"LIFE'S BUT A WALKING SHADOW..."
Macbeth (Act 5, Sc. 5)
I'm a Finn who after six years in Belgium
moved back to her native Finland.
I've been long interested in cocker spaniels
and I've had cockers for many years.
Even though my now late bitch Sheerclever Wicked Game
had had two nice litters for her breeder,
it wasn't until November 1998
that the first Walking Shadow's cocker was born.
To my disappointment there was only one black boy in the litter,
but I think in this case quality has covered for quantity.
Since my darling Iina died, I have been waiting for a new bitch
- and waiting and waiting...
A couple of times I've almost got myself a new one
but so far something has always come up.
Then, quite out of the blue,
came a chance to have a little black girl from Belgium,
with a pedigree full of dogs I have liked over the years
- among them my darling Iina and Will's father Pepsi.
***
Sun dial in Salisbury (UK) on the wall of an old building
***
"Experience is by industry achieved
and perfected by the swift course of time."
A Dog Fancier's Guide to Shakespeare
***
One picture usually tells more than a thousand words.
This painting, given to me by my dear friends
Elena Ruskovaara and Sirpa Huusari, sums it up quite well.
There was a time when I would have preferred
the racing car to be silver instead of red,
but at the moment that colour is quite okay...
