Running free together

Attempt three!

I've written a few non starters this morning, this one, hopefully will make the grade (also a change of subject will help!)

When Youngest was at senior school, I would walk up to the local nature reserve to meet him as he hopped off the bus. He would rather I collected him in the car, but I had a dog to walk (Moss) and a brain to clear (mine) so walking it was. The silly thing was, at the end of it we always had a good walk, time to chat and if the weather was good and the homework not too demanding, we'd end up in the cafe for a hot chocolate and put the world to rights.

I would try to get to the reserve earlier than needed so Moss and I could walk around before the bus arrived.  And, as you do, you get to see the same folk wandering around with their dogs too. There was an older chap with the most glorious head of white hair and the twinkliest blue eyes with his border collie.  We would chat as we passed each other around the paths.

Our first meet was to exclaim how alike our two dogs were as they were both strikingly unusually marked border collies. There were subtle differences however the similarities were impressive. Over the year of walking and waiting for Youngest at the bus, Angus and Zack were regular ports of chat each afternoon.

We, Angus and I, often wondered if our dogs came from the same breeder as they both had the white face with a large black 'cape' of fur on their backs, Zack's fur was longer but they could have been 'cut from the same Border Collie cloth'. They were both failed farm dogs with good breeding, had professional sheep dog training and came from the same area. Their gait and their behaviour were incredibly similar and although Zack was two years younger than Moss - they could have been litter mates.

Moss died roughly two years ago - her liver riddled with tumours and her heart failing - she was only ten and it broke my heart.

Zack died two weeks ago - of the same disease......... he was ten. 

I found typing that last sentence hard - I know that Angus will be as devastated as I was. A mutual friend commissioned the pebble, I was going to deliver it to her today, that will have to wait - It is a bit of a blizzard out there - Willow might just have to hang on for her walk a little longer. 

Not that I think she is fussed about at the moment as she is asleep in her bed underneath her duvet .... spoilt? 

Not in the slightest...