June 14th Tuesday. The most glorious sunny day for the start of Ascot week. M came for the afternoon, and I took her into the sitting room for tea and to watch the second part of it on TV. (Having taped the first part for watching after supper). Thought she would never go! Barny seems quite over his bad patch. Quiet and sleepy but no more so than he always is in hot weather.
Tag: dogs
… Barny rather sleepy but quite at ease, and thoroughly enjoying his food again … (Rosemary Sutcliff Diary, 13/6/88)
June 13th Monday. Ray took Barny down for his second injection. Mr Skelton very pleased with him. He seems rather sleepy but quite at ease, and thoroughly enjoying his food again. Agnes, new chiropodist lady came to do my toes. Knows her job and seems a nice soul.
A Little Dog Like You by Rosemary Sutcliff | “After Pippin, a beloved chihuahua, dies … “
Today’s diary entry about her dog Barny put me in mind of the little book Rosemary Sutcliff published a years earlier, in 1987, A Little Dog Like You. Kirkus reviews wrote at the time of publication in the USA in 1990:
After Pippin, a beloved Chihuahua, dies, he begs St. Francis to let him go back to his beloved mistress, Mammie–who, hoping that her faithful friend will return, manages to puzzle out the time and place of their joyful reunion. Though the plot sounds trite, Sutcliff’s skillful pen turns the story to gold–an unsentimental portrait of an affectionate bond that will be familiar to any dog lover, while the difficulty posed by the painful discrepancy between the life spans of dog and human is resolved with a reincarnation that is both metaphorical and realistic: the new dog is not precisely Pippin–he has new markings and is given a new name–but he does represent a continuation of love. The format is as engagingly diminutive, as Pippin himself; Johnson’s precise, gentle illustrations add just the right touch. A well-wrought charmer.
… having been keyed up to expect the worst, am now feeling completely zonked …(Rosemary Sutcliff Diary, 12/8/88)
June 12th Sunday. Completely uneventful, except that Barny had a bad night & was so groggy today that (Ray mothering him to take him down to the vet) I rang the vet & asked him to come out. Mr Skelton, bless his heart, came out and gave him two injections & instructions to take him in for more tomorrow. He seems a good deal better this evening, but I, having been keyed up to expect the worst, am now feeling completely zonked.
And thus, given Rosemary Sutcliff’s love for her dogs, not really “completely uneventful” at all!
… Barny’s 13th birthday … (Rosemary Sutcliff Diary, 5/8/88)
June 5th Sunday. Barny’s 13th birthday. Sheila made him a really beautiful chocolate coloured cake with 13 candles, and Geraldine came to help eat it.
Rosemary Sutcliff loved her dogs dearly. Barny was a chihuahua.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 