A Celebration of a Dog's Life

A short little post about our Whisper's last weeks, which may help one or two other people.

Emma and puppy training

Nicola and sleepy puppy

He did love a boat trip

Snow, snow balls, misbehaving - happy boy!

We knew Whisper was getting old - he was 12, with arthritis especially in the lower back and back legs, and he was pretty much completely deaf. We'd adapted to that. He was still the adorable border collie he always was.

Water therapy helped get those back legs working again

But then, just a month ago, he seemed a bit constipated. This went on for longer than we thought right so that's when we took him to the vet. Bells seemed to start ringing, and after a thorough examination, prostate cancer was diagnosed, high dosage pain killers administered, and guidance given on the palliative care that would be needed. 

Canine prostate cancer is rare, but sadly it seems to be very aggressive with no cure. It quickly spread through the spine and into the chest. We did our best to listen to Whisper, and he let us know when he'd had enough. He was still enjoying his food to the end, and even his walks.

On Sunday he was unable to settle down - just pacing the house. So I put him on a large soft cushion and sat with him all afternoon - he settled, his breathing settled, and we spent the time together. I did the same overnight, putting him on the bed. His ribs and all his under carriage were so sore that it seemed to hurt him to lie down. Hence the big cushion and the bed. Eventually he slept peacefully and soundly for about 3 hours, with his head and paw resting on me.

The following morning, yesterday, we took him to the vets. He's now buried in the garden near to the rabbit and I will be planting wild speedwell over his grave - these were the flowers in bloom in the woods on Sunday when he had a very short but peaceful last walk.

I don't know if the symptoms are typical of canine prostate cancer, but if sharing this story helps even just one person, then I'm glad to share. 

So, dry your tears and hear the good news - as a celebration of Whisper's life we will be donating 20% from all sales from our Border Collie page to The Animal Health Trust charity in Newmarket. It's an amazing animal charity - find out more about them here. Over the next few weeks we will be trying to add more collie designs and products so do check this page out from time to time. 

And we're just working out how to put a Donate to Charity button on our website, for those of you who may support our cause but don't particularly want border collie products. 

The RHS Spring Gardening Show, Malvern - a fleeting glimpse

There's not much opportunity to see much of the shows I attend when I'm on my own, but here are just a few bits that caught my eye while walking in in the mornings:

These alpines greeted me as I walked along to the Country Living Magazine's marquee each day

There were some fantastic gardens designed and created by various schools, all themed around children's books. These hedgehogs amused me

And some beautiful plantings designed with such creativity - I feel some new card designs coming on: 

This is one of the show gardens - very popular with the public, and with me - Boathouse No. 9 by Mark Eveleigh. If you're interested, you can find out more about the show gardens here

And these slates have nothing to do with the gardening show, but I love them. They were stacked up outside the b&b where I was staying

So, is anyone inspired to get out into their gardens now? (Weather permitting, as it's pouring with rain as I write this)

Colour blending when there's no time to dye

I use natural and dyed sheep's fleece for finishing all my greeting cards and art work, and many of the colours have rather bizarre names - horse, Buff Orpingtons, dachshund, pig, and the like (based on what we use them for).

Well, we've run out of "Mrs Nosey" - she was a bantam we had years ago, but in the studio we all know what this colour is. No time to dye any more at the moment, so it was out with the carders to do a bit of blending. I don't normally like to use merino tops as it doesn't have very much character, but needs must. Here I'm blending a bit of horse with a mixture of oranges to get what I hope will suit our Mrs Nosey.

Just the ticket!

Border Collie Whisper Makes a Difference

You may have noticed a new page on our website dedicated to our border collie products. This is because, sadly, our lovely collie Whisper has been diagnosed with a tumour with no chance of recovery. 

Whisper has been just the best border collie a girl could have wished for - the kindest, the most amusing, the most loyal, the most annoying... So for that reason, we have decided to donate 20% from the sale of any of our border collie products to The Animal Health Trust. The Animal Health Trust is a charity based in Newmarket that works to fight against injuries and diseases in animals. They’ve had numerous success stories - you can read some of them here - and do amazing work. They also serve a very good tea and cake!

Whisper was loved by everyone in the Lindop house and everyone at Penny Lindop Designs, even if he did get in the way and make a general nuisance of himself on occasions! We’ve had him since he was a small and fluffy puppy.

