Thursday, June 16, 2011



Philadelphus (top left, bottom right) is perhaps my favourite shrub, or even flower.  The ferns I'd photographed before when they were just fiddle heads, but I never got around to posting the pictures, now they're all unfurled. The pond and its water lilies never cease to beguile.  This year I have seen huge water beetles, including a mating pair, and small ones, tadpoles of course, and newts, and many damsel flies laying eggs, and also the strange ghostly empty shells of their nymphs which have crawled out, hatched and flown. We still haven't finished the small 'secret' garden, where all these things are, but the pond  has matured and is home to many things, and I can spend ages kneeling on the warm slabs beside it watching the life of it going on beneath.  The philadelphus is in the same corner as a rampant patch of sweet cicely, so with the combination of anise and bubble gum perfumes it smells like a sweet shop.

The new big laptop computer arrived very quickly from the UK.  I started setting it up and was frustrated that it simply wouldn't connect to the wi-fi.  It kept telling me to turn it on with a switch or a function key, and I could find neither.  I'd not had this difficulty with any other machine.  I contacted the supplier, who said try another function key - I'd tried them all - then told me to contact the manufacturer's tech support.  Their UK line was permanently engaged but I got the French one, who said use an ethernet cable you should have one with the Livebox...

I didn't have one so I rang the worthy and ever patient James, everybody's favourite computer doctor from down the road, who arrived bearing said cable, went through all the business but still no connection, picked up the computer and pointed out a very small switch with a wireless symbol on it on the front, which in my numbskullness I had completely failed to see.  Prat.

James said he's seen worse, like the woman in Loudeac who kicked her computer in a fit of pique, sent him to fetch all manner of gubbins from St Brieuc in the other direction to repair it, only for him to find that her coup de pied had accidentally turned it off, and all that was required was to turn it back on again.  He'd only accept a bottle of brown beer from the micro-brewery from us for his trouble.

Which has kind of served a little to distract from the main worry of the moment.  When Mol went for her haircut last week the groomer noticed a lump which she said was probably a mammary tumour, and advised getting Emy the vet to look at it.  We went yesterday, and Emy said best have it out now; it's a simple operation which done now will probably mean she will live to her normal span, whereas to leave it would be a risk, even if it isn't malignant.  Emy does these ops routinely, it's a common problem with bitches of a certain age, and she says people are usually surprised how quickly and well their dogs recover, it's nothing like as difficult and painful as the ear surgery of a few years ago. Mol's heart is strong and good, she said, which we could have told her, of course.

She'll have to wear a bucket on her head again for a couple of weeks, to stop her getting at the stitches.  At least the weather's not hot, she's cool and clean with her new haircut, and we don't have much in the way of other commitments for a couple of weeks now.

Even so, for all this looking on the bright side, it's a worry. We aren't looking forward to tomorrow, when she's going in, and we'll be glad when it's over.

15 comments:

Dale said...

May all be well with Mol! xo

I'm told that in a certain tech support organization they're told to start by asking the customer which plug-in their computer is plugged in to, the upper or the lower. As being the politest way they can think of to inquire whether it's plugged in.

the polish chick said...

i am very lucky to have my husband's best friend as my personal go to mac IT guy. as it is, i still feel pretty stupid sometimes when he asks me to do something he considers rudimentary and i consider one step down from haruspicy. i don's speak computer. or car. or sports, for that matter. i do, however, speak food and wine. i guess everyone needs a language.

your pictures, as usual, are glorious and alive. and i wish your little mol all the best (from one bitch of a certain age to another, i suppose).

Bee said...

Poor Mol! (and you, because I'm sure you suffer just as much) I hope they can fix her up.

Philadelphus: I love it, too. Its scent reminds me of the Juicy Fruit gum that I chewed when I was young. Ours is in bloom, but too far back in the border for maximum smelling pleasure.

My mouse went strange and wonky yesterday, and Sig spent ages trying to fix it. (I later remembered having spilt some tea there. Felt rather guilty and didn't confess, either!) Human error must be the answer quite a lot of the time.

Just finished The Sword in the Stone, btw. What a strange and delightful book.

zephyr said...

Oops...i messed up my first attempt. At least i think so...hope 2 comments from me don't appear.

Sending you and your Mol lots of good thoughts. Will be glad to hear she is back home with you and being comforted and spoiled again while she heals speedily.

And you've reminded me that i have forgotten to post re a new philadelphus in this garden--with ginormous blooms. i'll put it up in the next couple of days.

christopher said...

I hate it when these things happen to the critters. Makes me cry and get angry all at once. Just doesn't seem fair, but I guess I don't really have an alternative. I just think they are so innocent that they should just dance along to their appointed time and then peacefully disappear. Of course I want that for myself too. :(

I have lost sound on this computer and lost internet access too last night around 2AM. That's when I was awakened to something blasting away. When I turned it off I never got sound back. The puter says that drivers are missing.

The internet blanked. I used the diagnostics and the fixers and eventually got internet back this afternoon, not sure how. I doubt I am going to get sound back. I think it was an attack of some kind. Maybe not. I don't know how I can lose windows sound drivers otherwise.

anna tambour said...

Get well soon, Mol!

The Crow said...

When I got my new all-in-one printer couple of months ago, I immediately plugged it into the port on the tower, only it wouldn't take anything from the computer. Worked fine as a copier, but didn't print or scan, as it was supposed to do. When I called the store from which I bought it, the tech there asked if I had waited until the printer's installation software had instructed me to connect it to the computer.

What instruction software, I asked.

The CD that came in the box with the printer, he answered, patiently.

My family routinely teases me about rushing to complete a job before knowing what I'm supposed to do.

They say my motto should (apologies to John Ford), "Instructions?! I don't need no stinking instruction!"

Hope Molly comes through with flying colors, Lucy. I know she will have the best at-home care from you and Tom afterwards.

Fire Bird said...

sending love to Mol and you two

Lucy said...

Thanks all.

The patient is back and somewhat woozy, but with a wagging tail when she's awake. We didn't like the idea of surgery, but couldn't face leaving something potentially fatal that we could do something about. She's eleven now, but very lively and deserves a good few years more. A difficult one, but their mammary tissue is not as taut and complex as ours (even those of us of a certain age!) and it isn't such an intrusive procedure. Emy the vet is very kind, sensible and sensitive, and doesn't do things just for the sake of it. She was generally very positive about how it looked.

I am already quite enjoying the new computer.

HKatz said...

I'm glad your dog is doing better.

Looking at this post and back over a few others - I love the floral collages. You seriously have the best photos of flowers, foliage, herbage that I've seen in any blog. They're a treat.

herhimnbryn said...

Glad Mol, is healing. Bryn has three small fatty lumps on his bod now. Nowt to worry about, but I am 'aware' of them when I brush him.

Dear Mol, be pateint with your bucket!

zephyr said...

Yay for good news!!

marly youmans said...

Glad all went well with Mol--our dog has had a number of lumps cut out and was very patient and uncomplaining and appeared to heal up very quickly. They're about the same age...

Lovely flowers, as always.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm so glad Mol is home and recovering. It always seems so unfair, and heartbreaking, when the animals we love have to go through something like that.

As for the computer, I felt as if I were reading my own life. The same frustrated/exhausted feeling washed over me - so glad that James is there!

- Alison

Unknown said...

Greetings to Mol and to both of you of course.