Month: July 2026

The objects before me on my desk belonged to my dog . A ‘Chuckit’ ball (blue and pink) – and a much smaller yellow ‘Kong’ ball. Both balls are ‘dog’ balls, the smaller one he found in the grass close by. Obviously lost by another smaller dog. I have a few suspects in mind, Neighbours dogs, dog’s and people we used to meet on our daily walks. I have thrown these balls (or similar) so many times for him over the years. both balls have a rubbery smell but there are still traces of Shiloh’s smell when he chewed them. I can still smell him. They say smell can bring one back in time.

Those smells bring me back to a particular walk. It was raining and the grass was wet. An typical autumn day. “nice to be out mr Shiloh, eh?, you’ve been waiting patiently. You’re such of the best boy”. The air is fresh, The kind of cool, damp Irish air I like. My lungs relax and lighten just a bit. This is the start of our walk, The downhill bit. Not a steep slope but a nice way the start and ‘warm up’ so to speak.

Those balls are sitting there in front of me now, reminding me. Reminding me of my lost friend. But you are still here in my memory Mr Shiloh. You will always be in here. I still follow the path of ‘our’ walks. Not as often now but I rarely stray from the course of walks we shared. Our walks were so good. Good for you. Good for me and my health.

 

I quoted some lines from Haruki Murakami in a post years ago. Love reading him and read a few lines today which lit up and spoke to me

“We survived, You and I. And those who survive have a duty. Our duty is to do or best to keep on living. Even if our lives are not perfect.”

What a lovely thought. I survived cancer and have a duty to keep on living. I survived and have a duty to All those who helped me get here. My duty is to them and to myself

(From Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki – Murakami 2014)

As part of living I’ve enrolled in a course for ‘Creative Writing’. A motivation is to do justice to my (sometimes) self-centred blogs.

Expect a change of tack hopefully.

Be kind to each other. That is the most important.