Poor Pretty Girl is gone now, and I find myself not only orphaned but petless too. It’s been hard to start again.

She’s left a large void behind her, literally as well as figuratively as we dispose of her toys and bedding, and vacuum up sh*tloads of dog hair.

The house has been making all its usual noises, but without a dog around, they seem more ominous. Even though I know it’s just the tin and weatherboards expanding and contracting as the day warms and cools.

It’s been hard. I’ve sighed a lot too.

But now it’s time to pick up the scattered threads of my life and start again.

Or maybe not start again so much as start something new.

Something different; almost but not quite the same. Something fresh.

This lovely watercolour landscape of the Anna Creek campsite (SA) at sunrise is an original painting by Violet HE Teague (1872 – 1951) by via State Library Victoria.

See more of my Haiku here.