Zina - An In Memoriam

Our very sad news is that Zina, our dog, passed away yesterday (14th Sept). Over the last few weeks she has been struggling with breathing and sickness which deteriorated very rapidly to the point that even the shortest walk along our street was too much for her. The vets diagnosed lung cancer and there was nothing anyone could do except to ease the pain.

Talk of dogs is normally very personal, and perhaps not so interesting if it's not your dog. But in Zina's case her life is intimately connected with this blog. Every walk we have described is also Zina's walk. If she had written it up I'm sure she would have described more of the smells and rustles and animals and cared a little less about the history or the view. But she came and explored, our constant companion as we discovered the details of the Costa Brava.

She joined us when we moved here as a young dog from the Rodamon Dog Shelter in Palafrugell - part of a promise to our children as we left Barcelona. And so she also accompanied them as they grew up through school and studies to the point of leaving home - always madly enthusiastic to see them when they came through the door.

So this blog is her blog too. She appears in the odd photo, and article, but we've tried to keep ourselves out of it a little so you wouldn't see her paw prints except in fleeting glimpses.

Unfortunately we didn't really see it coming. Her walks earlier in the summer were a little more hesistant, but we put that down to the heat. It wasn't until just 2-3 weeks ago that we realised how serious it had become. We had to rescue her by car from one of her favourite local walks because her breathing was failing and she could go no further.

Zina. Thank you. For all the happy memories from all the places that we've seen together.