Yesterday's windy day reminded me of my dog Žuža, a lovely Bernese Mountain Dog lady, who is no longer with us. Being a dog with thick winter coat she used to love going out on a cold, windy and slightly damp day, when she would sit up straight on the top of a small hill behind the house, lift her nose to the wind and happily sniff the far away smells it brought with it.
For Žuža, sniffing the lamp posts and house corners was like reading the printed edition of a local newspaper - one gets fed up with the same stories being written over and over again. But raising her nose against the wind was like connecting to internet - she could get a quick sniff of what was going on miles and miles away, but only for a brief time, which made the news so much more interesting.
I miss my dog, she passed away just a few days after my son was born so my children never had a chance to meet her. Since the babies came there wasn't much time or opportunity for a hairy addition to our family - but I've been a dog and cat person all my life so as soon as the children are big enough to understand the basic dos and don'ts of the animal kingdom, we will try to introduce a pet into their lives...
