This week’s Monochrome Madness, hosted by Elke of Pictures Imperfect, takes pets as its subject. We don’t have one of those, though we are required to provide daily chats and cuddles to Newt, the dog next door on one side, and catering services when her owner is away to MiMi, the cat next door on the other side.
So I’m taking you to Bamburgh in Northumbria, where we were walking recently on the best sort of afternoon at an English seaside, with bright sun, breeze and gentle warmth. It was an afternoon for beach strolls and games … and for taking the dog out to play.
We don’t have a pet, though we’ve had cats in our time. I admire their independence, their insistence on setting the terms of any relationship they choose to establish with you.
My daughters have cats though. They would agree with this piece of street art in Brick Lane.
Miquel passed the test with Emily, and forthwith got his own cat, the supercilious Lulu. Who does not get on with…
… Emily’s Archie.
Archie likes to hide in boxes … or carrier bags … or baskets …
At least they have a home. On our travels, we’ve met plenty of feral cats. We’ve learnt not to feel too sorry for them. Clearly they are loved and cared for by some people in the community. Cádiz has its feline shanty towns, constructed with human help, on the rocks by the sea. Dinner is served here every evening by willing waiting staff. Probably breakfast too, for all I know.
Thessaloniki has its bed and breakfast accommodation sorted.
And a siesta is easily come by.
Dogs though. Dogs just want to have fun. As I found out on the beach at Bamburgh last October…
… unless they’re waiting for their owner…
… or swimming in the river, as my friend Dilys is doing in the featured photo. Though she, like the beach dogs, is having a pretty good time.
Some of you may remember my first post this month, when I announced my plan to acquire a Virtual Dog to make sure I went walking every single day, come rain, come ice, come mud. My chosen companion was Dilys, shown in today’s feature photo, but she already walks miles every day with her own family. Much as I love her, I think I really do need a Virtual Dog.
Then I remembered Ai Wei-We’s Circle of Animal Heads at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Surely that featured a dog’s head? Up a pole? It did. Here is my Virtual Dog. Sadly, it’s my least satisfactory photo from there, so I’ll include a small gallery of some of the others to give you a better idea of this circle of mainly Zodiac figures up above your head.
My Virtual Dog
I’ve completed 116 miles this month. I felt this was a decent number – nothing to upbraid myself with here. But then I discovered that Jo of Restless Jo and Jo’s Monday Walk fame has upstaged me. She does eight miles a day. Almost every day. I’ll have to up my game.
Thank you, Becky, for cheering up a particularly long and dismal January: for giving us the opportunity for uplifting friendships in the blogosphere, and for making us crank our brains up a gear as we tried to measure up to the skills, humour and ingenuity of our fellow participants.
Our good friends Gill and Dave host a mid-winter walk for all their friends after Christmas every year. We’re invited, and we’re never sure why. We’re not known for showing much interest in horses, and we don’t own a dog. As you can see from this shot taken just as we set forth, fortified by bacon sandwiches and coffee, having a dog in tow is pretty much expected.
Boots, wellies and dogs organised.
We love this post-Christmas event, and this year I was especially keen. I’ve not been able to go on a decent hike for six months now because of a knee condition, but today was the day to begin to put all that behind me.
So here we all are. Here are the dogs, here is the mud, here are the woods and the local views – understated, pleasant good old rolling English countryside. I’ve deliberately overstated the mud for dramatic effect – it really wasn’t bad at all, and with enjoyable company we didn’t notice it anyway.
Back home with Gill and Dave, we ate and drank, laughed and talked for most of the afternoon.
The human friends are all inside eating, drinking and making merry. It’s a dog’s life.
And on the way home, this was the sunset.
Another entry for Jo’s Monday Walk. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had the chance…
Even though these last few days have left us feeling bleak and helpless, with time passing so quickly, yet so slowly, there have been good moments. You might expect two dogs to be behind one or two of them.
Here’s Ellie, Phil and the twins’ dog Brian letting off steam with his best friend Betsy. Luckily for them, Betsy’s owners are among Phil and Ellie’s best friends too. So there are lots of playtimes for these two energetic dogs to look forward to.
Phil is still being cared for at home during his final days.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
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