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| Suki in old age |
So Saturday comes round, and I flick through the old photos on my external hard drive looking for something to write about, pulling up memories of sunny days and walking. So today a small tribute to Moss's predecessor, Suki or though their lives overlapped for a year or two. First thing I notice was that Suki fails to appear in the early digital camera photos and so she must have died before I had an all-dancing, all-singing digital wonder! LS makes the remark that would it not have been wonderful to have had digital cameras 40 or 50 years ago.
She came from Claverton Dogs Home, two years old, her former owner was an Italian waiter, who treated her horribly. All this bad treatment had to be undone, she was a gentle sweet creature but for the first few weeks hid behind the armchair. Walking her in the beginning, and the first time I let her off she just stood there not knowing what to do. She must have been kept on a leash on all her walks, the added nasty bonus was, that the retractable lead she came with had been used for hitting her with as well, so she would flinch as it retracted - so that went into the dustbin. Time heals of course, and she lived till fifteen years old, scared of a lot of things. For instance the great balloons that took to the air round Bath, they would take off with their passengers on Sunday from Victoria Park and float over our house sometimes, which was a bit worrying because they should have been up over the fields at that stage. When we saw them over the downs she had to be kept on a lead, or would just take off. The balloons occasionally landed on the race course, the basket bumping along the grass, all very exciting, the recovery jeeps would of course trail them through the lanes.
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| The two of them |
The other things that scared her was being lost, or what she thought was lost, once she got left behind an old wall that surrounded an Iron Age fort, and as I walked round to get her she had worked herself up into a terrible state, her heart beating fast and trembling so that she was unable to walk and I had to carry her the two miles home! The other thing she hated was electric fences and once having been 'stung' by one of them would give all wire fences a wide berth. Moss when they were put up to keep the summer cows and calves in would actually take a detour of about a quarter of a mile round an electric fence and we would meet up further on.
I mentioned she came from Claverton Down, well up on these downs past Bath University you come to the American Museum, a place everyone should visit on a trip to Bath. But this weekend till October there is a show, this is in the American quilt gallery and it is Kaffe Fassett and his partner's flamboyant quilts on show.
I love the colouring and patterning of Kaffe, whether knitting, embroidery or quilting though too bright for me but so decadent and it is fitting that this exhibition should come to the splendours of this old house.
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| The American Museum, Claverton Creative Commons. |
I adore Kaffe Fassett's work too - the colours are so vibrant. I have a few of his books and the image that always springs to mind when I think of him is of a wonderful nursing chair covered in needlepoint of brilliantly coloured anemones - all pink and purples. Anemones were my mother's favourite flowers and it calls her to mind.
ReplyDeleteHis sense of colour is second to none.
On the subject of dogs - old friends who have died leave a sense of sadness. One of the downside of owning dogs is that their life span is so much shorter than ours. I have lost some dearly loved dogs. They are buried in a row in the paddock, just under my kitchen window. I think of them often.
I remember those needlepoint chairs, I often wondered what person did them, a very patient one surely. Suki was buried in the garden wrapped in a quilt, hope no one has dug her up...
DeleteI've just had to look Kaffe Fassett up and am so impressed. Such vibrancy and excitement in fabric. Something I steer away from in the house to my own detriment.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see and hear about Suki. They tear our hearts.
He is an extraordinary artist, and as Pat says has a complete sense of colour toning, knitting with him can be expensive though, three dozen colours do not come cheap, especially when it is from Rowans. Expect you don't knit Em ;)
DeleteWe have noticed looking at old photographs that we can date events and places by the cats and the occasional dog or horses who appear casually in a group or around the edges. Even one photo from years past brings on a rush of memories--bittersweet.
ReplyDeleteGood posts this week--I've been reading without time to comment.
Hi MM, I have found writing every day quite difficult, end up babbling half the time, but animals have featured in my life from early on....
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