NESSVILLE: Remember

Hello, dear people! Today I thought I'd take a take a delightful stroll down memory lane and recall the dogs I've loved and dresses I've worn. Why not?

Incongruous perhaps, but that's how my mind works. Or doesn't work, as the case may be. Details.

DOGS

Samantha

My devotion to dogs began early. At the age of around 3 or 4 mum and dad bundled my brother and I into the old Datsun 1200 and we drove to my auntie's place at Fairfleld. My cousins were getting a puppy and we decided to do the same. Why not get one from the same adorable litter?

Enter, Samantha the sausage dog.

Samantha and I circa 1981

She had to be Samantha because Bewitched was my favourite show at the time. Side note: let's take a minute to also appreciate my mum's glorious garden and my original shade of red hair (see above). It's hard to believe I was bullied and called a red headed rat rooter (among other things) because of it!

Things I remember regarding Samantha:

Singing the Olivia Newton John song Sam (badly) to her
She went ballistic when the milkman came to deliver milk (remember those?!) Later we discovered he'd been unkind to her. And she wasn't about to cow down. Not our Samantha!
I believe I tried to smuggle her into my bed once. Mum was very house proud and dogs were not allowed on beds!
She loved food and became quite portly at one stage.
Eventually she was plagued with the back issues that effect the breed and passed away. That was a devestating day for us all.
She was truly unique. I know everyone thinks this about their dog but she was! Of all the dogs I've loved she was definitely the most intelligent. I swear she understood everything you said as if she was human. But better. Cause everyone knows dogs are better than humans.

Skippa and Penny

Left: Samantha and I circa 197?
Right: Penny, Skippa and I circa 1985ish

To be honest I can't remember which of this duo came first. They had a litter of puppies together. Skippa also had the same back issues, but Penny plodded into old age and keeled over in my parents backyard one day. They were both sweethearts.

Betsy and Jake

My parents didn't have any more dogs for a while. Then they got a beautiful beagle named Maggie. By then I was out of the house, married to Mickey Blue Eyes. Maggie had a litter of puppies and I wanted one. Enter, Betsy. I earnestly promised Mick I'd pick up after her etc. Spoiler alert: I didn't. Oops.

My beautiful Betsy girl

Now in the meantime we had also ended up with Jake. A little yappy overgrown rat. Betsy and Jake were quite funny together and chased each other around the outside of the house. Watching their antics was hilarious.

Admittedly, I had a love/hate relationship with Jake but Mick adored him. He yapped his little bum off until the ripe old age of 17.

Cookie

The magnificent Miss Cookie

Another very special girl. Cookie was our first rescue dog but she rescued us, really. She was so sweet and gentle. Unfortunately she'd had breast cancer before we adopted her and it returned. We had to let her go last year and it broke my heart. I'll never forget Cookie.

DRESSES

All of the following dresses were sewn by my talented and generous Mum. She's a bloody legend, and I have been rather spoiled over the years. There has been some talk of selling them, but to be honest I'm not sure I can let them go. To have such beautiful garments, including my wedding dress, handmade by my mum is something so special I can't put it into words so I'll let the pictures say everything: