Reunited

Bruce came home last night and really missed Cara. He sniffed around the house, especially where her bed usually stays, and kept looking at me as if to say "well, where is she?". I woke really early due to the incredible wind and rain I could hear outside and so made myself a cuppa and started on the pile of mail, including Christmas Cards.

Eventually it was near 10am when we were able to collect Cara. The wind was still fierce and the minor road to the kennels required careful negotiation due to the frequent and large puddles which were made more tricky by the presence of various sizes and amounts of debris from the roadside trees. It was obvious from this first foray into the country that an enormous volume of water has fallen since I left in early December and the ground, already saturated then, has completely given up trying to absorb any more and the water is running freely onto roads, over fields and transforming tiny burns into rivers.

Cara came bounding out of her kennel and gave me a boisterous welcome before leaping happily into the car to go home. The two dogs greeted each other joyfully, with plenty of sniffs and wagging of tails but sadly didn't seem at all interested in hearing about my own holiday adventures! Never mind - despite the inclement weather we were all looking forward to a good walk so I quickly donned all my waterproof gear and set off. The tops of the hills were covered with fresh snow but the sky behind them was grey so they became rather amorphous and boring when filtered through the camera lens. I took quite a few photos of the two dogs as they cavorted around amongst the trees and rough ground but they were having so much fun together that they were far too quick for me and I was often left with just a tail or a back in shot! So, defeated, I took this blip once they were in the car having had a wonderful wet, windy and muddy walk. You can see that their coats are crinkly from the wet and Bruce has obviously had his head down a rabbit hole! It is great to have them back with me.

I'm unpacked at last - and still no sign of the sunshine I thought I had brought with me! I was hoping it might have been lurking at the bottom of the suitcase.