Today we took the three dogs to Treen and walked across the fields towards Logan Rock.
Duna is watching the others all the time – learning how to be a member of a pack. Always an only dog, she hasn’t had much experience with other dogs but is picking things up quickly.
Some things she has noticed – like barking when the leads and harnesses appear, and lying on the sofa – are being discouraged but here she is, finally accepting that walking behind the leader is the best way to go! Blue clambered over three cornish stiles in spite of her arthritic joints, and enjoyed the sea breeze through her thick black fur.
I usually leave the van in here when I leave Cornwall
But it will have to survive a summer outdoors.
There are new residents building a nest in the garage and I don’t want to risk disturbing them nor provide a ledge for cats to lie in wait. It’s the first time they have nested in there, using the broken window at the front and with an emergency exit through an air vent at the back. Hopefully when I get back here they will have a large family preparing to fly south.
Sorry there are no swallow pictures – I waited for a long time at the window but they chattered loudly on the wires and waited equally patiently for me to go away!
My last night. Cleaning the house. Saying goodbye to the dogs – yet again. A visit from Dandelion my beautiful ginger cat, he now lives next door but must have known that I am leaving soon.
Thinking back over the long list of things that I have done in the last two weeks all I regret is that I didn’t go for more walks with Bonnie on the coast path or lie down more doing nothing with Blue who has been too wobbly to go further than the bottom of the lane.
Except when we went to the vet!
After we came out she took off down to the promenade and insisted on a long walk beside the sea
The Jubilee Pool has beautiful flags this year
Let’s go then!
I’m off!
Shall we stop here for a bit?
I will be back soon but two and a half months is a long time in the life of a dog, especially when you are almost 15. And a long time for me too.
People often ask me what I miss about Cornwall. After more than a year in Catalunya I am getting clearer about my answer although probably it would change depending on when you ask me and on who is asking! I am back in Penwith for a week. It stirs you up coming back and at the same time you have so much to do that you hardly have time to sit back and think let alone feel. Here is my answer for today and I’m not including the obvious answer – friends and family.
It is not easy to buy flowers in Granollers. Not just a normal ordinary reasonably-priced bunch of garden flowers for the house – which I like to do every week and used to do here when I lived in Penzance. The florists in Granollers have posh flowers and houseplants and they are expensive.
I really really miss second hand shops and charity shops. They don’t seem to exist in Granollers. I miss being able to rummage through books and china and clothes. I also miss having somewhere convenient to take things I want to get rid of. What do people do with their old stuff? Dump it?
Here is the wonderful Honeypot in Penzance. Not only is it a great place to meet friends and to watch the world go by but they have fantastic food. There are always several vegetarian dishes. This day I had delicious sweet corn fritters with a spicy sauce and cornish potatoes and salad. I just wish it was easier to find vegetarian food in restaurants in Catalunya. Interesting, tasty and spicy vegetarian food.
I love the cliffs here – I love the landscape in Catalunya too but what is lovely here is that I can drive for no more than ten minutes along quiet country lanes and end up here. And of course I miss my dogs – two border collies who can bark too much, don’t really know how to behave in town, sometimes growl at strangers but are intelligent and loving and beautiful. I want to pack them in the van ( which by the way broke down as soon as I arrived here) and take them home with me to Granollers. But what sort of a life would they have without a garden? And what sort of life would I have with three dogs to walk twice a day in town? Tomorrow I go home, I say goodbye to my dogs and my house and the cliffs, rain, wind and mud. I feel I am going home – I look forward to arriving back in my life in Granollers – so much awaits me. Each time I make the journey it is another letting go, another chance to make the decision and to say Yes. But it is complicated and making the choice doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. Just different.
The reality of having two homes is not so easy as you might imagine.
One of the things I have had to accept since moving to Catalunya is that the process of moving is slow and there is going to be a period of transition which is quite uncomfortable. I love my new life but I also feel deeply attached to my old home and especially because my two border collies are still living there, being taken care of in their familiar home but without me.
I hope to resolve this as soon as I can but in the meantime, we went back to visit Cornwall for Easter
It was the first time my partner and his son had been in the UK and I felt responsible for making it a good trip. So, what happened?
St Michaels Mount was still there and looked beautiful in the sunshine
We got terrible colds which meant all our plans had to be changed
It also rained a lot and I felt sad that my new family didn’t see Cornwall at it’s best.
Spending time in my own cottage was wonderful and being with my dogs was bliss.
my best friends
It is sometimes very hard having two homes and wanting to be in both of them.
We were still coughing on the ferry trip back from Plymouth to Santander
I drove to Granollers in my little white van, bringing back essentials such as Twinings Earl Grey Tea and my blue Denby teapot, four fine china mugs and a very uplifting table clothBut two essential dogs had to be left behind … next time……… I hope… they can make the journey.
