My friend Ruah and her
friend Amber
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My dog Ruah and cat Amber DO get on well together, even sharing a bed in front of my Rayburn
in the kitchen if needs must (ie if it's a cold evening!) Photo taken by me!
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Ruah is the smallest member of
my family. She's a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from
Fife. Amber
joined me from my daughter's family in Edunburgh. I don't think anyone
has claimed any pedigree for her, except 'housecat'! Thanks for this lovely photo by Val
Harrison in June 2011. |
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Ruah's not really a greedy dog - but the prospect of cake, so close
but so far away was just too much, and so she made sure that the guest
knew she was there ... and liked cake... A
gorgeous photo taken in the east bedroom, were she isn't normally
allowed. I also don't know whether this emotional blackmail was
successful! Thanks to my guest Michela Cicatello for this photo, taken in August 2012, that is used with permission.
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As
her breed goes, Ruah is at the top end of the scale, height
wise – still not very tall. She also loves to station herself on the
couch in the livingroom and dare us to turf her off!
This is a favourite photo of mine.
My son
John really preferred Collies, but
little Ruah just kept going to him till he gave in.....
She enjoys taking selected guests on walks
through the village, and when she does, that instantly identifies these
guests to the locals as mine.
During the summer she'll probably mostly
have a busy morning, with guests to attend to, a bone
to really enjoy, a walk to the shop and some playtime with Meacha from
next door. She's already become more
sedate than her wild times as a young puppy - but not too much so, I
hope.
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She's a fairly unadventurous soul and while she will wander around
the garden, front and back, she doesn't deliberately make herself
scarce. I can open the
doors, as I used to, not worrying where the dog is!
She's a very friendly wee soul and just
wiggles with delight when
acknowledged! The Edinburgh Family quite often refers to her as 'Miss
Wiggle'!
She is perhaps not quite as
desperate for food as she was... she'll sit and stay till I tell her to
"eat it". She has NEVER left any of the very boring dry food uneaten,
however!
Ruah's tail is long and it wags
from morning till night. She loves other dogs and is fortunate to have
little Meacha (a miniature Jack Russell a month younger) at the top of
the lane.
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Frequent guests will remember my large and
imperious cat Sponge. Sadly,
Sponge is no longer with us.
Sponge's
sort-of replacement is Amber. In her much younger days, she was supposed to be a 'mouser' but there's
not much sign of recent success, and she is pretty big too.
But she's very friendly and is great mates
with Ruah, so she has fitted most comfortably into my home. She is most
definitely NOT usually allowed on this bench, but she clearly was
enjoying the sunshine and being at 'human height' just this once.
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Ruah has had a hard act to follow. I wonder
what Yarrow would
have made of her?
Of course Ruah is not a substitute for him,
she's an essential member of my family now and much loved by everyone
who's met her.
But Yarrow'll never be forgotten by me and
others who loved him.
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