Great Danes and Old Friends

Andrew and I went visiting this morning.   We went to see a very old friend of mine who I haven't seen in real life for well nigh on thirty years. We were both horsey girls in those long gone school days.  I remember Suzanne as an intensely kind and funny person, and despite the years in between changing our faces, our figures and our life experience, she was exactly that same person.  It was lovely to see her again. 

We'd never have met back up again if it wasn't for one of those funny twists of fate; we both had Gypsy Cob type horses at the same time and both joined a FB group for owners of same.   Suzanne still has her girl, Bear, who is so lovely...

But my boy Archie was not a good personality match for me and I was still sicker than I knew and really shouldn't have come back to horses, so he has been in a new home for over two years now, where he is much loved and doing very well.

Suzanne has some lovely, lovely Welsh ponies there too.  She has developed a very good eye for horseflesh over all these years!

What really made the visit fun for Andyroo and I, though was Suzanne's dogs.  She has three Great Danes!  Yep, three!  Lucky lady!

Can't fool you, can I?  That's not a Great Dane in the middle there, that's dear little Gizmo, who we got to do a lot of snuggling with as well.  On the left is Rumour, and on the right is Murphy.

The third great Dane is this floppy bit of naughtiness, the puppy, Woody.

Oh my, he was adorable in all his half grown clumsiness and he LOVED Andrew, who as we know is the best dog patter in the West.

Murphy is Suzy's handsome tuxedo boy and the oldest of the three, sporting dignified white eyebrows to set off his formal attire.
 

I must say, though, that my heart belongs to Rumour and has ever since I saw her first photos.  This dog just radiates sweetness, and in real life is just as lovely.

I have this weird thing about Great Danes.  Always have.  Think it's a past life thing:  I remember owning very large short-haired dogs and having them walking along on each side of me, touching me, as Danes love to do.  Being in contact with a Dane feels to me as it does when I lay my fingers on my Anglo-Saxon Lyre and play it; a rightness, like coming home.

Practicality means not owning a GD myself, but I do love it when I get a chance to meet one!

Thanks for the cuppas, Suzy, and for helping us set the world to rights, and for letting us spend some time with your lovely beasties.  Thanks for letting me use some of your photos to blog with,  since we were too busy talking and patting dogs to take any.

And, sorry that we ate all the choccy bikkies that we'd brought.  How rude of us!  Apparently we should have them more often, so that they'll be less of a novelty!