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January 2012
Dear Irish Terrier Friends,
We decided to abandon the Christmas letter this year as the calendar production line has expanded to the point that it leaves little time for anything else! Jane and I were coping with the deluge. I’m delighted that it seems to give so much pleasure and that we all feel it presents our beloved Breed with affection and accuracy.
I do apologise if there were some delays in their arrival. We do our best but the post is much slower at Christmas and less reliable…and we are a team of only two. All is made worthwhile when we hear how much you love the pics, love the red, white and blue Jubilee theme and love the dogs!
I sometimes think that we rather mistakenly overdo the Irish theme. They are after all Antrim Terriers and nowhere is the Jack more in evidence than in Northern Ireland.
I do hope that Christmas was good for everyone with the right combination of carols, gifts and partying. Zuli and Liberty Belle loved it especially the feasting on turkey leftovers which lasted for days.
My son James came to stay and I think they always love to have ‘someone else’ in the house and he is a great favourite. Zuli’s health and good spirits have continued to improve and she has become, on occasion, positively skittish. She tries so hard to play with Libby but after the first few stylish prances she gets so biffed and buffeted around that we have to rescue her. Her eyes have been sore and scaly round the lids. She hates having them bathed in saline solution but it has helped a great deal.
Our dear friend Chico came with Gordon to collect their calendars. He’s a very easy going charming dog and Zuli and Libbs were electrified. Zu has always been a wicked flirt and seems unaware that her allure may have faded somewhat. When Chico showed far more interest in Libby, Zu kept stepping up, trying out some clever little squeals and gambles – quite shameless - but it is a joy to see her so much better in herself at last. I am so relieved as I had been seriously wondering if life was not providing enough enjoyment to make it seem worthwhile. She will be 15 next month and although she’s never been ill, was becoming a slightly ghostly presence.
Liberty Belle is of course something else. She loves everything about herself and every moment of every day. Now that she has discovered the intoxication of squirrel chasing there are no limits to her joy. I’m not sure whether it’s because of the warm weather but there seem to be a great many very young squirrels about. There are not as wily as the older ones and there have been some close encounters. I only hope they will put on enough weight to make it through the cold winter weather.
Unfortunately Libby is equally obsessed with playing football and her attempts to join every game she sees are only a qualified success. She refuses to give up and refuses to be caught…I am beyond embarrassment. She has a very soft mouth and has not as yet punctured a ball.
She did make me laugh the other day. There was a lot of scrambling and ducking about in the kitchen, tossing her head in the air, dashing after something or other, pouncing and spinning around and making little dabs with her paws. I couldn’t for the life of me see what the game was about. When I tried to look inside her mouth she suddenly jumped up and a small green grape flew through the air followed by more pouncing and pawing. I managed to retrieve it at last and was amazed to find it completely intact. Not the tiniest mark on it. They do have amazingly soft mouths for terriers.
Libby, I fear, is gently taking over my heart - and she knows it.
You’d think after a lifetime with Irish Terriers I might have learned all the puppy hazards by now. I’m appalled to confess we’ve had two scares with Libby this Christmas. It is so difficult when friends are staying, routine slightly disrupted and quite simply too much else to do to keep a close eye on a puppy. She escaped through the front door, presumably with friends who were leaving, before I’d realised she was gone. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes later when I was putting out the party remains that she arrived back with her tongue hanging out, puffed and panting but thrilled with her adventure. I have no idea where she’d been. The second fright was when she followed some cousins who were staying. They had their old dog Bart with them. He is much admired by Zu and Libbs although he ignores them completely. After a walk in the park, instead of jumping into the car to come home with me, she turned and took off across the road to catch up with Bart who was being walked home the other way. My heart missed several beats but she was caught by one of the park gardeners who quite rightly delivered a sound reprimand to me followed by a lecture on due care…very shaming. One really cannot be vigilant enough during the first years and I have been seriously taking myself to task.
Talking of narrow escapes Dr Merrington and Grace were walking on a country road in Hampshire when a car, coming from behind, failed to see them because of the glare on the icy road and ran straight into them both. The driver had slowed down because of the poor visibility and fortunately neither was seriously injured. John said, ‘we were just limping a bit and covered from head to foot in mud.’ It sounds like the perfect English understatement and was in fact a very lucky escape.
We all drove down to the S.I.T.S. show at Bradfield before Christmas. Strange to think that last year it had to be postponed because of deep snow. It is a pleasant venue with masses of space to walk the dogs. As my 2 are by no stretch of the imagination show girl material there is time to walk across the fields which makes for a nice day out in the country.
There were even more puppies this year. Some were too young for showing and just there for the outing. They are so enchanting playing together and it always gives me a huge amount of pleasure.
We sold a great many calendars which helped boost the club funds.
It was so good to see Penny and Stephen Parkhurst at the show. They have been great supporters of the Breed over many, many years, but Stephen’s health has been a problem lately and we have missed them very much.
I’m off to the Gambia on Friday and was very regretful to strip the Christmas tree before 12th night.
Libby was a ‘huge help’ helping with the dismantling. Goodness knows she’s been trying ever since we put it up. We’ve had the mortal remains of snowmen and shepherds scattered around the house and a storm of tissue paper but the tree had miraculously survived.
Having missed a summer holiday in France when Beegie was ill I’m really looking forward to the change of scene and some proper sunshine.
Arabella is coming to house sit and the dogs love her dearly.
Jane and I both send our very best wishes for the New Year. May 2012 prove a great year for us all.
Hoorah for the Jubilee and we’ll pray for a mountain of medals in the Olympics.
With many greetings and my love to the dogs,
Lucy
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