Today is Finn's 5th birthday - as far as we know - it was roughly worked out by Allsorts Dog Rescue when we got him. The picture on the left shows how he was in the dog pound in Ireland and the one on the right as he is now. It hasn't been easy to get him to this point as his behaviour has sometimes been pretty wild but he is calming down and Gra has worked wonders with him.
It's lovely to see him enjoying his life and having adventures. He found a fox in the shed and was obsessed with that for over a week even though there was no more sign of it. He eats my blackcurrants and gooseberries off the bushes and traumatises the sparrows and pigeons in the garden. He's found his voice too - it took him about 4 months to bark - I'm sure the neighbours are delighted! He's very loving and funny too - a great companion - I'm glad he found us - Happy Birthday Finn!
As I wrote earlier I've been planning a new painting and came up with several ideas but none of them seemed to be quite right. Then it occurred to me - there was too much going on (well I had a little input from Gra too!). So I simplified it a lot and this is the end result - I finished the painting last week. What do you think?
While walking Finn I cannot stop beach cleaning. Martin Dorey - the founder of 2minutebeachclean was on BBC2's Springwatch last week - he's doing an amazing job. I've discovered that each beach I clean has a different type of rubbish: Wittering was littered with lots of dog poo in bags - I can only think that after bagging it the dog's owners didn't want to carry it around with them so discarded it - even though there are many bins around. Pagham has lots of matted fabric caught up in the dried seaweed. I didn't realise what this was until I'd been clearing it for a few weeks - WET WIPES - disgusting. Apparently they are becoming a real problem as people are using them more and more. Then there's Bognor - clogged up with beer cans and takeaway rubbish - just left behind regardless of all the bins along the promenade.
I also cannot stop photographing boat bottoms! I love the layers of coloured peeling paint and the textures. I think they look like abstract paintings.
