Spring 2000

Jemimas sleeping habits were predictable. During the night she would alternate between sleeping at my feet at the bottom of the bed, or tucked behind my knees if it was really cold, but hopping off and on during the night as she got too hot or too cold again. In the mornings as I would stir she would start her rolling stretching ritual at the foot of the bed wiggling in a happy glad to be alive fashion. I would then pull the duvet up from my feet and wiggle my toes at which she would hop up and about “fighting” them. My toes would get nibbled ever so gently and my feet washed once she had settled down. When I eventually got out of bed she would pop off the bed, full of life, and head downstairs expectant of breakfast. Jesse of course wouldn’t be too far behind.

After breakfast, for both humans and dogs, it would be time to walk. The best time of year was always early spring when the air was still fresh but the sun warm. Walking was easy from Jam Pot Cottage as you would walk out the front door and be onto country paths straight away so leads were hardly used and a dog could get a good run unhindered. Spring 2001 brought a surprise for walks however – the first time I witnessed the event it took my breath away. We walked up the small hill from the house, turned right at the top, and went the usual route into the huge large field. I often would turn left as one came to it but on this occasion strode diagonally into it. The sun was still quite noticeably low in the sky, the sky was pure blue, and the ground was glowing yellow. Jemima and Jesse were tearing around as usual until Jemima noticed the yellow flowers of Dandelions. There were thousands of them, perhaps hundreds of thousands, at least that was how it seemed. They covered an area perhaps the size of a football pitch or maybe more. You only really saw them as you headed into the middle of the field, as I had that morning, where the ground rose up before sloping away. The Dandelion plants were very dense with perhaps two or three and sometimes more for every square foot with more flowering stems than you could count. It was nothing I had ever seen before – an incredible happening. Jemima had a fetish for flower heads so she gorged herself running about snatching the sunny flower heads and munching them as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I stopped and took in the view and committed it to memory. I also hoped that I would remember to come out at the same time the next year – which fortunately I did. In all it happened for several years in a row until the field was occupied by a large herd of cows and the dandelion plants never had a chance to flourish again. It was a shame but I was glad to have been there to see it, and had shared it with my lovely Jemima and Jesse.