mns  2010-03-03 09:59   

Last October, following a trip to Venice where JC fell in love with every dog he saw having their evening passegiatas, we finally agreed to get a dog. JC was in charge of the research and a few weeks later we went to England where we met and fell in love with George, a baby bulldog just eight weeks old. A few days later George accompanied us back to Ireland.

I can truthfully say that our lives changed. Instead of starting writing at 8 in the morning, I found myself cuddling this little fellow who liked to lie on my lap with my keyboard on top of him. He grew. And he grew. And the keyboard no longer fitted on top of him and I had to wean him off my lap as his weight and his girth were just too much. New patterns formed and Christmas came and went and then, horribly, George developed a problem in one eye. It turns out that this problem is typical for bulldogs and we were forced to have surgery. George came home with a lampshade on his head but he didn’t get better. An ulcer formed in the eye and now, eight weeks on, he still has his lampshade and JC and I are ministering angels to him, longing and praying for the day that the lampshade can come off and he can be just a puppy again.

In many ways things are brighter than they were in January and in the early part of February as George’s high spirits returned and he adapted to the constraints of his headgear. In the meantime he probably does not remember what it was like not to be encased in plastic. But as his owners it breaks our hearts. He can’t groom himself and a bit of me fears that he will never learn how to again as he is totally reliant on us to wash his paws and scratch his ears and to do everything else for him; but if and when his lampshade comes off and he doesn’t learn those things that puppies do, that is all right. JC and I will do them always for him.

We have a robot that does the vacuuming and George has learned how to turn it on and off, and how to stand in its path so that it can’t progress across the room. He rushes to remove his toys from the robot’s way and we rejoice in his progress. He has also learned how to do High Five – and he raises one paw and puts it into our hands. It’s reassuring how we all (George included in this) adapt to situations and are grateful for small things.

I have been working with my German translator on Revenge. I love working with this translator and Aus naechster Naehe is due out in August published by Droemer. Michaela Grabinger has translated each of my novels and the questions she asks are always inspiring and also reassuring as I know she is truly brilliant at what she does. The more I work with her the more I am puzzled at how many translators don’t ask questions of the author, especially as I imagine that most authors would like to assist. I certainly do.

What a long cold bleak winter this has been but there have been good times during it. Two visits from my son who is living in Vancouver cheered things up. Then there was a wonderful wedding in Galway where good friends got married in the freezing cold and most of the wedding party got stuck in airports or were snowbound somewhere, but those of us who made it there had the best time imaginable.

If I wish for anything right now it would be for the sun to come out and the trees to come back to life and George’s eye to get better so that he can enjoy spring and summer.