Seems odd that 3 months into this blog fun, I haven’t yet mentioned the little furry person at my feet. Well, I should say dog, but to me she is a little person. Sometimes moody, always fun, full of character and my constant companion during a long night editing, Ella Fitzgerald Griffin would like to say hi.
At least she would, if she wasn’t snoring loudly under the desk, getting in the way and being awkward.
I love her.
Here she is at the start of what turned out to be a heart-pounding hike up, down and through the Devil’s Punchbowl in Hindhead.
Yes, she is a cocker spaniel. No, there is not a little bit of poodle in the bloodline. She is 100% cocker with the curliest coat you ever saw.
You may sense a little bit of moodiness from her. This is because as a childless child photographer, Ella has had 4 full years of being the star in most of my day to day photography. If I want to check out a new lens, or play with natural light at different times of the day, she is my go-to, unpaid (except for biscuits) model. Ella knows what the camera does and she has decided not to like it. Primarily because if I am holding a camera, I am not offering biscuits or strokes or scratches behind the ears. Seriously, you just can’t get the staff.
Which is why I asked my lovely friend Petra to sit next to her on the bench and keep her company. And then I asked my lovely friend Petra to take part as well. I promised to take her to a fantastic deli I knew for lunch at the end of the walk. She obliged. Here she is.
So we are walking, it starts to rain a little bit. We begin the descent and think shall we turn back or go on? Foolishly deciding that we are half way round so we may as well carry on, we keep walking down, oblivious to the eventual and inevitable climb. I get a bit puffed out, so we sit and Ella decided to show off her very odd begging for a biscuit tactic. This involves her sitting on her bum, straight backed with a double paw pump action. It is quite a sight.
She made do with a stick. She is easily pleased.
Needless to say the climb out of the Punchbowl nearly proved my downfall. Fitness is not on my daily agenda, although I love the great outdoors. But Petra very kindly coached me through the ascent, reminding me softly that if we didn’t clamber out soon, the deli would be closed and we would be cake-less. That spurred me on. We made it out alive and feasted. In fact that deli really deserves to be on my “love it” list, so more on them soon.
But just in case you wondered whether I permed, crimped or otherwise interferred with Ella’s curly coat, here she is as a 12 week old puppy, resplendent as my puppy-bear, little ewok-esque thing.
I took these puppy pictures with my old film SLR camera and it reminds me how I sort of miss the fun of having to wait to see what was captured. Ah, the good old days.
Now Ella’s popped up on the blog, you can expect to see much more of her and her amazing tricks. To date she can sit, stay(ish) and roll over. Ella the wonder dog. Not.
