Images without words – The life of the County Cork Sheepdog.
The Sheepdog
County Cork
Ireland
Nigel Borrington
Fond memories…..
Fond memory of Molly our very special Golden Retriever
Its exactly one year ago that we lost our much loved friend Molly, she was with us for 12 1/2 year and in that time shared such a great life with us.
The gap she left is just a little smaller than this time last year but as you can imagine she is still very much loved and in our minds all the time, she was special and as lots of dog owners know she made our lives special, in that she was in it….
for the great times we had with her 🙂 🙂
Molly xxxx
To Molly our Pal and great Friend
Molly, So many memories
Over the time of my blog, I have posted many times about Molly our Pal and great Friend for the last twelve and a half years. A great girl and much loved doggy.
Sadly she very peacefully left our sides on Saturday the 5th Dec.
She had a wonderful life with us and we had a very enriched life because of her. She loved and lived every moment sharing and giving so much back to us and to all who met her and those she loved.
While we are heartbroken,we do know that she’s been a real gift. From puppy to old lady, she has been a joy. We miss her already so very much.
We all miss you Molly, and love you too great girl.
County Waterford , Ireland – An October’s walk along the Coast.
An October walk along the Waterford coast
Irish Landscape Photography
Nigel Borrington
Molly is our 12 and 1/2 year old Golden retriever and she loves nothing more than being in and around water – as often as she can !!! Rivers, Lakes, and the Sea. I often think that if it was not for her I would not have visited as many wonderful places here in Ireland, just trying to keep her walked and fit!!!, but being over 12 years old now, she has slowed down a little but still loves her swimming and coastal visits.
I also love visiting the Irish coastline, our nearest locations are along the county Waterford coast, with its rocky small coves and caves its just a perfect and dramatic coastline in many ways.
October is a great month for these visits as the mornings bring rolling in sea mists and dramatic waves as the temperatures slide slowly into the winter months …..
A walk along the Waterford coast line : Gallery
Mornings and Coffee, Poem By : Gabryela Speaks
Morning Coffee
Image : Nigel Borrington
Mornings and Coffee
By : Gabryela Speaks
Feb 2 2015
Cold mornings, warm coffee
The aroma comforts me
Pushing the freezing moment
of having to recall you.
You used to sit with me.
You would look into my eyes,
flash a beautiful smile
and I always wonder
what you see
But one day,
you stopped being you.
Four feet Friday !!! , “Four Feet”, by Rudyard Kipling
Four Feet Friday
Molly our Golden retriever
This is Molly our somewhat aging but much loved Golden Retriever, Aging very well I am happy to say 🙂
I took these images while on a walk with her yesterday in some local woodlands and was reminded of this Kipling Poem.
I think he captured so well the love and loyalty that pets bring to our lives and in the last, the memories that they leave when they are no longer able to be with us on their daily walks, of which I don’t think Molly has every mist a day. Mainly because I only need to go near the back door and there she is looking up and sitting down ready !!
I have enjoyed every walk with her four paws – in front and sometimes behind 🙂
Four Feet
by Rudyard Kipling
I have done mostly what most men do,
And pushed it out of my mind;
But I can’t forget, if I wanted to,
Four-Feet trotting behind.
Day after day, the whole day through —
Wherever my road inclined —
Four-Feet said, “I am coming with you!”
And trotted along behind.
.
Now I must go by some other round, —
Which I shall never find —
Somewhere that does not carry the sound
Of Four-Feet trotting behind.
by Rudyard Kipling
A swim at Coolieragh’s, coves. Glengarriff, county cork
Molly taking a dip
Coolieragh’s, coves. Glengarriff, county cork
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Recently we stayed at Coolieragh’s, Glengarriff, county cork , its a great location just west of Glengarriff.
The coast line is full of rocky coves that are perfect for taking a swim, we took molly our golden retriever down to the best of these many time during the week. She loves to swim and even though the water was cold we also took the opportunity many time as well.
A swim at Coolieragh’s, coves. Glengarriff, county cork
Keeping cool in the rocky river.
Molly after a river swim,
Glenmorgan, clonmel
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Yesterday evening myself and Molly went for a walk in the woodlands above Clonmel, county Tipperary.
It been warm this week and keeping a retriever cool is a task these summer days. The river at Glenmorgan however is in a deep narrow cutting and its always shaded and cool, with deep pools of cold water for her to swim in.
This is one of our best local walks and a true escape of a warm July evening.
Glenmorgan, River : Gallery
Keeping a golden retriever cool , an afternoon summers swim
Our golden retriever , Molly Swimming, June 2014
Keeping our golden retriever Molly cool on these hot summer days is a puzzle , however she loves a summers swim and really makes the most or our local rivers.
She loves retrieving sticks and stones from the river bed and finding her some shade and cold water is a great way to cool her down.
My Morning thoughts on Molly
Molly on a walk around the base of Slievenamon on the 20/11/2015
As many friends here know over the last three years I have been using my blog pages to share my Landscape photos, I am not sure if people realize that these posts were always more about shared walks for me and Molly our female golden retriever, deep into the Irish landscape and then using photos to recording these adventures , she was not always in every post or in all the landscape photos but she was always there alongside me.
This leaves a great legacy to Molly who sadly died peacefully last weekend, she was there with me for well over 1000 blog posts going back many years , this is however going to make the next few weeks and months so very hard in many ways, when returning to these places without her and I am a lot worried that as such my life has changed so much overnight.
I had a feeling after my last post yesterday that it could be taken as a goodbye to Molly but that could never be because she was with me for 12 years everyday and as such a goodbye would be simply impossible anyway!!!.
I see these moments and days into the future much more as a transition for her and me – YES!!! its a huge one but it was always going to be !!!.
She will always be with me and I can and have to find a way of embracing that !!!!
I have to grasp what has happened because I have to keep doing all the things we did together, the walks and all the visits to so many if not all the locations that I love around me, just like she did !!!
At the moment I am finding it almost impossible to go to any of these places, so I am house bound, I know sooner rather than later I have to get out and walking again otherwise my entire life has change to much!!
I found this great web page last night on these exact feeling I am having,
Coping with Pet Loss
“Given the intense bond most of us share with our animals, it’s natural to feel devastated by feelings of grief and sadness when a pet dies. While some people may not understand the depth of feeling you had for your pet, you should never feel guilty or ashamed about grieving for an animal friend. Instead, use these healthy ways to cope with the loss, comfort yourself and others, and begin the process” More….
and gave it a good read, its very good as are so many pages of this topic 🙂
The experience of molly’s death at the weekend was peaceful for her but traumatic to be very honest for us, we were fully involved with her life right to the very last second of it and I am so pleased with this being the case, but OMG it’s hard in these days and hours since then !!!
The picture above was taken only on the 20/11/2015 and as you can see she was very healthy, slower with her age but for her age she was very good.
I do have that fact to hold on to.
I want to share these thoughts here because like I say Molly always had a massive place here over the years and she still does, its going to be very hard to work-out how to deal with her involvement into the future, I do however feel that she has one as I could not step out of the door at the moment with my camera, without feeling she is still here with me !!!
I love the Irish landscape so much though , so this blog does not stop here !!!!!!
A post just For you MOLLY !!!!
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December 8, 2015 | Categories: Comment, dogs, Landscape, Molly and me | Tags: Dog walking, Dogs, Life with my dog, Molly, morning thoughts, Nigel Borrington | 25 Comments