Category: #Collie dogs

The Golden of October

There’s always one day in October that epitomises that golden sense of the final goodbye to the summer for another year. A visit to Grange always entails a short collie-walk in the Park Road Gardens, which are beautifully kept and a treat for any season. Tess is nearly eleven, and such strolls are ideal for her ageing joints… Today was it, and we were … Read More The Golden of October

Black dog in the tulips

She’s completely blind with cateracts which cannot be operated on: she’s too old to survive the recovery period. Her name is Rosie: a thirteen year old black Labrador. She’s not our dog. Her ‘mum and dad’ are currently in Australia, enjoying a six-week sojourn. We’ve been good friends for a long time. Bernie and Rosie’s mum, Siobhan, grew up together in Heysham, Morecambe’s twin … Read More Black dog in the tulips

If you turn around

If you turn around And your dog is nowhere to be seen She may be behind you And smarter than you are. ———- ©Stephen Tanham 2024 ———- All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax. Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a journey of the soul guided by lessons, … Read More If you turn around

The village by night-mode

(-📩 500 words, mainly photos. A five minute browse) It was so late there was literally no-one else around. An unsettled dog with an upset tummy had led me out into the unlit streets of Sedgwick: our small village, which lies about 25 miles from Lake Windermere. With nothing else to do except walk the poor collie until she was tired or cured, I … Read More The village by night-mode

Tidal salt-marsh

The tidal salt marshes at Bolton-le-Sands – between Morecambe and Carnforth, on the Lancashire coast – are both beautiful and treacherous… The sea races in and fills the narrow channels, sometimes overspilling onto what seemed safe walking paths only a short time before. It’s easy to work your way to the sea through the maze of possible paths, only to find the tide has … Read More Tidal salt-marsh

Been there…

You may not have been there… You may not be a ‘dog person’. Heaven knows I wasn’t. Cats were my thing. A lifetime of cats; beautiful furry, purry creatures that are haughty and mysterious and can manipulate space, time … and place, when you’re looking for them. But few of them would wait by your side when you’re having a sandwich in the garden … Read More Been there…

Just you and me along the prom

Just you and me along the prom As far as eye can see Assuming eye can see at all Within this silent storm We could be settled by a fire With crackle-snap of logs Instead, we tread in sodden pools Could dullness get much higher? This masochistic love of dogs Companions of the heart Is strange to fathom, hard to square Yet, seldom we’re … Read More Just you and me along the prom

Lakeland in Winter (1) Bowness-on-Windermere

I thought you might like a walk through Bowness-on-Windermere. It’s the place that most people think of as ‘Windermere’, but the actual town of Windermere is a 45 min walk up the hill from the lake: the final station on the rail line from Kendal, and as close as the Victorian engineers could get to the lake from the surrounding hills. Holidaymakers arrive in … Read More Lakeland in Winter (1) Bowness-on-Windermere

The hill with two stations

Our small village, Sedgwick, near Kendal, has a landscape shaped in the classic terminal topography of ancient glaciers. This area of gentle, rounded hills is typical of the final stages of the glacier’s course. The English Lake District, where we live, has them in abundance. ‘Basket of Eggs’ is another term you may remember from those geography text books at school. They are also … Read More The hill with two stations

Arnside and Autumn Pastels

At first glance, it has something of the ziggurat about it. In reality it’s the final bit of Arnside’s Victorian pier, taken from a short distance back in order to include part of the famous viaduct – nearly 1600 ft – that links Arnside with Grange-over-Sands. Arnside has the kind of beaches that you’d rather photograph than paddle from. The sands around here share … Read More Arnside and Autumn Pastels

The Second before the Shutter of Life

We were spending a few days in Alnmouth, a tiny Northumberland village with one of the best beaches in the country. I rarely get to swim in the sea these days, but such things are of vital importance to our Collie dog, Tess, who loves to chase a ball down a beach and into the waves. It was early morning. I was enjoying our … Read More The Second before the Shutter of Life

Into the Autumn

©Stephen Tanham 2021 Stephen Tanham is a Director of the Silent Eye, a journey through the forest of personality to the dawn of Being. http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk and http://www.suningemini.blog