What a month...

As I slump into an arm chair and reach for a bottle of chilled water amidst the inferno that is the 40 degree city of Dubbo, I reflect on what a strained month it has been. A month of highs and lows, of days where I've felt energized and dynamic and days when I've felt worn down and tired.

Willoughby's death is still keenly painful, as the reality slowly sinks in. Thank you to all those who sent their kind condolences.

The building project, as almost all large builds do, is spiraling over time and over budget despite a sterling effort on the part of all involved with the project to keep things on track. Several containers of building materials, inc stone, cornicing, domes, and cupolas have taken months longer to arrive than anticipated, as have the windows and kitchen, which means that there has not been a lot that the builders could do without them on site. We are now looking at a shift in date of January/February, opening for business in April; and the chapel is in peril due to budget over-runs.

But it's not been all bad news. I received a promotion at work, to Deputy Director, which had me elated for several days, because it was sure recognition of all the effort I have put in over the last two years.

Tonight I flew back home to NZ, flying close to Willowbrook as we came in to land at Hamilton...

The green makes a nice change from the views out of the plane window leaving Dubbo...

Peter will be coming over to Dubbo this year for Christmas. So he shall get to enjoy the sweltering desert in the height of summer. I shall be back in NZ again for my birthday in January. Hopefully we will be able to celebrate it in the manor. I will share some more pictures of the progress when I get back to Dubbo.

Willoughby Lord Cowell 2004-2014

It is with much sadness and heavy hearts that today Peter and I said good bye to our little hound, Willoughby. He had been battling lung cancer for the past few months and finally breathed his last this afternoon, passing away peacefully in Peter's arms at home.

W.L.C. 22 March 2004 - 19 November 2014

We first knew he had cancer of the right lower lung a few months ago when he started to have coughing fits. Peter took him to the hospital where they did some imaging to confirm the diagnosis. We were told that he wouldn't see another Christmas. 

The Story of Willoughby

Willoughby, born Timbavati Krugerrand , was whelped on the 22nd of March 2004.

The runt of the litter, he was the only one left when we picked him up aged 5 months old. He was a neurotic little puppy, being scared of going up and down steps he could see through, hot air balloons, chandeliers, almost anything which floated. But we soon found that the answer to almost everything was ham. Yes, his motivation was his stomach and there was almost nothing he wouldn't do for a slice of ham. That is how we taught him to swim, and that is how we coaxed him out from under the house every year during the annual Hamilton International Hot Air Balloon Festival.

Above: Willoughby the day we brought him home. 

He used to howl for hours when I left the house, and always be waiting by the front door for me when I got home. I didn't believe Peter when he told me that Willoughby made such a racket upon my departure, until Peter took a video to prove it. But this runt slowly became rehabilitated in the lifestyle to which all hounds aspire to become accustomed.

Below: His first hike into the mountains.

Eventually he grew into a confident, handsome teenaged hound, not scared to cross even a wobbly hanging bridge...

 Above and Below: Willoughby sunning himself in the garden.

Being a beagle, he wouldn't always stay in the garden. Oh no, he discovered how to climb trees and jump fences. At least he used to follow my scent, and come to the hospital (a 15 minute walk away). Everyone there got to know him, and one kindly matron used to hide him in her office until I had finished my shift (let's not contemplate the infection control issues, just the smiles he brought to the children bed-bound in the paediatric orthopaedic ward).

Such handsome profiles!

When he was about '30' we got him a brother, Spencer...

You can tell which brother was the laid back one and which was trouble!

The two were inseparable most of the time, although Willoughby, being older, had grown out of exploring. He was happy to stay in the yard if Spencer escaped. Spencer's escapades were to be his ultimate downfall, and so it became just the three of us again.

 Willoughby was an inquisitive hound...

 always eager to make new friends...

Not high maintenance, just happy to relax under dads' hats...

Always around, a faithful friend, whether you were covering the citrus in frost cloth...

 ... or trimming the hedges... 

 or reading in the study... 

We were so looking forward to Willoughby padding around the manor, it seems cruel that he will never lie in his basket by the hearth in the new study, or bound down the stairs when the door bell rings. We won't know if the pasta's al dente without our chief pasta tester, and we will have to vacuum the floor if we drop cake on it. Life will just not be the same for our little family, now there are just two of us for the first time in over a decade. But you will never be far from our memory, our faithful companion...

I think that this is how I shall remember you. Happy and warm, waiting for your tummy to be rubbed...

 Goodbye my friend.

NZ Lifestyle Block Magazine...

Peter and Willoughby have made an appearance in a 2 page article in this month's NZ Lifestyle Block magazine. The article can be found below...

Blushing Brides and Bouquets...

For added depth and colour to the entrance of Willowbrook we've decided to plant a low hydrangea hedge in front of the Leylandii Hedge (on the exterior side). We picked up the hydrangeas at the weekend, which were a gift from Peter's mother, Marie. 

 

Above: Hydrangea 'Bridal Bouquet'

Peter at Ngaroto Nurseries ordered in the hydrangeas specially. He knew we wanted stunning white ones, which would not fade to brown as the season progressed, and when he came across Bridal Bouquet he thought they would be most appropriate. 

It is also that time of year again when the frosts start to come. We covered all our citrus in The Orangery area with frost cloth, which Willoughby found most amusing...

Dorothy Armstrong Commission...

