Puppies!

Down the street lives a couple called Leslie and Stuart Porter. They own Dolly and Doogle, two Irish soft-coated wheaten terriers. The breed, the progenitor of the wheaten terriers known in the US, almost went extinct. The Porters are among a small group of people bringing the breed back. Here’s an internet photo:

And here’s what the puppies look like (again an internet photo):

There are nine puppies. OMG how cute. I got to hold and play with them for quite a while--letting them gnaw on my hands with their pin-sharp teeth.
The puppies were born nearly seven weeks ago. Leslie had been fighting cancer for the year before. She came home from the hospice to see them the day they were born then she died that same day. I never met her. I’ve met Stuart, a gregarious Scotsman, many times as he walked the dogs. I didn’t learn about Leslie until I was at the dentist about a month ago and she asked about Leslie, whom she knew socially.
At church today, a guy who lives on our street told me about Leslie’s funeral. He said Stuart talked about her for 40 minutes. He recalled in detail the day he met her. He said it was at a wedding and, after the reception, he went to her hotel and watched the corridor to make sure no one visited her room. She sounds like a fascinating woman. She took up photography in recent years and traveled all over taking photographs, winning awards for her work. I’m sorry I never met her. The only people I know well on my street are on either side of me. The Porters are at #3 and we’re at #17.
I can’t imagine what it’s like for Stuart to be in charge of nine puppies born on the day his wife died. He must be very committed to rearing them because it was Leslie’s passion to preserve the breed.
The day I visited, he wasn’t home. Leslie’s sister and her husband are visiting from New Zealand with their two daughters. They’re here for 18 months to help Stuart. They brought their dog so there are 11 dogs in the house and five humans. Luckily, it’s a big house. The daughters are doing their studies remotely, which New Zealand apparently makes it easy to do. Leslie has two sisters, the third one lives here. I can’t imagine uprooting your family for 18 months, but I guess the loss of a sister made it feel like New Zealand was very far from your remaining family.
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