Eliot's Contribution

He said that he'd do a bit for the Parish Magazine - so here it is for a wider audience too. Saves me putting fingers to keyboard this morning!

From the Doghouse

It was the umbrella that reminded me. Just an ordinary black umbrella – a tall one with an elegant wooden handle, designed for a lady. At least, it once had an stylish curve. Now it has a less than gorgeous chewed end. And I confess, I did it!
The story goes back a good few years to when I was little more than a pup. You don’t want to know all the gory details of my troubled past; sufficient to say that I’d been a rescue dog, had been returned to Assisi and was pretty well unmanageable.
Along came herself and after a few weeks of getting to know each other I ended up being the curate’s dog. But the memories… in the early days sometimes I got lonely, sometimes I was afraid… It took a while to recover from my puppyhood experiences.
So that’s where the umbrella comes into the picture. There it was, in my new home, looking for all the world like a toy. So I had a good chew. The varnish was a little bitter but the wood was sweet.
Herself wasn’t best pleased with me. I suppose that was reasonable considering that the previous day a pair of brand new (expensive) shoes had been my latest plaything – or should I say “chew”? And there was that hole in the back of the sofa out of which tons and tons of lovely white fluffy stuff kept coming. I should have been taken back to Assisi.
What am I getting at? Well, it was raining the other day and it seemed that the black umbrella was the one that “the boss” needed. As she took it from the old marmalade pot she smiled at me as if to say, “you’re forgiven you know”.
It’s been hard enough for me to believe that, but I’m thinking it must be true. Herself treats me as if it never happened. No wonder I’m such a contented fellow.
We've just had a coffee at the bottom of the garden where the sun shines first thing in the morning. There are some good smells around at that time of day including a hint of squirrel and herself seems happy enough to be ignored as she sits and reads. I’ll play with her later but I don’t feel that I have to keep her entertained all the time – it’s good for her to have to make her own amusement at times. I wouldn’t want to spoil her!
We’re off to the beach in August so I’ll be all fit and healthy (and smelly) when we catch up again. Must go…there’s lots to do!
Eliot!