring the grass will grow again, and the traces that Pimen left during his short sojourn on earth will disappear forever.
There is the track he left from outside the sitting-room window, where he would watch Val working on the computer or reading, to his water bowl for a drink. He used to watch Val most of the day, and if she moved to another room he would go round the house, saying "wuh" until he was satisfied that he had located her. As a border collie, he regarded the family as his sheep, and he took his resposibilities towards his flock seriously (the name Pimen is Greek for "shepherd"). He also herded visitors, and when they left he was worried that we was losing members of his flock.
Several times a day he would patrol around the house, always anticlockwise, like a good Orthodox in procession around the church. And there too he left his parth, and the reminder of his presence, and now absence.
The picture above was taken on the day we got him, 10 May 2015, and introduced him to our other dogs. The one in the picture, Squiffylugs, already had cancer, and we knew she would not live long, so we got Pimen as a companion for Squiffylugs's father Samwise, but he too died a couple of years ago.
Pimen soon made himself at home, and grew up playing with Squiffylugs and Samwise.
And so we remember him while his paths fade.
Our last dog, Pimen, died on Tuesday, but every time we look out of the windows we see memories of him, the the paths he left in the winter-brown grass, paths he will never tread again. And as winter turns to spring the grass will grow again, and the traces that Pimen left during his short sojourn on earth will disappear forever.
There is the track he left from outside the sitting-room window, where he would watch Val working on the computer or reading, to his water bowl for a drink. He used to watch Val most of the day, and if she moved to another room he would go round the house, saying "wuh" until he was satisfied that he had located her. As a border collie, he regarded the family as his sheep, and he took his resposibilities towards his flock seriously (the name Pimen is Greek for "shepherd"). He also herded visitors, and when they left he was worried that we was losing members of his flock.
Several times a day he would patrol around the house, always anticlockwise, like a good Orthodox in procession around the church. And there too he left his parth, and the reminder of his presence, and now absence.
The picture above was taken on the day we got him, 10 May 2015, and introduced him to our other dogs. The one in the picture, Squiffylugs, already had cancer, and we knew she would not live long, so we got Pimen as a companion for Squiffylugs's father Samwise, but he too died a couple of years ago.
Pimen soon made himself at home, and grew up playing with Squiffylugs and Samwise.
And so we remember him while his paths fade.