Tuscany Calling.........

Today I realized something. I totally get why some women get on a plane with a one-way ticket to Tuscany. You go through life being busy with work, babies, then work again, only now combined with motherhood and before you know it here you are at middle age, still working, but all of a sudden you are Not Required for Mothering Any More. Just like that. You wake up one day and your beautiful children are teenagers, totally capable of living their own lives, making bad decisions, making good decisions, being irresponsible, being responsible (sometimes) but whatever the situation, they can work it out for themselves, because well, your opinions and advice are so not what they're looking for.

You don't feel middle aged, and certainly don't look middle aged as you remember middle-age looking when your own Mum was there. You've always looked after yourself with suncreeen, fish twice a week, regular facials, peels, two litres of water a day, diet and exercise, antioxidants.............your hopeful mantra is "50 is the new 30." But there's no denying that you most certainly are, all of a sudden, "a certain age."

If this change in dynamic is not enough to get your head around, all of a sudden you find that your own parents are becoming more and more dependant on you as they age. The elderly are becoming so isolated in this world of new technology which they know nothing of and see no need for. So you find yourself doing more and more for them. Then one of your beloved parents declines quite rapidly into dementia, a most cruel disease which robs you of your beautiful, bright, talented, witty, hard-working, loving mother. So you grieve for the person she was as you continue your dutiful visits to the (surprisingly) pleasant nursing home each weekend. And each weekend on the one-and-a-half-hour drive home, instead of planning what to cook for dinner, you find yourself daydreaming about Tuscany...............

Dog Blog

OK, I'm now beginning to regret treating Rosie like a person and not a canine. She lives inside the house pretty much all the time because, well, vacuuming doggy hair from every carpet and rug in the house every day is just about my favourite thing to do. I can live with that. But at her recent annual checkup, the vet made an observation that, for a young pooch, her fangs aren't really what they should be - sparkling and strong. I was quite alarmed to hear this, given the considerable amount of my hard-earned cash being spent on the vet's recommended dry food. She also tipped the scales at about 1kg more than she should - quite significant for a little girl.
Dr Rod wasn't too alarmed though, and advised all she needed was a switch to the "light" version of her dry food and that extra kilo would melt away soon. Oh, and just make sure she gets plenty of bones to gnaw and those fangs will soon be clean and strong.

Now you see, there's a bit of a problem here........I've tried the give the dog a bone thing once or twice, but the poor darling doesn't seem to know quite what to do with them, other than guard them ferociously when her feline siblings come sniffing around. Oh, she'd be more than happy to bring them inside the house, which she sees as her territory, and no doubt they'd get a suitable gnawing once she was settled comfortably on the rug or her favorite cushion on the couch. But lie outside with it on the back lawn sans cushion? Find a suitable hiding spot and BURY the thing? Nooo thank you very much, not this little lady.

All of this flew through my head in about 10 seconds, and I was trying to find the words to explain Rosies's unusual attitude when Dr Rod saved me the embarrassment by piping up with "or if bones aren't her thing you could try Greenies." OK, I'll bite. He produced a sample of a little mini bone shaped green thingy which was brought home and after the girl had settled her nerves (vets visits you know) I produced the greenie. Now, normally her daily treat would be a biscuit, occasionally a Schmacko, at mere mention of which she dances delightedly round in circles then sits like a good doggy waiting for the afore-mentioned treat. I looked at the hard green thing and offered it. She immediately dropped it on the floor and looked expectantly at me, waiting for the real thing. I picked it up and put it in her mouth, talking it up a bit (ooh, yummy greenie, what a lucky doggy........) she finally walked away with it, looking for somewhere to deposit it. Same deal the next day. And the next. Soon we had greenies hidden around the house. I'd just about given up hope of her ever actually eating a greenie when, about day 4 into the greenie experiment, out of the blue she jumped onto an armchair, starting "digging" behind the cushion, pulled out a greenie, settled on the rug.........and ate it!!!!!!

I can't tell you what a relief this was, as I had been glumly contemplating life with a toothless tubby doggie.



Fastforward two or three weeks and she's sporting pearly whites worthy of a tooth-paste commercial, with her much sweeter breath an added bonus. Now to start work on that spare tyre.........if only I could convince her to vacate the lovely warm couch for a brisk walk on such a chilly day. Yep, it's a dog's life from now on for poor Rosie, at least until she regains her svelte figure.