Sandy spaniel 1995-2010

Last week my beautiful Sandy spaniel had to be put to sleep. I never got to say goodbye as she deteriorated too quickly for me to get home. It was only fair to end her suffering. Sandy was fifteen, so I knew it was coming. The last couple of times I had been home I would make sure that I said goodbye to Sandy. I would kiss her and thank her for being such a lovely dog.

So I am going to tell you a little about my beautiful Sandy:

My parents had always wanted to get a dog to complete the Neville family. My mum had always had spaniels and she thought a cocker spaniel would be best because of their lovely nature and temperament. My mum also decided that we were on the hunt for a lemon roan cocker spaniel because of how pretty they look!

I remember going to visit several litters of pups. I was so excited. I was going to have a doggy!
We travelled quite a distance to visit one litter. I think there were about six puppies. My dad, sister and I were playing with the more playful ones. There was a wee lemon roan girl at the back but she was much quieter than the others and less playful/excitable. My mum said she was the one. So that was that.

We went to pick up our little puppy a couple of weeks later. She had got bigger and had just drank lots of milk so she had a swollen tummy. I wanted to hold her for the journey home so we put a towel on my lap as the breeder said she might pee because of all of the milk. She did and I didn't mind. We named our puppy Sandy because of her colouring. She was white with sandy patches and she had a white button batch on her forehead.
Her kennel club name was Arryantra afore ye go. We would later call our house Arryantra House.

As a puppy Sandy was quite naughty. She was absolutely obsessed with slippers. I remember walking around the house with her attached to me via the foot. She went absolutely crazy for them. I also remember that she loved sleeping on me by the fireplace. Sandy's ears were fricking massive.

Sandy loved walks, she loved the water and she loved...duck poo! Rolling in it was one of her specialities. She loved ears, especially my dads. She loved chicken, cheese, rich tea biscuits, chocolate, peppers and mushrooms. She loved her belly being rubbed and her ears being massaged. As Sandy got older she liked her chin and nose being stroked. She liked carrying things and hiding them. Her favourite toy was a duck.
Sandy would frequently squeeze herself into tight places like behind the sofa. She would get stuck and have to be rescued!
Apart from us, the post was also another love in her life. She would go crazy when it arrived and she seemed to be able to smell it a few miles off. She would bark and jump and then shred it to pieces. It got to the point that the postman and paper boy had to leave things outside the front door for us.
Sandy also used to run home if we took her out for a walk and she would frequently escape out of the house. It was sometimes really hard to get her back!

We mated Sandy when she was five years old and she had eight puppies. The first one she delivered herself but he was stillborn (we named him Moses). The vet then had to deliver the other seven of them by caesarean. The vet said the pups were so large that Sandy would not have survived if she had delivered them all by herself. We named the four boy pups Issy, Rolley, Dandy and Louis. The two girl pups we named Molly and Daisy. We kept Daisy and found homes for her siblings. Sandy was such a good mum. She did everything perfectly like it had said in our breeding book. Having Sandy's puppies is one of my fondest family memories.

Sandy had a heart murmur and we used to say that she had it because her heart had too much love in it. A couple of years ago Sandy's nose skin started falling off. My sister and I would rub Vaseline into it daily and eventually it grew back. Sandy also lost the hair on both of her ears for a while. The vet could not explain it, but again, the fur grew back on its own accord.

I hope that Sandy is in doggy heaven. I hope that she is running and playing and swimming. I hope there are hourly deliveries of post and newspapers, lovely lakes, duck poo in abundance and chocolate, lots of chocolate.

Sandy spaniel, I will love you forever.

Sistersledge

It has been two weeks since my sistersledge came to visit, and what a wonderful time we did have. We did lots and lots of lovely things. Here are some photos for you to feast your beady eyes on:



















I love my sister


P.S 19 more days until I leave Glasgow!

Things that have been making me smile...

Here is a list of some of the things which have been making me smile recently. I am a lover of lists. Archivists catalogue collections, but really they are just making lovely long complex lists!


I saw a dog with its owner crossing the road at night time, and it had a flashing light dog collar!

I saw an old couple doing some bush trimming together.They looked happy. I hope when I am old I have a partner to do some bush trimming with.

At netball practice. I was goal shooter and I just could not score a goal whenever the ball was passed down to me. When I finally did, everybody cheered really really loudly at me. Next time I must wear my glasses.

My flatmate got a spray tan. When I first saw her I thought she had changed race. But now she just looks like a golden goddess!

I saw a man, in a suit, with a silver briefcase and he was holding the most biggest roundest blue ballon I ever saw!

I have new trainers and I feel really bouncy whenever I wear them!

I bumped into my old university advisor of studies/best lecturer in the world. Upon seeing me he gave me a kiss on the cheek and a wee hug. I have always had a soft spot for him even though he is old enough to be my father. He specialises in early Italian Renaissance art. I think a tiny particle of my heart has his name on it.

This drawing. I saw it on the wall of the ladies toilets in Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts. I think it is lovely.

It is nice to focus on the things that make you smile rather than the things that make you frown.



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2 weeks have passed!

14 days have passed since I last blogged! Now I only have 36 days until I leave Glasgow! I had meant to blog last week but never got around to it.
Here are some of the things that I have been up to:

I went to the Glasgow School of Art degree show opening event! There was lots of talent. After the show there was a street party. I also ate a free cupcake which was not very nice. This is the first time that this has ever happened to me.

I visited this beautiful house (Hill House, Helensburgh)

and had a coffee in its lovely kitchen.

I made butterfly cakes for my friend at work.

I went home for fathers day. We went to a lovely hotel for a meal. At the hotel they had peacocks roaming around the grounds. We saw this amazing white one:

After our lovely meal we continued to eat at home. For supper we had 3 of my favorite things- tea, scones and victoria sponge. My only complaint was that the sponge did not have butter cream icing. Hotel du Neville's standards are falling!

Whilst home I got to take Sandy spaniel out in her new pushchair. Sandy is very nearly 15 years old. That is very old in cocker spaniel doggie years. She does not walk so well anymore. But now we can take her out and about again! I wasn't sure about putting a dog in a push chair, but she seems to really enjoy it!

That is enough for now. Posting this post didn't take quite as long as the first one, but it still took over an hour. I'm sure I will get quicker at it. I have some ideas about other things to blog about. If you are lucky I might blog before the end of the weekend! Lucky duckies.

Whatever you are doing I hope you are having a nice time.

This blog is officially open!

I am Lucy

I am from Milton Keynes which is famous for these
Though at the moment I reside in Glasgow

I work for this place

I am on a trainneship at the University Archive. I loves it!

Apart from these (they do not harm the archives but they harm my nerves)
In September I am moving here to do a Masters in Archives and Records Management

I want to be an archivist you see!
In the mean time, I am bored and lonely in Glasgow. I leave in 7 weeks, which is in 50 days time!


I will be moving back to Hotel du Neville temporarily before my Liverpool move

I am very excited about this. I am going to be with my beloved family, learn to drive, relax and most importantly spend time with my woof woofs

This blog is intended to keep me busy whilst I count down the days until I leave Glasgow. I've decided I am going to let this blog evolve and see where it takes me!