We commissioned a small sculpture of our beloved Willoughby from a local potter, Dorothy Armstrong...

We sent several photos to her, including the one above of Willoughby as a puppy, which was obviously the photo which inspired her the most. Needless to say, we are thrilled with the piece, and pleased to support local artists of such talent.

About Dorothy Armstrong...

"A love of nature inspires Dorothy's work. Each piece being individually hand sculptured. "I try to put some of the character of the animal or bird into each piece that I make." Dorothy says.

Much of her recent work is Raku fired, but she also fire platters and sculptures to stoneware temperatures in her gas kiln. Dorothy's work varies in size from tiny porcelain fantails to large out door sculptures including birdbaths and fountains.

Dorothy sells her work at selected galleries and at exhibitions and also enjoys the challenge of being commissioned to make individual pieces for people.
Often Dorothy will also create sculptures of peoples favoured pets, immortilising them whilst giving them that special touch.

Above: Some more of her work at the local gallery

Raku

The Raku firing is an ancient Japanese technique. The pottery piece is first bisque fired to 1000deg C in a gas kiln. Then it is painted with a low fired glaze and placed in a small gas fired kiln which is rapidly brought up to 1000deg C to melt the glaze. The piece is quickly removed with tongs to a drum of sawdust and paper which ignites with the heat. The drum is then covered tightly to cut off oxygen. This causes oxygen to be taken from the oxides in the glazes. Amazing blues, greens, golds and copper hues develop as the piece is taken from the sawdust and oxygen re-introduced a few minutes later. Cold water is poured over the piece to cool it and keep the colours from disappearing. Smoke from the sawdust gives a distinctive appearance to the crackle glazes. These unique pieces are built with a strong clay designed to resist the extreme thermal shock, but because they are low fired require gentle handling".

- Art Find.co.nz

Dorothy Armstrong at NZ Potters Website

Tragedy...

We had a very stressful weekend. Spencer, our hound, was hit by a truck on the state highway to Morrinsville on Saturday morning. Spencer (the darker beagle, pictured below with his brother Willoughby), has always been a wanderer, but it was still a shock. The person who hit him didn't even stop, and a kindly police woman rang us to say that she had found him dragging himself along the side of the road.

He has been in hospital over the weekend on a Ketamine and Morphine infusion, and has stabilised. He has a badly fractured pelvis and will be getting an orthopaedic opinion this morning to find out what the best plan for managing his injuries is. We are again thankful to the ever dependable Richard, who came to pick him up from the roadside on his weekend off and take him into the Pet Practice. So, we wait with baited breath for the news.

Willoughby is beside himself. As you can see, they are very close brothers, and Willoughby spent the weekend crying at Spencer's empty basket, and quivering, and being ill.

Our piglets have finally arrived...

There was a small delay between our last post on piglets and this post, heralding their arrival, as we wanted to wait for a litter of pure-bred Wessex Saddlebacks (a rare breed) as opposed to a more common crossbred Saddleback.

They finally arrived yesterday, and after getting over the shock of a 2 hour trailer ride, they are as happy as pigs in mud...

Above: The pigs asleep

Below: The pigs awaken

Above: Willoughby (left) and Spencer (right) getting to know the pigs

Below: And they're off for a busy day of free ranging...

Below: Breakfast

They are supposed to be quite intelligent animals, inquisitive, and friendly...

We decided not to put rings on their noses. Rings come off easily, don't always stop them rooting up the dirt, are not pleasant for them to have; and at the end of the day, their paddock (60 feet x 100 feet) is their's to do with what they want!

Not a happy looking pig...Some friends down the road have several Oak trees, and have kindly offered to collect, or let us collect, the acorns. Acorns, although toxic to many animals including cattle and horses, are like heroin (so I'm told) to pigs. They go almost as nuts over them as they do over truffles. This led to the practice of pannage. Pannage (Old French pasnage, Latin pasnadium : to feed [swine] on pasture and mast) is the practice of turning out domestic pigs into a wood or forest, in order that they may feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. [Just in case one doesn't know the difference between a wood and a forest, one hunts in a forest, but never in a wood].

The pigs would eat all the nuts which were toxic to other animals, and root up the forest floor keeping it clean and tidy of brambles and unwanted plants.

Below: A illumination showing famers beating the nuts off of trees for pannage.

Pannage is no longer carried out in most areas, but is still observed in the New Forest, Hampshire, England (below). The New Forest was created as a royal forest by William I in about 1097 for the private hunting of (mainly) deer.

"Am I fascinated? Have I lost my senses? Where am I? Had I not a delightful wood here close to Winchester?" So asked the disoriented William The Conqueror, a keen hunter, who had hunted the Saxon kingdom into oblivion some 20 years previously. The words are supposed to have been said by the king, after he had discovered what Wakelin, the Bishop of Winchester, had done to the royal hunting forest of Hampage. Wakelin had been given permisison to cut down trees for up to three days to use in the rebuilding of Winchester Cathedral. Wakelin had taken the king at his word, and organised a gang of men to fell the entire forest over 3 days!

After this surprise, William created the New Forest at the expense of more than 20 small settlements/farms; hence it was 'new'. It was a vast acreage, and takes up an entire 2 pages of records in the doomsday book.

More lovely pictures of pigs...

Below are 3 clips of our hounds, Willoughby and Spencer,
demonstrating the hitherto unknown art of pig herding...