I used to take him to dog training (not sure how successful that was!) where he seemed to spend a great deal of time cleaning out the ears of a huge German Shepherd dog! We also tried our hand at agility – we even won a couple of rosettes! Although I think Whisper mostly just did as he pleased.

Evidence of this also exists when you take a look around our garden; firstly there’s Whisper’s very own secret den underneath an old tree trunk. He dug this all by himself, it took him quite a while, but he looked very proud of the finished result. 

 

There’s also a potato plant in one of our flower beds; Whisper had a habit of stealing potatoes from the kitchen; they’d often turn up around the house or in his bed, but this one ended up sprouting!

He loved a stick or a ball and he loved the seaside

These are just some of the many memories that we have of our lovely boy, and we’ll never forget him. We shall give him the best that we can for this last part of his life.

We’re sure many of you have dogs or pets that you feel the same way about, so any support for the Animal Health Trust would be very welcome and greatly appreciated. You can buy our products here, or if you’d just like to give a donation to The Animal Health Trust, you can do this here.

It would be great if you could spread the word of what we are doing...

Thanks

Emma

The Origins of a Business

I had a nostalgic moment yesterday while undergoing a deep clean and expansion of the studio. I came across these sheets of permatrace with some of my original designs on, from when I started playing around with my woolly sheep – around 1994/5. 

Sue, my trusty studio manager, was intrigued by them and the story behind the start of the business:

While my younger daughter (aged about 3) was being bathed by Dad, the elder one Emma (aged about 4) would have time to paint with Mum (and then straight into the bath!) At the end of one session there was a lot of blue paint left, and on the floor some bits of pale yellow and grey fleece (I still managed to find time to spin in those days!!) I simply picked up one of the paint brushes, made some vaguely sheep shaped marks on a large sheet of paper and stuck some bits of wool on. And hey presto, the very start of Penny Lindop Designs! 

A 5 minute moment that took several years to germinate into a business!

Easter Greetings from Prague

Hello from a very un-spring like Prague! Apparently this time last year it was 20 degrees here; now we’re lucky if it gets above zero! But we don’t have snow, so I can’t complain too much!  And at least I can keep my running training up, as I’m running a half marathon in April.

It turns out that Easter in the Czech Republic is not quite the same as in the UK; whipping sticks, Becherovka (a Czech herbal liqueur – have a look at their cool website if you want to find out more) and buckets of water are all involved. 

This blog, Beyond Prague, has a good description of the Easter traditions of the Czech Republic.

Egg decorating is also a big tradition, and over the past week my students have been telling me how they decorate their copious amounts of hard boiled eggs.

Colouring the eggs is the first step, and onion skins seem to be a popular and cheap method! You need to put your egg in a sock with lots of onion skins and then place it in boiling water, or if you’re after a yellowy coloured egg, try the same with green tea. Another tip I received; if you want to make a pattern on your egg, try putting it in a pair of tights rather than a sock!

The eggs are decorated in a variety of ways often using batik or other skilled techniques. The results are amazing – you can find decorated eggs as souvenirs in Prague. Here’s a selection I particularly like which I found on the Beyond Prague blog. 

The eggs are then given as gifts or made into Easter tree decorations – fun!

But if colouring eggs isn’t your thing, we have an ever expanding collection of hen and chicken cards, these Silkies are the latest addition. 

Let us know what you think!

Wishing you all a very happy Easter, 
from Emma

Wet Walk Sows Seeds of Inspiration

Well, it's still pretty wet under foot down on our local fen, Scarfe Meadow. A week ago it was totally flooded, but I didn't manage to get down there with a camera. Today I just took a few on my phone - not a particularly nice day, just grey, a bit cold, but I always love going down to these meadows (when the cows aren't in there!!)
  

 This is normally just a little brook, but it's burst it's banks

I love all the reflections - it's sparked a little idea. Inspiration can come from all sorts of places - I wonder whether any new card designs might be forthcoming.... I'm told there are otters, widgeon, gray lag geese and kingfishers to be seen in the area.

 This tiny temporary stream of brackish water is feeding into the brook

 I disturbed a deer amonst these trees with all their feet in water

The meadow itself is pretty soggy! A very high water table. On dry days this is a very peaceful place to sit and sketch, or just sit and let the world go by - should do more of that!

 Yes, quite soggy under foot! 

 Dirty feet...but happy boy

Oh, and did I say that I've discovered that both boots have sprung a leak?

And tomorrow it's off to the big smoke for The Country Living Magazine's Spring Fair.