At the risk of...

being a puppy bore, here are some more photos of Pippin. He's only been with us a week today but it does feel as though he's been here for much longer. He's settled in beautifully - sleeps all night without making either a mess or a fuss; he's happy and responsive and now starting to be a bit naughty - enjoys nipping us on the back of our legs if we don't pay him attention and not coming when we call him...I'm working on it!
It's quite a full-on occupation to establish the right routines and make sure he gets a good mixture of stimulation, affection, attention and real play and it's no wonder I feel quite tired as I'm doing most of it. The children and FR are doing a bit here and there but it would seem I'm the only one who's never too busy to put Pippin first. (Do I sound like I'm complaining? I'm not, I love it and I love him!)

Here he is - I can see already how he's growing in length. He is going to be quite big, I think. I can't wait for him to have all his injections so we can go out for walks - though I do hope the weather is due to improve when we get to that stage! It's yeuky and rainy right now - it was sunny on Saturday and felt like Spring all of a sudden. I am so looking forward to our long sunny days again....

Here he is...I'm sure I'll have more and different things to talk about again one day soon.

It's a hard life!

New paws

A couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call to say that a couple in the next village had found a stray dog with her four puppies - were we interested? At the time, I was still in that place where I felt I ought to be thinking about another dog but it was still too painful to action. Not the time.

But then, last week, a photograph of the puppies was posted on the window of the local British shop - and I was smitten...not spurred to action but definitely smitten. On Thursday evening, one of my students came into class all excited because her parents had just brought home a puppy and that it had come from an English woman. Later that night, I wondered whether it could possibly be from the same litter that I was interested in...and if one had gone, what if they'd ALL gone... I called them the next day. And certainly, the evening before, a Spanish couple had taken one of the dogs...I won't know until Thursday whether my student and I are now related via our puppies - because yes, we went along on Friday and picked out our new puppy!

The couple who have been looking after the puppies have done a sterling job and our little chap arrived smelling sweet, beautifully groomed, well fed and
He's currently called Pippin - we did the usual extended discussion between Friday and last night - when we picked him up - trying to decide on the right name. We had everything from Hubble, to Pancho, to Tike, to Leo, to Floyd - none of which got the majority vote. Pippin pleased most and the children have begged me not to change it again! So Pippin he is.

An absolute poppet - he seems to have settled in beautifully and is just now asleep in his temporary home - a cardboard box. I'm off to collect a crate - though where it will go, I am not sure!!










It's as if a great weight has been lifted. It was absolutely the right thing to do and the right time to do it.


Welcome Pippin - born around the time Darwin went  - we are glad there is this link.

And the header photo on my blog stays for a little longer I think.

Bumble. Probably.

Chosing names is so complex.


Before Mateo was born, knowing I was having a boy did at least half the choice that was available. Quite early on in my pregnancy, I had a dream that insisted my son would be called Orlando - choice didn't come into it. This was before 'Pirates of the Caribbean' too, so it was an out-of-the-blue name at the time.
Cesar didn't like it.
Then I decided he would be Lawrence, after my wonderful maternal grandfather. And that sort of stuck. We both liked Mateo as a second name and so, when he was born, those are the names I gave. If you read my earlier post, then you'll know that before I'd really seen him, he was whisked off to the special care baby unit and it was going on eight hours before I got to look at him properly. And when I did, he simply was not a Lawrence - he was Mateo. So we switched the names around, but I still have his little hospital tag with Lawrence Mateo.

And he's still very Mateo.

Ruy's name was going to be Lucas; and although I liked the name, it didn't feel right but we just couldn't come up with a better alternative. Then one evening about a fortnight before he was due (11th September, 2001 - though he was a week late) Cesar just happened to be telling me about the big, black Brazilian pot-smoking photographer who lived above his apartment in Milan - haven't a clue what he was telling me, because he had mentioned the name - Ruy. And that was it;  not a second's doubt and I still adore the name (and the boy) and love to say it. And his second name is Eliot - partly because I love George Eliot, the author, and partly because of the boy in E.T. - and it's spelt with just the one of everything so the Spanish contingent weren't confused and would pronounce it in the same way.

As for Romy - she was going to be Isabella, which is a beautiful name, but which, as time progressed began to seem more and more like the name of a tragic princess to me. (Pregnancy arouses all sorts of strange ideas.) We struggled to agree on any name - Cesar liked Trini; I didnt. I liked Lois, then changed my mind. After she was born, it was a good twelve hours before I decided that Romy suited her even if I wasn't absolutely sure about the name itself. And it does suit her and she is a Romy and there are not that many around. And she is Romy Luisa which is lovely.




But the puppy? The responsibility is not the same. It needs to be a name that we like to say; not much else. Something with only positive connotations.  But it has not proved easy.









After laying out a list of about a hundred different names, after asking friends on Facebook, after dredging memories and consulting books - all without consensus or commitment - we started saying words at random. At the words, Bumble Bee, the puppy leapt up, wagging his tail and behaving in the most bizarre and excited way. We all felt we could go along with Bumble. So Bumble he is.











Probably.

A very warm welcome to..

Our puppy who has no name.

First view at the 'Animals in Distress' centre near Coin, Malaga

Our thanks to the wonderful José, who looked and spoke like an Englishman but who is originally from Spain and could switch seamlessly between the two languages, and who rescues and looks after dogs that are abandoned around the province of Malaga.

I said that 'Rolly', as he was named temporarily at birth, was calling me from the website. I knew he would be ours - and the strange thing was that when we went into the dog enclosure, he looked me straight in the eye and said - 'ah, I've been calling you, where've you been?' And that was it - no further discussion necessary.

He's ours

Settling in

for the long journey home..

 I have three very happy children who can hardly believe who has arrived to live with them. But despite spending days thinking of names beforehand, he's neither a Luther nor a Zeus nor a Bach - nor indeed any of the others - so as yet, he is nameless.

He might end up with Rolly, though we'd spell it Rowley, as that's the name of the school the children went to in England and they have very fond memories of that.

He's also like a little sheep - what would be a good name for a little sheep?
And being a Famous Five fan, of course, I just can't rule out Timmy.

(He does keep telling me he's called 'Alfie' but I can't convince everyone else of that name.)


Help please!!

Decision made

For a long time now, we have been promising the children that once we'd settled in Spain, we'd get a dog.
We thought we'd solved the situation perfectly when we offered to take the little dog that lives with Cesar's parents - Nemo - particularly as he seemed quite sad living in La Flecha. He only didn't come down to Andalucia with us in January because it would have been wrong to bring him to a 5th floor apartment - he was small enough to fit through the railings and add further to my nightmares.

In the intervening time, Cesar's mother has been suffering with the idea of losing him. She's spent most of the year with her own father in Leon and Nemo has been in the house where all our furniture has been stored - and there he is so happy, he's grown the additional proverbial tail. Nemo has been removed from the equation we are contemplating here.

I have been making enquiries around here to find out about adoption and rescue places for dogs.
Secretly.

Cesar knows he made the promise but also knows the additional tie a dog brings; the extra consideration on all spontaneous or planned outings; the additional tasks of cleaning up/sorting out/managing and controlling a dog - and has been cold feeting me recently when approached about the idea.

But I engaged the children in a pincer-movement with me over the past two days because I have found a place near Malaga that takes in strays and advertises for adoption - and have been exchanging emails with the lovely people there. In May, a pregnant dog was found in someone's garden and brought in - within a few days, she'd had pups... eight of them. And one of them has been calling me.

The children have been on their very best behaviour - avoiding the 'n' word when asked to do things; tidying up voluntarily; reducing TV watching time to a healthier level and playing board games together for ...ooh, at least 20 minutes before reaching irreconcilable differences. And yesterday, with the warmth of the roof tiles on our feet and the view of La Mota in front of us, I put the question to Cesar again.

And whilst the response was more resignation than enthusiasm, it was not negative and so we have taken this as a big 'YES'!

Our plan had been to go to Malaga on Tuesday anyway - trip to IKEA has become essential to pick up some shelving units - that's when we will go and pick up our puppy.

He has been given the name 'Rolly' but we've enjoyed thinking of names we could give him, including:

Luther - Mateo's favourite and a distinct front-runner

Leo or Zeus - put forward by Ruy

Spot, Truffle,Wally, Zak - Romy's suggestions

Bach or Moose - my suggestions

Rico or Trufa - from Cesar (we won't include his suggestion of Whisky!)

We are unlikely to agree - we never do - and so the poor little thing will probably end up with Rolly - which I am sure is meant to be Roly as in Roly Poly, but which we've been saying as Rolly, as in Dolly, Lolly, Molly, etc.

We need a bit of help here!

And until Tuesday, a little patience and controlling of excitement!!