37. Week 37

Take Rosie for the big loop walk on the Heath

When I wrote the list, I hadn’t factored in that Rosie is aging. It’s the cruelest thing when we take responsibility for a pet, that we will likely be responsible for their whole lifespan. Monty Don writes honestly about this in his book, Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs.

“When you take on the life of a pet you take on its death too. That is the deal.”

Monty Don

When Rosie was younger she had a few lone white hairs on her chin. It always looked like she had rested her jaw on the rim of a paint pot. In recent years, those white hairs have spread and now the underneath of her chin is almost all white.

In our younger days, we would stop off at Therfield Heath on the drive home from work. In the winter months I would time it so the sun would be just be starting to set as we were on our walk.

On Fridays we would often coincide with another group of dog walkers, and in time we assimilated into this group. At times there would 10 of us (humans) and up to 20 hounds. We would do a big looping walk, chatting, watching the sun as it set and taking pleasure in the dogs running free.

I’m not sure if this group still meets to walk, I’ve lost the contact details over the Covid years and no longer make the commute. I miss those Friday walks, they were a great way to ease the transition from the working week into the weekend - and one that didn’t involve going to the pub.

When we visited the Pasque flowers a few months ago, for week 25, I realised that we had completed a shortened version of the big loop walk. Since then Rosie’s walking has declined. She had a hip replacement at 3 years old and while it gave her a new lease of life in her early years, the walking is starting to detoriate again. Combined with my low energy from Long Covid, to push either of us to do the full big walk just seems not the right thing to do.

I’ve taken so many photographs of the Heath over the years that I could make a book (and in fact have started one), so I share a few of my favourites and share a map of our favourite place.

*It’s taken forever to get this map finished. I had a huge block on completing it, and then last week decided that I just needed to get it finished. This has pushed me way out of my comfort zone in drawing/painting but their is an immense satisfaction of getting it completed.